Making good use of your hanging baskets!!

[Redrob]

Just a quick tip on how to help those little birdies during the winter months!
Two summers ago when my hanging baskets were finished I took them down and removed all the dead plants. Then into the dryd out compost I scrapped out four holes using a screwdriver, about half way down the basket! I made the holes approx-100mm deep x 32mm dia. I then hung the two baskets back up again at the back of our house, because the baskets are not really much to look at without the flowers. This was just an experiment at the time to see if anything would use them. To my surprise they were used, they were use by roosting Coal tits, rite through the winter months. Therefore I done the same again at the end of last summer. Once again success! but this time by Wrens (2-4).
So! Instead of just binning your hanging baskets this year, try doing what I did! Give the small birds a better chance to survive through the winter months.

[Deb London]

This is interesting Redrob. So they are like short, horizontal tunnels. Am I understanding this correctly?

[Redrob]

Hi! Yes just dig straight in! They don't have to be that precise. Infact the first hole that give me this idea was already made when I pulled out one of the dead trailing plants from around the side of the hanging basket. I just give it some depth with a screwdriver.
One thing I forgot to add- try to give the baskets protection from the elements, they are just compost. I hang mine under the eves at the rear of my garage, so they have some protection from rain or snow.

[bigdave60dog]

Wow, Really good stuff this. You may even get willow tits boring into them in Spring. A long shot but you never can tell.
Dave

[rossy]

intresting rob, ive just put out a bird home , which i picked up in blackpool last year, its made out of a coconut, and ive placed it inside a plant pot, side on, now its wait and see time, posistioned it in a prickly bush, rossy.

[Redrob]

Hi Dave! That would be interesting!
We do have Willow or Marsh tits (not sure which) coming to the feeders every day. I'll have to keep an eye on things! Let you know if any such thing does happen.

Cheers
Dave (also Ha!)

[Redrob]

Hi Rossy! Talking about coconuts!!
When I was a kid I would ask my mother to buy me a coconut. I would drill a small hole in it, then hang it up. The blue tits loved it!
Out of curiosity one evening, I done the wrong thing (as a kid). I went down the garden after dark and put my hand over the hole, not really expecting anything to happen. How wrong was I!!! There was a bird roosting in side, a blue tit I think (it was dark). It was tryng to get out by scratching at my hand. I nearly had a fit, I didn't know how fast to pull my hand away. I never did it again!!
The down side is that I spooked the poor little thing, it never returned!
Live and learn I suppose!!!!!

Dave (Redrob)

[actionfinch]

I did the same thing this year , i went OTT mind and had a wall hanging basket, which i lined with an offcut of furry brown rug , and placed a small bet of wood over it as a roof. like i say OTT but you never now..

[PedrX]

I was about to chuck out the baskets and buy bird boxes when all I need is a screwdriver!

I suppose the dead root system holds the soil together.

Clever.

[Redrob]

Ha! No tools required!!! just a screwdriver LOL. You are spot on! The tight dead root system in the basket binds the compost together. Therefore its easy to rake out the dry compost.
My hanging baskets are lined with some kind of coarse hair, horse hair I suppose. I wonder if this is the attraction for the birds, as there is visual evedence of the hair been pulled away all round the baskets. In fact when I cleaned out my tit boxes a few weeks ago I found the same coarse dark hair in two of them.