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6 Benefits of Creating a Hortiwool Hanging Basket

Simply put, wire hanging baskets need a barrier to keep soil and your plants in place!
 
Traditional linings include landscaping fabric, moss, or coconut fibre; however these often use materials which are harmful to the environment, or have a large carbon footprint from being shipped half way across the world. Not to mention that because most lining options are porous, hanging baskets using dry out quite quickly and require regular watering.
 
With the rise of sustainable gardening trends, keen gardeners are now consciously looking for new ways to incorporate materials with more planet-friendly credentials into their activities.
 
Using wool for gardening has many benefits, and what’s more it’s a material which is sustainable, and available in abundance.
 
Following on from the successful launch of the Hortiwool Garden Pad, earlier this year, due to popular demand we have now created the Hortiwool Hanging Basket Liner, offering several benefits to notoriously high maintenance hanging baskets:
 
Two hanging baskets in full bloom, using wool as the hanging basket liner 

Boost Hydration

Wool has amazing water absorption properties. At microscopic level, wool fibres have a unique and complex structure that traps air and moisture to help them control the surrounding environment. When lots of fibres are packed together, this also then creates millions of tiny air pockets which allows it to absorb lots of moisture.
This means that it will hold on to hydration for much longer, enhancing plant growth, with less watering required!
Fun Fact: Wool can absorb up to 30% its weight in water, without even feeling wet to touch!
 
 A Herwick ewe standing in a field with her two lambs

Support British Farming

Hortiwool Hanging Basket Liners are made using 100% British sheep’s wool, from British farms. They are then manufactured and produced in the UK.
A lot of sheep in the UK are hill or mountain breeds which produce thick, scratchy wool, which is rejected by the textiles industry, and as a result has a low value for farmers.
By putting giving this type of wool a use, hopefully in turn this will begin to raise its value and support British farming.
 
Hortiwool pad dug into soil

Sustainable Gardening

As a natural material, wool is 100% compostable. This means that once it’s finished its life as a hanging basket liner, the wool can be composted, or even dug into the soil, where it will naturally break down in around 6 months, even adding in valuable nutrients ready for next year’s compost, win-win!
 
A gardener pulling apart a wool liner, in preparation for composting

Reusable

Depending on the environment in which its stored, Hortiwool Hanging Basket Liners don’t have to be a single use solution. While wool naturally composts in around 6 months in the right conditions, if stored somewhere safe and dry, it will be good to use the following season – just make sure that none of our wildlife friends have chosen to make a home out of it!
 
 

Use It Now

It may be a little late in the season to need hanging basket liners, but that doesn’t mean you should wait until next year before investing! Hortiwool has lots of other uses around the home and garden.
If you’re part of the #GrowYourOwn movement, or simply enjoy spending time in the garden or allotment, why not use your wool liner for deterring slugs, mulching, capillary matting, or even as a growing medium.
 
Hortiwool and Woolcool Picnic Giveaway advertisement

Win Prizes!

We’ve teamed up with our sister company, Woolcool, to offer the prize of a luxury hamper to the winner of our Picnic Giveaway.
 
Throughout August, if you snap a photo of how you are using wool for gardening, and post it on social media using #Hortiwool and #LetsBoxClever and tagging both @WeAreHortiwool and @WeAreWoolcool, you could be in with a chance of winning!
 
We’ve put together a step-by-step video on how to create your Hortiwool Hanging Basket below.
 
Hortiwool Hanging Basket Liners are designed to fit 12, 14 and 16” baskets, and are available in a pack of two liners, and retail at £11.95
Click here to shop Hortiwool.