Hi Sibe,

I've been reading the articles on Hanging Baskets and want to make my own. I've found lots of information about how to plant them but nothing about how to hang them. I bought a packet labelled 'hanging basket fixings' but the bolts won't fit through the holes in the hanging basket brackets I bought from the garden centre. What should I use to fix the brackets to brick walls?

Joanne Fay

Our Gardening Expert replies:

Hi Joanne,

Making sure your hanging basket is secure is obviously vitally important - you don't want it falling onto someone underneath! The bolts you've bought in the packet of 'hanging basket fittings' are probably for attaching a hanging basket to a piece of wood which would then be securely attached to a brick wall.

You don't necessarily need to use wood as most brackets can be fitted directly to house walls, assuming this is what you want to do. The holes in the bracket are for use with screws. The best technique is to hold the bracket in position on the wall and mark through the holes to indicate where you need to drill the wall for the screws. The screw themselves should be at least 75mm (3in) long.

You then need to drill holes in the positions marked on the wall. You will need a robust power drill to do this - drilling through bricks or even mortar is not that easy. If you can arrange it so that all the holes are to be drilled through mortar rather than brick, this will be considerably easier - but only try this if your mortar is in good condition.

The holes should be about 10mm (0.39in) deeper in the wall than the length of the screw and stretch the diameter of the appropriate sized rawlplug to fit your screws. Next, partly push the rawlplugs into each of the holes and fit the screws through the brackets. Holding the bracket in position, you then screw each plug into the corresponding rawlplug. You may find it easier to start the screw into the rawlplug with your fingers before the rawlplug is pushed right into the wall. Tighten up with a good screwdriver to make sure the bracket is securely held against the wall.

As your brackets will be in position all year round, it is a good idea to paint them at this stage before rust takes hold. You can often get rubber coated brackets which don't need painting, but these still need to be examined each year to see if the coating has been removed and touched-up with paint to ensure a longer life.

Hope this helps,

Sibe.

Brighten up your garden with our guide to Hanging Baskets and take a look at Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe 'Tessa') for ideas on what plants you should include!