DIY: Hanging Garden

Sketch the hanging garden on paper to determine the position of different containers. Choose a covered pergola, patio, balcony or gazebo so you can easily suspend hanging baskets from the ceiling, along with placing containers of different sizes of the floor and mounting window boxes or planters against the wall. Select plants for each container, keeping their sunlight or shade requirements in mind.

Drag heavy containers such as urns on their pedestals, whiskey barrels or even those on the floor to their designated spots. Ideas for containers include hanging baskets and lightweight plastic containers or planters suspended from the ceiling, along with planters, urns with pedestals, and window boxes for the floor. Place the ones you want to hang on a table for easy access during planting.

Line all the containers with coconut fiber or sphagnum moss. Cut to size with scissors and spread evenly over the base of each.

Add lightweight, well-draining and porous potting soil into each container. Mix equal amounts of peat, perlite, sand and quality potting soil into a large container with a hand trowel before adding it into each container until several inches below the rim. Water the mix lightly.

Add transplants to the containers. Dig a hole into the soil in the center of the container using a hand trowel. Lower the roots of a transplant into it. Back fill with soil and tamp it down. Dig three to four holes around this transplant to add remaining plants into the container.

Mark four evenly-spaced points over the edges of the hanging baskets. Cut four equal lengths of chain, and insert one end of each through the marks. Collect the other ends and slip these through an S-hook. Cut different lengths of chains to suspend each hanging container from varying heights to create an appearance of fullness.

Drill 2-inch screw hooks into the ceiling and suspend the S-hook of each hanging container through it.