Garden Sense

Gardening is a lesson, one none of us will ever finish. Each day I learn something new about the life growing outside. Over the course of 23 years I have had many, many gardening successes. With success also comes failure. Fortunately, my success has out weighed my failures. I have developed a few standard rules of thumb when it comes to gardening and I wanted to share them with you. So here’s to success and failure!

Choose your plants wisely: When I go to the local nursery, I pull the plant from the container. If the roots are visible and it appears there are more roots than dirt, I select another plant. I do not want to purchase plants that are root bound from the grower. Why? When I purchase a plant I want the roots to be able to adjust to their new home rather quickly. If the roots are loose in the container they will take root at home much faster. If they are bound when I get them I must cut and separate (stimulate) the roots before planting. When you do this the plant goes into shock. It will likely go through a wilting and recovery process before it ever shows its beauty. It will also require more watering because there is less dirt around the roots to absorb the moisture. When I shop the local nursery, I avoid plants that are displayed on surfaces such as pavement or gravel. Pavement and gravel have a way of “cooking” the roots, no one needs scorched roots! It takes approximately 3-4 months for the plants to reproduce healthy roots once they have been burned. And guess what happens above the ground during that time?

Understand the tag: One of the most common mistakes made when purchasing plants is that the buyer does not know what is full sun to part shade and part sun to full shade and so on. Here is an easy way to remember. Consider an eight hour day. If a particular spot has sun (no shadows) on it for 8 hours that is considered full sun. If it gets 4 hours of direct sun and 4 hours of shade (or indirect sun) that is part sun. If an area is deeply shadowed for 8 hours during the day is considered part shade. If an area never sees one ray of sunlight it is considered full shade. These tags are designed as a guideline; they are not etched in stone! For instance I have grown shade loving hostas in part to full sun and I have grown shade loving coral bells in the boiling hot full sun. The key is this, if you are planting something that likes shade or cooler temperatures and you want it to be in the sun, simply water it more. I have also had sun loving plants perform very well in shade; they just need a little more fertilizer. Another misunderstood thing is Clematis is a full sun plant; however they like their roots to remain cool and shaded. Solution: plant a ground cover next to it to provide cooler soil and shade for the roots. Sometimes you have to read further than the tag that accompanies the plant. If something is not performing well in my garden, I move it to a different location. And sometimes I move it again before I find its perfect home.

Equal to the importance of light requirements, is soil requirements. Plants that require well drained moist soil means the water should run through the soil. It does not mean that the water stays in the soil. For instance petunias do not like for their roots to be wet, however petunias do use a good amount of water. Rule of thumb: make sure it drains well and water does not “stand” in the soil.

To fertilize or not: When you purchase a plant you will notice one of two things in the soil; either plastic looking pellets or granular looking pellets. Both are fertilizers added by the grower. Commercial growers add a great deal of fertilizer to their plants so that they will grow very rapidly and make a profit in a short amount of time. Which is good for the grower, not so good for you or the plant for that matter. When I purchase plants for a new garden area, I mix a well balanced slow releasing fertilizer to the soil, not the plant. When you place a plant in the ground, it is their nature to spread and look for nutrients in the soil around them. When you put fertilizer on the plant, the roots say okay I can stay right here. They never expand below the ground so what is above the ground never reaches its full potential. People ask me all the time “How do you get this garden to grow?” First I start off with a good mixture of 2 parts top soil, 2 parts cow manure and 1 part soil conditioner. I mix it all together and till it into the existing soil of the garden. Then I add the fertilizer and till it in as well. It’s a great beginning to a super garden. In the spring I work a slow release balanced fertilizer into the soil and that is all I do. (Oh I forgot one major thing, I pray over it. Believe it or not it does work!) I do not re-feed again until the following spring. When you over fertilize you improve what is above the ground and more often than not you weaken what is under the ground. Good roots to grow by!

You can subscribe to our free monthly Newsletter that will always be full of tips and surprises. As you can tell I am very picky when it comes to buying plants. About 75% of my plants have been ordered by mail from plant companies near and far. The only draw back is that you sometimes do not get the color you ordered, but you never get the bugs and weak root systems that come from nurseries and growers! More likely than not, the plant you receive via mail will be dormant meaning basically all you get is roots. It does not give the instant gratification of buying plants at the local nursery, but rather long term satisfaction.