Garden Update -- Transplanting Day

It was past time to get some of the plants out of the starter pots and into the hanging baskets. Took some time yesterday to get the 2 flats with the biggest plants transplanted.

Since I haven't done this in a few years it's been kind of a pain in the butt. Pots are old. Bags of potting mix are dry rotted and breaking open, and some of the pots are no longer usable. I managed to find some that were in good enough shape and other ones I can fix. Got a big container and put it on a cart. Used that to dump bags of the old potting mix into and move to the porch.

Also have some new bags of potting mix. I'm going to use the old to fill up the bottom two thirds of the pot and then finish with the new. Reason I'm doing this is since the old bags were breaking open some weed seeds probably got in there. This way they should be buried deep enough they won't be able to grow. Well at least not before the cucumber plants are big enough.

So time to plant. First grab a pot that isn't broken and still has a hanger that works. Next fill it about a 3rd of the way with the potting mix.

Next I dump in some shake and feed. A decent amount. I know this isn't the way you are supposed to use it but it works great.

After that fill the pot up enough that the plants will be about level with the top. Then pick a couple of plants and add them to the pot. Depending on the size of the pot I will do between 2 and 4 plants in it. Since all but one of these came up in pairs it's 2 starter pots per hanging basket. These are the larger baskets I have. I'll only use the smaller ones this year if I run out of big ones.

Next fill up the pot the rest of the way with potting mix. Not potting soil. I use all potting mix. Doesn't matter if it's moisture control or not. Well the moisture control probably works a bit better but not worth the extra cost. Overfill a bit because it will go down when watered.

Add another sprinkle of shake and feed. I'll also add some more once or twice during the growing season.

Finally add the hanger to the pot. Be careful if you have the kind of pots with hangers below the dirt line. The green pots are like that so I have to add the hanger before putting the plants in. Messed up at least 3 times yesterday by not putting them in first.

For now I'm just leaving them sit on the ground. Need to clean the corner up some before I hang them. Trimmed the shrub today so one thing down. Still need to get the rest of the potting mix out, kill the weeds, and put up the irrigation system. Oh speaking of water, hanging up or sitting on the ground don't forget to water them.

BTW this also works great for flowers. Don't buy those ready made baskets. Get flats and plant them like this. They won't look good early on but they will fill in in a few weeks and look great all summer. The ready made pots don't have enough food and the plants run out half way though the summer. Using good potting mix and the layered fertilizer will feed them until they freeze.