Hey guys, just wanted to give my two cents into the mix since I happen to have dealt with all these issues this summer. We had our deck re-built and extended this year. As a result, we went a little hanging basket mad and now have about 15 - 17 baskets around the deck and hanging from the pergola (new and overly excited gardeners lol). Of the baskets we have, some were purchased (Basket of fire, tumbling tomato, a couple strawberries, a couple creeping jennys, and 4 cheapo baskets from wal-mart) but the rest were made by hand so that we could A) control what we put in and b) use nicer baskets and c) re-use the baskets year in and out. When we selected the coir liners, I had no idea that their porous nature meant that they expelled water faster, but having read the other comments, it makes perfect sense! Will have to look into the plastic lining, thanks for the idea! That said however, we spent some time talking to a gentleman at the local nursery and ended up picking a soil called Faffard Profressional Agro-mix, which is a soilless mixture that includes coir, peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and a couple others (I couldn't find the list online). It was the same soil that the nursery used for all the plants they grew and we had wanted to make a mix ourselves like Al suggested (though not specifically that mix) but he essentially said that the agro-mix was what we would end up with (for the most part), but without needing to do the mixing ourselves. The benefit of a soil-less mixture was that it had great water retention, didn't pack down as much as soil did so the roots had plenty of room to grow and because it was an essentially an inert mix (no nutrients in the mix itself), the nutrients could be controlled by us. Furthermore, once the season was over, we *could* just remove the plants and roots, wash out the soil to remove excess salt (a byproduct of coir is that salt build up will happen, though it is dealt with by flushing the plants with water), and then use it next year. At this point in the summer, I can confidently say that the only baskets doing well are the ones we planted and the basket of fire. Most of the baskets doing poorly look root-bound and while we have provided water daily (when needed) and some miracle-grow for nutrients, they are struggling. I think I can confidently say that while doing things yourself may be a little more costly and time consuming, the end result is well worth it, especially into the end of the summer. As a side note, creeping jenny is amazing for baskets! It looks lovely and if you want to hide the basket itself, it hangs over so perfectly. Cheers guys, hope my input helps. Happy gardening :)

Grooming ought to be an ongoing thing. I find that I do a small amount of cutting/heading back on a regular basis. Thinning is important, too, as plants mature and begin to crowd each other for space. I don't what you fertilize with but I'd suggest something with lower Nitrogen than Phosphorus in the analysis and that you use it more frequently than once per month, if it is a soluble product. I fertilize the heck out of annual planters, though am stingy with that practice for any other kind of planting.

Interesting! I tend to go with plastic or glazed pots just because they need less watering that cocoa or fiber or unglazed pots. I use plain ol' Miracle-Gro all purpose container soil and have great luck (here in the Valley of the Sun). Let us know what you do and how it works out. When I've used cocoa fiber I did line it with some plastic shopping bags (with holes) to reduce mess and watering. Keep us posted and have fun! Happy gardening!

Personally, I'd not bother with strawberries in pots or hanging baskets unless space was an overriding issue :-) And the runners should be removed from the everbearing or day neutral types, so that kinda defeats the purpose of a hanging basket to my mind. They do make nice gifts, though, especially for those who may have limited gardening space or are restricted to patios or balconies or the like. Everbearing or day neutral varieties that seem to be the most popular around here are Quinault (everbearing) and Tristar (day neutral). That's typically what you find at most nurseries and garden centers (together with Hood, a very popular June bearing variety). I've never tried Ozark Beauty - the name itself implies an area distant to the PNW and I prefer locally developed selections whenever possible. Sakuma Brothers supplies a lot of local nurseries and garden centers (they have a wholesale arm) with various berry plants. You will typically find them in February as well, also bare root. And there's probably a few smaller operations that grow and sell locally. FWIW, Tristar outsells other varieties at my nursery by a factor of about 3 to 1. Smaller berries but a consistent season long production. And excellent disease resistance.