Planting

successfully

  
 
Success with your garden depends largely on its proper installation:
 
1.) the correct plant choice for the location (in respect to climate, soil quality, sun exposure, water)
 
2.) adequate soil improvement (soil texture, permeability to air, water and roots, balanced fertility)
 
Of lesser importance are watering, fertilizing and maintenance practices. Well, although they are less important, they are however sometimes reason for failure, especially when executed in an excessive way. In fact, a low-maintenance garden can be beautiful with next to no watering, little fertilizer and minimal other maintenance, as long as plant choice and soil improvement were well done. The less your plant choice considers the site conditions, the higher the maintenance needs. An example for this would be planting Astilbe in a strongly draining soil that dries up in the summer. To keep these plants alive, it would be necessary to water every single day.
 
In respect to fertilizing, the best guideline is: Don't feed the plants - feed the soil! This normally results in higher sustainability of the garden and better plant health. In practice, it means to add nutrients in form of compost and organic fertilizers that nourish soil microorganisms. These decompose organic matter slowly, and accordingly release soluble nutrients slowly into the soil. If the weather is warm and the soil is sufficiently moist the soil organisms are very active, decomposing organic matter more quickly and releasing nutrients at a higher rate. Plants are also growing faster at these conditions, and are ready to take up these nutrients without much wash-out or other losses. Chemical fertilizers are not as balanced.
 
Weeding can turn out to be the biggest maintenance problem for a garden. If your location is very weedy to begin with, it is best to kill off weeds entirely before starting a new garden. Besides herbicides, covering the garden patch with several layers of newspaper or plastic sheets and a heavy layer of bark mulch will clean up your bed quite well, however, it might take an entire year or two. Landscape fabric works well too but I have seen queck grass (Agropyron repens) and horsetail (Equisetum) puncture the fabric (felt-type more than densely woven!) - with terrible results. If the area is too large for hand weeding, only chemicals or heavy plastic covers with mulch can fight the problem.
 
About plant choice:
- Obviously, hardiness is a first consideration for plant selection. Keep in mind that micro climate, drainage of the soil, and mulch can tremendously influence the survival of a plant over the winter.
- Soil and plants need to match: Most important are the acidity of the soil and the presence of water. Many plants are very much decided about how much water they want to encounter. Some don't tolerate drought, others don't tolerate wetness, not even if it comes from a well-intended sprinkler system.
- Fertility also needs to meet your plant's needs. There are heavy feeders and light feeders.
- A good starting point to purchase plants is a local nursery, where you can count on advise based on knowledge and experience. I have seen many plants in the perennials and shrubs shelves of big box stores that were not hardy in the locations where they were sold. I even have seen plants there that were illegal to be sold because of state laws regulating invasive plant species.
- I select my plants with the help of a data bank that I build up over 14 years of hard work (and learning at the same time). It contains over 2000 entries suitable for New England, each with over 50 features as to the requirements and qualities of each plant. It enables me to find exactly the right plant for what I need. When designing your own garden, make sure your gardening books are not written for Australia or Oregon if you are gardening in New England!
 
One last advice:
When planting a garden (and interpreting a cost estimate for such work), the most time consuming activity is not putting the plants into the ground but improving the soil to provide the best conditions for these plants.
 

    • Planting and Watering Recommendations:

    1.) Prepare the soil with as much compost as possible. Work compost into a thick layer of soil. A fork spade reaches deeper than a rototiller. Add peat moss to the compost in a ratio of 1:1 for acid loving plants such as Rhododendrons, Mountain Laurels, Blueberries, Dogwoods and many other trees and woodland plants. You can also add bark mulch as a soil conditioner and work it into the soil. Peat moss needs to be pre-moistened before use (best done in a wheelbarrow)!

    2.) Place your plant in the prepared bed, no deeper than it was in the container! (Exception: Clematis can be 1-2" deeper) The planting hole should be dug no deeper than the container, but ideally 2 or 3 times wider. Loosen the bottom of the planting hole slightly. Place your plant in the hole and do not use compost under the plant! Many trees, especially evergreens, do better if they are mounded up! In this case, a generous layer of bark mulch facilitates water penetration and makes watering easier. Planting too deep, or later sinking of the plant in a location that initially was dug up too deep is sure death for many garden plants.

    3.) Do not remove entire wire basket of balled & burlapped plants! Remove upper third or half after the trees has been properly placed, backfill half high, then open up burlap around trunk and fold back and down. Continue backfilling and cover burlap, which will eventually rot away. Removing entire wire basket can cause root ball to break and can severely damage root system!

    4.) Put some mild pressure on the soil to secure the plant. Plants have to be anchored, especially shrubs and trees. Since most plants like fluffy, porous soil, avoid compacting soil all around the plant - two steps, one to the right, on to the left, are often enough to anchor the plant.

    5.) Cover planting site with mulch. Bark mulch and compost are excellent mulches that keep the soil fluffy and porous and allow water and air to penetrate the soil. Compost helps to nourish the soil, while barkmulch is better to suppress weeds and lasts longer.

    6.) Water immediately and thoroughly after planting! This is absolutely essential for planting success. It helps to wash soil between the roots and refreshes the plant in its new home. Watering has to be right for every plant. Some tiny rock garden plants need only a short soft shower to be fully soaked. Too much water would wash soil away and expose roots to drying sun and wind. Most perennials and smaller shrubs need a deep soaking, and some gardeners give it a second deep soaking the same day just to make sure they soaked down deep enough. When planting larger shrubs and trees, it is best to fill up the planting hole with water before the plant is placed, in order to saturate the soil even in greater depth. The plant is placed after all water has disappeared. After planting, another deep soaking is necessary.

    - bark mulch or compost mulch facilitates water penetration.

    - Lawn sprinklers are absolutely inadequate for larger container shrubs or balled & burlaped trees, where the root balls are often 12 to 18" deep. Lawn sprinklers only water 3-4" deep!

    - Most shrubs need 2-3 deep waterings per week. Watering deeply and not as often is better than frequent, shallow watering. Let soil dry off between watering to allow for airflow in the soil. Larger shrubs and trees (root ball 18" or more wide) need only one very thorough soaking. Small plants dry out quicker and need more frequent watering, up to once a day.

    - Established plants should not need watering at all unless extensive drought occurs. Most woody plants become established ca. 1 year after planting.

    - If plants, especially larger ones, get watered every day, they might die from lack of aeration of their root system! First symptom is yellowing of the leaves.

    7 .) Be very reserved when fertilizing your shrubs and trees in the first season. A good soil preparation with plenty of compost should take care of your plants appetite. In general, woody plants and slow growing plants (especially dwarf conifers and rock garden plants) need less food. While fast growing and heavy leafed shrubs, many perennials and most annuals need a lot of food in a short time. They do best in very deep, rich soil, loaded with compost and peat moss, and generously enriched with readily available fertilizers. Hydrangea, Iris, Daylilies, Hosta, Ligularia, Hollyhock, tall grasses, Canna Lilies, Dahlias, Elephant Ears are examples for this.

    For woody plants and most perennials, do not use fertilizer late in the season, let's say from August on, since late growth does not allow plant tissue to harden off for winter.

    8.) We recommend the use of Mycorrhiza inoculants or root stimulators with woody plants (except Rhododendrons and other broadleaf evergreens). They are mixed into the soil during planting.

    9.) Do not add bark mulch every year, since a thick layer of bark mulch is detrimental to soil live and fertility. 

               

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