DIY Tips: #4 How to fix a bracket ready for a hanging flower basket

Spring and summer months cause many of us to imagine sitting amongst baskets of 

colourful, scented flowers hanging from every conceivable free space on our walls, fences, 

patios, trees, sheds and deckings. For some this will be a simple and well practised task, 

for others however, this will cause questions such as: 

Should I hang it on a wall or a fence post? 
Should I drill and screw into the brick or mortar between the bricks? 
How should I test the strength of the bracket for my hanging basket? 
What height should I mount the basket? 
And finally, 
What tools will I need for this job?

You will need:

• A drill – battery or mains

• A pack of “Rawl” type plugs (brown) (medium to heavy duty)

• A suitable drill bit (sometimes the pack of plugs will

   come with a drill bit – see picture)

• A screw driver or driver attachment for your drill

Specific fence-post hangers are available for hanging baskets onto fence posts as can be seen in the picture – they fit over the concrete or wooden post.


Where a bracket needs to be fixed to a wall or shed with screws, you will need to assess 

what height you need the hanging bracket to be for the height you want for your basket. 

Bear in mind here that hanging baskets full of flowers and water are very heavy and solid

 objects and if you bang your head on one – it will hurt for at least a couple of minutes 

afterwards. 
If you are old, like my nan then you could probably have the basket a little lower than if 

you are a younger person – don't worry about this as the younger people should look out 

for low hanging baskets at their nan's house and it will be their own fault if they get skittled by one of your baskets one day when they're not looking. 

TIP If you have a tall teenager about the place, you could use them to walk around 

checking the height of the baskets – if they bump their head, it will wake them up and help them to feel useful. 

So, firstly hold the bracket at the desired height and mark the holes with a pencil. I always 

find it gives better results to drill into the actual brick rather than the mortar between the 

bricks – gives a more solid fixing. Are you sure you want to fix it just there? 

Remember TIP Measure twice, cut / drill once.

• Drill holes around half a centimetre longer than the rawl plugs.
  

• Push in the plugs until they are flush with the wall surface as per the diagram.
  

• Line up the bracket and screw through and into the plugs in the wall ensuring all 

  screws are tight and the bracket is firm (give it a good tug to make sure).
  

• Fill the basket with compost and flowers or whatever you have planned (do not water).
  

• Hang the basket onto the hanger and now water.

TIP If you are fixing the bracket to a shed – do make sure you are screwing into a wooden batten or beam and not just into the feather edged boarding. Also you will not need the 

rawl plugs if you fix into wood.


Next week we will fix a dripping tap. Do let me know if you'd like me to suggest places to 

purchase tools and hardware needed for these DiY tasks and I'll see what I can do.


Keep safe

Dave