Spring Planting Tips
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Article by: Michael McGroarty Spring means that the garden , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree centers are packed with people, and car trunks are packed with plants. , Five Quick Tips to Get Your Kids Gardening Everybody has dirt on their knees, dirt under their nails, , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts and is excited about gardening. , The Truth about Bulb Flowers To make certain that this excitement yields positive results, let's discuss the basics in this article of spring , Koi Pond Aeration planting tips. , 5 Things To Consider Before Purchasing a Push Reel Mower Installing new plants , My Spring Bulbs Won't Bloom - Why? and having them grow , Landscape Design - Well Balanced Home Landscaping successfully is not difficult, nor is it as complicated as some would have you think. Is it as easy as just digging a hole and setting the plant , Know Your Bird Feeders, Part 1 in? Yes, it certainly can be. I won't get into bed , Tractors and Their History preparation, as I have covered that in other articles that are available at http://www.freeplants.com Let's start with B&B plants. , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! B&B is short for balled in burlap. Closely examine the ball on the plant , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form that you have purchased. Did the diggers wrap twine around the ball to hold the plant , Landscape Design - Well Balanced Home Landscaping secure? If they did, you should at least cut the twine and lay it in the bottom of the hole, or remove it completely. Pay close attention around the stem of the plant , Your Step By Step Guide To ing The Perfect Lawn where it emerges from the root , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! ball, as diggers often wrap the twine around the stem several times as they tie the ball. This is extremely important because if the string is nylon, it will not rot and will girdle and kill the plant , The Truth about Bulb Flowers two or three years from now. When B&B plants , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! are stored in the nursery for extended periods of time it becomes necessary to re-burlap them if the bottom starts to rot before the plants , Backpack Blowers are sold. If the plant , How to Pick Up the Most Necessary Gardening Tools? that you buy has been re-burlaped it is possible that there could be nylon stings between the two layers of burlap, so check the stem carefully. As long as the nylon string is removed from around the stem of the plant, , Backpack Blowers it is actually harmless around the rest of the ball, and you do not have to remove it. Is the root , 5 Things To Consider Before Purchasing a Push Reel Mower ball wrapped in genuine burlap, or imitation burlap made of a non-biodegradable plastic , Buy Flowers Online material? Genuine burlap will rot quickly underground and does not have to be disturbed before planting. If you're not sure or suspect a poly type burlap, you don't have to remove it completely, but should loosen it around the stem of the plant , Caring for Grosfillex Resin Patio Furniture and cut some vertical slices around the circumference of the ball. Now here's the critical part. What kind of soil , The Basics of Plant Growth; Part 1 Hormones are you planting in? If your soil , Great Gardening Gift Ideas is heavy clay, I highly suggest that you raise the planting bed , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form at least 8" with good rich topsoil. If you can't do that for some reason, install the plant , FREE: How You Can Make a Hypertufa Flowerpot so that at least 2" or more of the root , Trends and Styles of Patio Furniture ball is above the existing grade and mound the soil , Landscape and Outdoor Lighting - Less is Definitely More over the root , Relaxation in the Garden Starts With a Swing Bed ball. Keep in mind that plants , Let Life and Energy Flow from the Garden installed this way could dry out over the summer, , Indoor Waterfalls but planting them flush with the ground in heavy clay can mean that the roots , Indoor Waterfalls will be too wet at other times of the year. The "experts" suggest that when planting in clay soil , Benefits of Mulch you dig the hole wider and deeper than the root , Planting Tomatoes in Your Garden ball and fill around and under the plant , Ticks with loose organic , Great Gardening Gift Ideas material. That sounds like a really great idea, doesn't it? Some of these experts also recommend that you dig the hole extra deep and put a few inches of gravel , Let Life and Energy Flow from the Garden in the bottom for drainage. Where do you suppose they think this water , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! is going to "drain" to? Keep in mind that most B&B plants , Benefits of Mulch are grown in well drained soil. , The Truth about Bulb Flowers That means that the soil , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree in the root , Brilliant Corners: House Plants and Your Health ball is porous and water , Landscape and Outdoor Lighting - Less is Definitely More can easily pass through. Now imagine if you will, a root , Iris Flowers Remind Me Of Mom! ball about 15" in diameter, setting in a hole 30" in diameter. All around and under that root , First Aid for a Dried Out Hanging Basket ball is loose organic , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form matter. Inside , 5 Things To Consider Before Purchasing a Push Reel Mower of that root , Brilliant Corners: House Plants and Your Health ball is porous soil. , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! Now along comes Mother Nature , The Basics of Plant Growth; Part 1 Hormones with a torrential downpour. There is water , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! everywhere, and it is not going to soak into that hard packed clay soil, , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form so it is just flowing across the top of the ground searching for the lowest point. When it reaches our newly planted tree , Hot Feeding Tips surrounded by loose organic , Palm Tree Care matter, it is going to seep in until the planting hole is completely full of water. , Think Vintage for Your Garden (Remember my article on getting rid of standing water , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! and the French drain system?) By using this planting technique we have actually created a French drain around our poor little plant , Tractors and Their History that cannot tolerate its roots , Koi Pond Aeration being without oxygen for long periods of