Potting Up a Basket
Turn an old rattan basket into a pot planter It's so simple to do! Baskets can be found on Council garbage collection piles, Op Shops and often the dusty hidden storage...
Turn An Old Rattan Basket Into A Pot Planter
It's so simple to do! I like the very heavy strong rattan baskets. If you find your basket at an Op shop, curb side garbage pile or the back of your cupboard, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to update the style of it a little bit before you put it on display. Some of the softer cane baskets can be finished with 2 coats of a protectant clear coat spray paint to protect the finish when I put my basket planter outside. Painting and clear-coating your basket will also help it to last a little longer. Personally, with the rattan baskets (which are pretty heavy) I leave them alone. They weather beautifully, and like any natural fibre, eventually, it will break down but you should get quite a few seasons out of it if you use the strong rattan type.
Step 1: line the basket
This stops soil from falling through to the outside and also the roots from travelling out of the basket.
You can use a sheet of thick plastic perforated with holes at the bottom for drainage, personally I like to keep plastic out fo my planter pots unless UV stabilised and food grade. You can use a geo-textile for garden use or even an old piece of cotton such as a pillow slip. I use coco coir basket liners and my own Root Pouch grow bags.
Step 2: add a good quality potting mix
A general potting mix is good for flowers and a Herb and Veggie mix is suitable for potted herbs. This is the quickest way to get growing. Later, I'd encourage you to re-use the spent potting mix and refresh it using easy to source amendments to avoid wasting the original potting mix.
Coco Coir basket liner available from garden centres
Step 3: add your plants
There are endless opportunities for what can be planted in a basket. Ornamentals, annual flowers, Spring bulbs , herbs and vegetables can all be grown in this way.
Strawberries are a productive and easy to grow plant that look perfect in baskets because of their low profile. As they don't like to get their leaves wet, being in a basket means they can be moved under cover during rain periods and also placed in spots where birds are unlikely to feast on the fruit before you do!
A mixed Lettuce basket is another productive planting for baskets. using the cut-and-come-again method of only picking the outer leaves and leaving the inner to continue to grow you will be rewarded with an extended season of growing in your basket!
Cascading herbs and taller Spring onion plantings makes a fabulous herb collection in a baskt! Single plant seedlings can be purchased from the garden centre and planted in the basket.
Love the look of potted plants but don't have a basket?
Then why not use the out of the bag solution - the Root Pouch grow bags which are food safe, BPA free and made of 100% recycled PET water bottles! Will not fall apart after a few seasons and are attractive and functional.
See how Larry & Eyvonne Hall grow a huge array of edibles in their Root Pouch bags!