Hanging basket on the cheap

thriftychick

A friend has kindly bought me 10 hanging basket plants for looking after her house while she was away on holiday. I have a wire basket and a plastic liner cut from a bag.

Does anyone know what I could use instead of buying moss? Perferrably something free of course!!

Jonjulie

Gardeners World once experimented with liners,and old wooly jumpers proved to be great liners.

sarerb18

I use this method most of the time. works very well especially with real wool so don't throw all those ones that shrink away.

Sarer

alanobrien

and for moisture retention an old sponge works as well as expensive crystals imho, i have even used old catlitter in the past for this purpose

demented_2

alanobrien wrote: »

and for moisture retention an old sponge works as well as expensive crystals imho, i have even used old catlitter in the past for this purpose

Hello. Was the old cat litter sort of used or just some unused cat litter that was hanging around. I have been wondering what to do with the "used peed" on litter as i try to recycle nearly everything, and the catlitter was just about the last thing that i could not find a use for or how to dispose of it Green style. The solids go down the toilet as it can be disposed of through the sewage works, rather than just putting it into a bag which then takes 2yrs to break down. Sorry i am rambling now. I thought that your idea was brilliant, so just need to make sure what the condition of the litter was before i make up the hanging baskets. Mind you i think that perhaphs the ammonia would be tooooo much for the plants. demented

ailuro2

Use moss raked out from grass to line the basket then put it thick layers of dampened newspaper, like papier mache without the paste.
Leave to dry then trim the edges. Voila- free,safe and biodegradable:j

Tiby

ailuro2 wrote: »

Use moss raked out from grass to line the basket then put it thick layers of dampened newspaper, like papier mache without the paste.
Leave to dry then trim the edges. Voila- free,safe and biodegradable:j

thats a great idea, I will be doing that for all my baskets this year.Thanks

alanobrien

demented wrote: »

Hello. Was the old cat litter sort of used or just some unused cat litter that was hanging around. I have been wondering what to do with the "used peed" on litter as i try to recycle nearly everything, and the catlitter was just about the last thing that i could not find a use for or how to dispose of it Green style. The solids go down the toilet as it can be disposed of through the sewage works, rather than just putting it into a bag which then takes 2yrs to break down. Sorry i am rambling now. I thought that your idea was brilliant, so just need to make sure what the condition of the litter was before i make up the hanging baskets. Mind you i think that perhaphs the ammonia would be tooooo much for the plants. demented

It was new..left over from when the cat was a kitten and lived in the house.
If you think about it its a water retaining bio degradable mass and relatively cheap. It does need to be used sparingly though as it wil tend to clump otherwise.

Used - never thought about that but ammonia breaks down to nitrite which in turn breaks down to nitrate which is of course good for plants. I guess it would depend on whether they could take the original concentration of ammonia before the bio cycle begins. Intresting idea but not one i would try to be honest.

sarerb18

this is a post I did elsewhere but sort of applies here too.
I thought it funny and yes you can but mix it up with other stuff when you put it in.

Okay I am really really sorry if this offends anyone but I just found this on a site somewhere and couldn't resist it. May I add that no animals were hurt in the process and I will behave in future. Sorry Sorry.

"Speaking of cats etc and composting, I read in this months GYO mag that you can put dog urine soaked newspaper in your compost. Is this true for cats? DDL

Yep you can put Urine soaked cats in your compost but you have to bash them on the head first or they jump out again."
:rotfl:
Ps I love cats.

If this is not allowed please remove and I will crawl away and hide whilst I reflect on my folly.