Spring Planting Tips
By Michael J. McGroarty, Fri Dec 9th
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Spring means that the garden centers are packed with people,and car trunks are packed with plants. Everybody has dirt ontheir knees, dirt under their nails, and is excited aboutgardening. To make certain that this excitement yields positiveresults, let's discuss the basics in this article of springplanting tips.
Installing new plants and having them grow successfully is notdifficult, nor is it as complicated as some would have youthink. Is it as easy as just digging a hole and setting theplant in? Yes, it certainly can be. I won't get into bedpreparation, as I have covered that in other articles that areavailable at http://www.freeplants.com
Let's start with B&B plants. B&B is short for balled in burlap.Closely examine the ball on the plant that you have purchased.Did the diggers wrap twine around the ball to hold the plantsecure? If they did, you should at least cut the twine and layit in the bottom of the hole, or remove it completely. Pay closeattention around the stem of the plant where it emerges from theroot ball, as diggers often wrap the twine around the stemseveral times as they tie the ball. This is extremely importantbecause if the string is nylon, it will not rot and will girdleand kill the plant two or three years from now.
When B&B plants are stored in the nursery for extended periodsof time it becomes necessary to re-burlap them if the bottomstarts to rot before the plants are sold. If the plant that youbuy has been re-burlaped it is possible that there could benylon stings between the two layers of burlap, so check the stemcarefully. As long as the nylon string is removed from aroundthe stem of the plant, it is actually harmless around the restof the ball, and you do not have to remove it.
Is the root ball wrapped in genuine burlap, or imitationburlap made of a non-biodegradable plastic material?
Genuine burlap will rot quickly underground and does not haveto be disturbed before planting. If you're not sure or suspect apoly type burlap, you don't have to remove it completely, butshould loosen it around the stem of the plant and cut somevertical slices around the circumference of the ball.
Now here's the critical part. What kind of soil are you plantingin?
If your soil is heavy clay, I highly suggest that you raise theplanting bed at least 8" with good rich topsoil. If you can't dothat for some reason, install the plant so that at least 2" ormore of the root ball is above the existing grade and mound thesoil over the root ball. Keep in mind that plants installed thisway could dry out over the summer, but planting them flush withthe ground in heavy clay can mean that the roots will be too wetat other times of the year.
The "experts" suggest that when planting in clay soil you digthe hole wider and deeper than the root ball and fill around andunder the plant with loose organic material. That sounds like areally great idea, doesn't it? Some of these experts alsorecommend that you dig the hole extra deep and put a few inchesof gravel in the bottom for drainage. Where do you suppose theythink this water is going to "drain" to?
Keep in mind that most B&B plants are grown in well drainedsoil. That means that the soil in the root ball is porous andwater can easily pass through. Now imagine if you will, a rootball about 15" in diameter, setting in a hole 30" in diameter.All around and under that root ball is loose organic matter.Inside of that root ball is porous soil. Now along comes MotherNature with a torrential downpour. There is water everywhere,and it is not going to soak into that hard packed clay soil, soit is just flowing across the top of the ground searching forthe lowest point.
When it reaches our newly planted tree surrounded by looseorganic matter, it is going to seep in until the planting holeis completely full of water. (Remember my article on getting ridof standing water and the French drain system?) By using thisplanting technique we have actually created a French drainaround our poor little plant that cannot tolerate its rootsbeing without oxygen for long periods of time. Because thebottom of this hole is clay, even though we've added gravel fordrainage, there is nowhere for the water to go, and this plantis going to suffer and likely die.
If you cannot raise the planting bed with topsoil, and areplanting in clay soil, I recommend that you install the rootball at least 2" above grade and backfill around the ball withthe soil that you removed when you dug the hole. Backfillingwith the clay soil that you removed is actually like building adam to keep excess water from permeating the root ball of yournewly
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