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Hanging baskets look beautiful next to doors and will add a lot of colour to a home, but gardeners need to keep checking up on them now as they are more likely to die off. It is warming up in the UK, with parts of the country expectingtemperatures over 25C next week, and this can cause hanging baskets to completely dry out within a day.

Flowers in hanging baskets are most exposed to the sun and have little soil to protect their roots, so they can lose a lot of water within just a few hours on particularly hot days. If the soil dried out completely, then flowers can lose their petals, begin to droop, and in some cases will become too stressed to keep growing at all. However, Elizabeth McCoy, an experienced gardener and founder of A Forest Garden, has shared there is an easy way to keep hanging baskets hydrated, as you just need some kitchen sponges.

Elizabeth explained: "The sponges will serves as little reservoirs to soak up excess water when it is available and release it later to the soil and roots when it is needed. I placed several sponge fragments around those holes in the bag to soak up water before it drains out."

Sponges are designed to be highly absorbent and hold a lot of water, and will help prevent the soil inside hanging baskets from drying out on extremely sunny days.

You will still need to keep an eye on your hanging baskets, but they will cut down on how often they need to be watered, so you can enjoy the beautiful weather next week without worrying about your flowers.

All you need to do is buy some plain sponges, which are usually cheap in the cleaning aisle of any supermarket, but make sure they are not preloaded with soap or cleaning products.

Next, cut the sponges into small pieces and lay them at the bottom of the hanging basket so they are submerged between the plastic liner and the soil.

It can also help to add a few bits of sponges around the edge of the basket, as the soil more exposed to the outside can dry out at a quicker rate.

Then, simply give your hanging basket a good watering and your flowers should continue to stay healthy and alive for the rest of the warmer months.

It is still recommended to check up on hanging baskets once a day in late spring to see if they need watering, but using sponges means you will not need to water around them with a watering can all the time

Many gardeners also line the basket with an additional plastic liner to help retain more water, which you can buy from a gardening centre, but you can also use a simple shopping bag.

Just make sure to use a pair of scissors to poke holes in the plastic so water drains out of the basket. While keeping water in is important, you do not want it overflowing.