December is a great time to make up Spring Hanging Baskets as not only can you obtain all the plants, usually at very good prices at the garden centres but it also makes good use of your cold greenhouse in this quiet period to allow the plants to establish and grow on.

Spring hanging baskets are also a great idea to bring very welcome early season colour to your house or garden before you start on your main summer displays.

Basically, spring hanging baskets are created in the same way as you summer hanging baskets. If you use the wire type of basket, this allows you to plant up the sides. The liner can be moss or the manmade type.

One of the difficult areas with hanging baskets is with watering - yes - even with the spring rains.

Baskets are often used in areas where they receive very little rain, under the eaves of a house etc. Because of this, we recommend that you use compost with a wetting agent, which helps break the natural surface tension of the water making it easier for the water to be soaked up by the compost. 

Another useful tip with regard to watering is to combine a 4 inch pot saucer in the inside of the finished basket, under the compost. This will act as a reservoir to hold the water.

Common and easily available plants that are often used in spring baskets include:...

Some flower ideas... Polyanthus, Primroses, Pansies, Crocus, Dwarf Iris, Dwarf Narcissus, Cyclamen.

Greenery... Ivy, Sedum and Saxifrage, small Conifer or alternatively, if you can get some sprigs of greenery (liberate them from the Christmas tree!) and these can be arranged with the flowers planted between the branches. The greenery will be held by the compost and should last well into the spring.