0:00 Just imagine if you can, early spring, you go to the garden center, you go in for a

0:04 cup of coffee and you're walking past beautiful cascading begonias in hanging

0:09 baskets, and you say I've got to have one of those, thirty-five quid at least it'll cost you but

0:15 there's a better way of doing it and a lot lot cheaper way doing it you can

0:19 still have the coffee still enjoy the spectacle of Begonias but I tell you

0:24 what, combs, now let me just tell you a little bit about combs, three to four

0:30 centimetres bedding begonia combs. Now these are pendular, they'll actually grow

0:36 over and they grow down the sides of a basket, you can actually grow them in a

0:41 pot like this as a nursery bed and then actually transfer them into a basket so

0:46 what you do is you keep them on a windowsill, nice and warm in most compost,

0:51 and those will grow on. They'll grow quite happily and you're getting ahead

0:55 of the game, you're getting ready for mid May, these are going out frost surpassed

1:00 and they could not look absolutely magnificent. Now just on the combs

1:04 themselves, three to four centimeters, those will perform really well.

1:10 You'll get quite a few in a pot, they'll cascade over and the difference between

1:15 pendular and cascading in the word really the cascading wants a magnificent

1:20 fully double, perform magnificently, great big flowers, the pendular ones - semi-double.

1:28 You know some flowers are double and some aren't. Theyl will perform well but not to the

1:33 size of these big ones these are exhibition qualities you go to

1:36 a garden show these are the ones that you'll see the flowers of. Now all

1:41 cascading Begonias are beautiful. The normal sized ones are absolutely wonderful

1:46 colours, you really can't go wrong. Single and semi double flowers, they really are

1:51 lovely but if you want that little bit of extra bling go for the giant cascaders.

1:55 They really are wonderful .All fully double flowers, wonderful colors will

2:02 really brighten up a dual patio, I tell you what, either one you're in for a

2:07 treat but try those big ones, you can't go wrong. Now planting them

2:13 couldn't be easier, so in a small pan like this, I grow on as in a nursery bed

2:19 on the window ledge, few pebbles in the bottom just to aid drainage, nothing likes

2:24 to be sat in wet, a little bit of compost in the pan just like that just firm it

2:32 down slightly. Now that's lovely moist compost, these will

2:36 actually sit on the top there, now just a just a point, if you don't know, they're cup

2:44 shaped so the curve bit that sits in the compost and the little eye is going to

2:48 come out of there and grow away quite happily. Now remember this is just a

2:52 nursery bed so all I'm doing is putting them on, growing them on in here,

2:56 letting them swell up just so that they can get ahead of the weather outside and

3:03 then I'm going to transfer these, when they're ready into a hanging basket. Now

3:09 that's the old-fashioned way of doing it, you just place them on there. What

3:12 they're doing that in the modern ways is to actually just put a layer of compost

3:17 on the top and really and truly all it does is get the moisture into it quicker.

3:22 These combs are desiccated, they've been dried out over the winter, now it's as

3:28 simple as that. Now those are great in that nursery bed

3:32 but we don't want to leave it like that we're going for exhibition quality we're

3:36 going to knock the neighbor socks off with what we're going to do next. Now an

3:40 old pot or a bucket, just to take your hanging basket. Now the hanging basket's

3:45 lined with plastic, so that's okay. Compost in the bottom, no need for

3:51 crocks on this because it's going to evaporate quickly and it's going to

3:57 go away quite happily, there's going to be plenty of moisture in there, firm it

4:04 down, that's lovely moist compost ready to go,

4:07 because what we're planting now are exhibition quality. Look at these

4:12 beauties, 5 to 6 centimeters, the Belgium's where most of these come from, for some

4:17 unknown reason do it different to the rest of the world they measure in

4:21 diameter rather than circumference, but five to six centimeters.

4:24 You buy these mail-order, you don't normally get these in any garden centers

4:29 you go in, they're absolutely beautiful. 15 to 20 centimeter tight blooms, beautiful

4:36 things, cascading over there. They really are magnificent usually self

4:40 dropping so the flowers just drop off. I tell you what these are wonderful

4:44 wonderful things and rather than spending 35 quid on a hanging basket,

4:49 you can do it this way for, you know under a pound, I mean it's absolutely magnificent.

4:54 Now in in a basket this size, three of these exhibition quality five to six

4:59 centimeters, three would be plenty in a basket that size, the bigger the basket,

5:03 the more you can put in, but these are beautiful and cascading fully

5:08 double you really can't go wrong. You've had the pleasure of doing it yourself,

5:12 you've knocked the neighbours socks off, you can still go to that expensive garden

5:17 center and have a cup of coffee and enjoy the surroundings, but you're

5:21 saving yourself a few quid which in my book, is always a good idea.