How to Keep Hanging Baskets Hydrated During the Hot, Dry Summer Months
Follow these simple tips to make sure your hanging baskets look lush, lovely, and happily hydrated all summer long.
Hanging baskets add instant beauty and vertical that enlivens any porch or patio. But keeping containers well-watered during the hot, dry summer months can be a challenge. If you don’t provide plants with enough water they can quickly shrivel up and die in the heat.
That’s why learning how to keep hanging baskets hydrated during the hottest part of the year is the key to growing gorgeous containers that thrive all summer. It’s easy to keep your hanging plants fresh and lush as long as you follow a few simple rules.
I’ll share the best ways to prevent hanging baskets from drying out during the summer heat and tips to make sure your potted plants are hydrated all season. Here’s how to do it.
1. Pick the Right Container
Making sure hanging baskets are well-hydrated begins with choosing the right container. There are lots of different types of hanging baskets available and picking the proper kind can mean the difference between dried up plants and lush growth that lasts all summer long.
The best types of hanging baskets for hot, dry weather are plastic containers. They retain more moisture than wooden, ceramic, or wire baskets filled with coco coir or sphagnum peat moss liners. These stylish resin hanging baskets from Lowe’s are a great choice for a minimalist look that suits a lot of different types of outdoor decor.
Ideally, you want a container that holds onto some moisture, but still drains freely. Be sure that your plastic baskets have drainage holes, though, or else your plants may develop root rot if they end up sitting in water. Wood is another good choice because it is porous, so it will drain water, but it holds more moisture than wire baskets.
2. Add a Liner
Wire baskets filled with moss or coco coir are classic and add an elegant touch to any outdoor space, but they are not the best at retaining moisture. If you want that look, but are worried about your containers drying out in the summer heat then you can add a liner to keep your plants hydrated.
The easiest way to make a liner for your planters is to use an empty bag of potting mix. Once your bag is empty, simply flip it inside out and cut with a pair of scissors to the necessary size and shape of your hanging basket.
You can try to find specialty plastic liners for hanging baskets online, but making your own is the most affordable way to increase water retention in your baskets. Poke a few holes to make sure some water can still drain out so plants don’t develop root rot.
3. Use a Moisture-Retaining Potting Mix
Picking a high-quality potting mix that retains moisture well is one of the best ways to prevent hanging baskets from drying out. My go-to potting is this moisture control potting mix from Miracle-Gro.
If you already have some leftover potting soil on hand and don’t want to buy more, you can amend your potting mix to make it retain moisture even better. There is an additive you can put in your soil called hydrogels or super-absorbent polymers (SAP) that hold onto water and help prevent overwatering and underwatering. You can get them from Amazon here.
Just mix in the recommended amount of hydrogels for your size hanging basket and water. Don’t go overboard with these, though. Using too much can cause soil to over-expand and spill out when you water.
4. Grow Drought-Tolerant Plants
Plant choice is also a key to making sure your hanging baskets look perky and fresh all summer long. Choose drought-tolerant plants that don’t require as much water to bloom and grow well. Think succulents like sedum and portulaca, low-maintenance flowers like lantana and calibrachoa, and tough yet lovely vines like black-eyed Susan vine and pothos.
Whatever you choose, make sure your plants are suited to the specific growing conditions where your baskets will hang. If they’re going to be in full sun, don’t fill containers with shade-loving plants like begonias. And if your baskets are in deep shade, they’ll never bloom if you fill them with sun-lovers like petunias.
You can also turn a hanging basket into a drought-tolerant herb garden. Many Mediterranean species thrive in dry summer heat and are perfect for herb hanging baskets. Plus, you will have delicious herbs right at your doorstep.
5. Water Well
Even if you follow all the advice above, you will still need to water your hanging baskets sometimes. However, if you’re looking for the ultimate hands-off hanging basket, you can try self-watering planters like these ones from Amazon. Simply fill the water reservoir at the bottom and you won’t have to worry about watering plants again for two weeks.
If you use regular hanging baskets, though, you will still need to water them whenever they dry out. Stick your finger about an inch (2.5 cm) down into the soil to see if it is dry. If it is, then it’s time to give plants a drink. Water plants deeply and slowly, until it starts to run out the drainage holes. If possible, take down baskets and dunk them in a bucket of water until they are saturated.
Shallow watering causes soil to dry out faster and doesn’t allow water to penetrate down to the deeper layers of soil around plants’ roots where they really need it. Dumping a lot of water on top of plants quickly is also bad because the water just runs off the surface of the soil without getting down to the roots.
Overhead watering can also invite disease. Water at the roots where plants meet the soil and avoid getting foliage wet. The best time to water plants is in the morning, so if foliage does get wet it has time to dry. Plants will also be well-hydrated from morning watering when the heat of the afternoon arrives.