time. Because the bottom of this hole is clay, even though we've added gravel , First Aid for a Dried Out Hanging Basket for drainage, there is nowhere for the water , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" to go, and this plant , 5 Things To Consider Before Purchasing a Push Reel Mower is going to suffer and likely die. If you cannot raise the planting bed , Relaxation in the Garden Starts With a Swing with topsoil, and are planting in clay soil, , Landscape and Outdoor Lighting - Less is Definitely More I recommend that you install the root , Indoor Waterfalls ball at least 2" above grade and backfill around the ball with the soil , Five Quick Tips to Get Your Kids Gardening that you removed when you dug the hole. Backfilling with the clay soil , Winter Gardening that you removed is actually like building , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts a dam to keep excess water , FREE: How You Can Make a Hypertufa Flowerpot from permeating the root , Hot Feeding Tips ball of your newly planted tree. , Planting Tomatoes in Your Garden The plant , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" is not going to thrive in this poor soil, , Making Memories with Flower Gardening but at least it will have a chance to survive. Once again, raising the bed , Relaxation in the Garden Starts With a Swing with good rich topsoil is the best thing you can do to keep your plants healthy , Building A Foot Bridge and happy. No matter what kind of soil , Koi Pond Aeration you have, be careful not to install your plants , Keeping Houses Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts too deep. They should never be planted any deeper than they were grown in the nursery. Planting too deep is a common problem, and thousands of plants , How to Pick Up the Most Necessary Gardening Tools? are killed each year by gardeners who just don't understand how critical planting depth is. Staking newly planted trees , Know Your Bird Feeders, Part 1 is always a good idea. If your new tree , Planting Tomatoes in Your Garden constantly rocks back and forth when the wind blows it will have a very difficult time establishing new roots , Buy Flowers Online into the existing soil. , Fertilizing Your Lawn for a Beautiful Landscape Stabilize the tree , How to Pick Up the Most Necessary Gardening Tools? with a stake. You can use a wooden , Properly Watering Hillside and Sloped Landscaping stake, a fence post, or for small trees , Bird Baths in Your Yard I often use 1/2" electro magnetic tubing, (conduit), available at any hardware , Flowers and Butterflies, the Perfect Combination! store. You can secure the tree , How to Read a Seed Catalog to the stake with a single wrap of duct tape. In about six months or a year the sun , CO2 for 'Free' will dry the glue on the duct tape and it will fall , Your Step By Step Guide To Planting The Perfect Lawn off. Check the tape to make sure that it has fallen off. You don't want to girdle the tree , Vegetable Growing for Beginners with the tape. Container grown plants , Bird Baths in Your Yard are much easier. Follow the rules for depth of planting as described earlier. Before gently removing the plant , Hydroponics Gardening - An Introduction To Hydroponics Gardening For Beginners (part 4) Environment from the container, check the drain holes in the bottom of the container for roots , Backpack Blowers that might be growing , Great Gardening Gift Ideas out the holes. If so, cut them off so they will not make it difficult to get the plant , How to Pick Up the Most Necessary Gardening Tools? out of the container. The easiest way to remove the plant , Let Life and Energy Flow from the Garden from the container is to place , Iris Flowers Remind Me Of Mom! your hand over the top of the container and turn it completely upside down and give it a gentle shake. The plant , Tractors and Their History should slide right into your hand. Examine the root , Five Quick Tips to Get Your Kids Gardening mass as you hold it in your hand. Sometimes when plants , Fertilizing Your Lawn for a Beautiful Landscape have been growing , Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form in a container for a long time the roots , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree start to grow , My Spring Bulbs Won't Bloom - Why? in a circular pattern around the root , Buy Flowers Online mass. This is not good, and you should disturb these roots , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts before planting so you can break this circular pattern. You can take a knife and actually make about three vertical slices from the top of the root , FREE: How You Can Make a Hypertufa Flowerpot mass to the bottom. This will stimulate new roots , Buy Flowers Online that will grow , Palm Tree Care outward into the soil , Making Memories with Flower Gardening of your garden. , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts Or you can just take your fingers and loosen the roots , Koi Pond Aeration that are circling the root , Daylily "Red Hot Returns" mass and force them outward before you plant , Properly Watering Hillside and Sloped Landscaping them. What about fertilizer, bone meal, peat moss, and all those other additives they are going to try and sell you at the garden , Lawn Care Information center? Raise your planting beds , Tractors and Their History with good rich topsoil and forget about the additives. Be very careful with fertilizers, they can do more harm than good. I landscaped my house , How to Pick Up the Most Necessary Gardening Tools? 14 years ago and I haven't got around to fertilizing the plants , FREE: How You Can Make a Hypertufa Flowerpot yet, and have no intention of doing so. They look great. As far as bone meal and all those other soil , FREE: How You Can Make a Hypertufa Flowerpot additives are concerned, don't get too caught up in all that stuff. The only thing that I know for sure is that they will make your wallet thinner, but I don't think you'll see a difference in your plants. , ing Tomatoes in Your Garden Over the years I've landscaped several hundred homes , Great Gardening Gift Ideas with fantastic results, and I never added any of these additives to my planting beds. , Backpack Blowers Did I mention planting in good rich topsoil? That's the secret!Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening , Your Step By Step Guide To Planting The Perfect Lawn newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information , Two Answers to a Poinsettia FAQ: How Can I Get My Poinsettia to Rebloom? at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm. |
  
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