Why do the local authority water their hanging baskets when its raining?
Even during heavy rain the canopy of leaves and flowers built by the plants in the baskets prevents much of the rain water from getting to the soil and so the roots of the plants. There is a pipe in the centre of the baskets which leads to a reservoir at the base of the baskets. Rain water can not enter this pipe and so enter the reservoir due to the canopy of the plants. Our watering teams use a special attachment to direct the water into this pipe and so into the reservoir, which means that the baskets do not need to be watered every day. After the baskets have been out for 8 weeks there is no longer any nutrients available in the soil, indeed, due to the expanding root ball there is very little soil left in the baskets. Therefore liquid feed is used during every watering to sustain the plants in the baskets for as long a period as possible, thus improving the look of the borough for longer. The baskets are usually watered in the evening so as not to cause a disruption to the day tim
