An easy way to set trailing plants in your summer baskets

Last weekend I planted up an old shopping basket as a centrepiece for this year's display on the piano at the bottom of the garden.

After lining it with a layer of grass cuttings and a piece of compost bag (trimmed to fit), the basket was half filled with compost and I snipped two inch holes in the lining halfway down the side.

Then I laid out the plants; a couple of pelargonium, purple salvia, lime surfinia (petunias) and trailing white bacopa.

It was going to be difficult to push the bacopa through the wire mesh of the basket without damaging the plants.

Then I remembered a tip I learnt with the Age Concern staff gardening club about ten years ago...

I wrapped the top of a plant in piece of card...











you can roll it quite closely

if you're gentle...













and then I was able to push it through the small aperture with no difficulty at all.







Voila! Job done...

Final result in my next post...