For the love of Ferns!

When we moved out to the country we bought a Cape Cod house with a wrap around porch and I have always adored wrap around porches! They just remind me of lazy Sundays; porch swinging, lemonade sipping, fire fly gazing, fern hanging, flag swaying, book reading kinda days.

Whenever you see pictures of Cape Cods in the summer time, they are usually pictured with beautiful hanging baskets or ferns hanging all around the porch so I wanted to do the same here. I had never had ferns before and I knew we'd need a few if I wanted to hang them around the entire porch but I wanted to pick something that was fairly easy to care for and that would last from May - October. We get crazy winds here in the spring so I didn't really think something with blooms would be the best way to go so I went with the illustrious fern!

So when I decided to go with ferns I had no clue what I was doing regarding care for them but I wanted them to last so I did some research and found what worked for me and our climate. Our house faces true North so they get indirect sunlight most of the day.

I water them daily when it's hot outside. On cooler days I may skip a day or two, but I don't sweat it if I am going to be gone for the day and miss watering. For the most part, during the warm summer months, they get watered daily. When I water, I soak them. I water them until water is pouring over the sides and through the hole in the bottom of the basket.

To keep the leaves a dark green and to help them grow really large and full, I give them a bath in a bucket of Epsom Salt once a month or so. I take a Lowe's bucket (or you can use a cooler) and I fill it with water and add Epsom Salt (ratio is 2 tablespoons to 1 gallon of water). Then, I take the fern and submerge it until the water flows over the plastic basket the fern sits in. I let it soak for about 6 hours (sometimes more). I usually do 1 fern a day until they've all been soaked and then do it again in another month or so.

I swear by this method! My ferns are gorgeous all summer long and through the fall! I hope you give it a try and that it works out well for you!!

Thanks for reading and stopping by for a visit! Let me know if you try this and how it works for you!

Onto porch sittin' I go! :)
Brenda