Get your garden off to its best start by planting smart.
Whether you’re planting seeds, annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines or even a large tree, there are some tricks and tips that make sure your plants thrive immediately after planting and for years to come.
Improve the Soil
You don’t have many chances to work the soil below the top few inches, but doing so helps drainage and root development. So with every planting hole or project, work in a spadeful or a bucketful of compost, depending on the size of the hole. If you don’t have compost (though it’s by far superior to anything else), use sphagnum peat moss, well-rotted leaves, or other organic material.
Be sure to dig plenty deep to loosen the soil and help roots spread and develop. If you are planting most annuals, for example, even though you might only need to dig a few inches deep to plant them, they benefit if you turn up the soil to a depth of several inches to a foot. With most perennials, their roots may go down several inches to a foot, so dig to a depth of about 18 inches.
Plant on an Overcast Day
It doesn’t matter so much with woody trees and shrubs, but the weather makes all the difference with perennials and annuals, which can wilt much easier. I even like to plant in a light drizzle. My neighbors think I’m crazy, but my plants love it!
Never Plant in Extreme Heat
In Iowa, we’re lucky that our summers are cool enough that we can plant things much of the summer. But don’t plant things when temperatures are regularly hitting the 90s or we’re having a dry spell, which in Iowa usually translates into “Don’t plant in July or August.”
Water Well
After planting, water slow and well. Even if it’s suppose to rain the next day, it’s important to get those roots nice and wet now to help prevent the plant from wilting and going into transplanting shock. A good soak also helps compact the soil and prevent air pockets that can dry out roots.
With very large plants and planting holes, as with trees, go ahead and water the hole before you position the tree to make sure the soil gets wet deep down. Then water it slowly with the hose barely on a drip, moving its position frequently, to allow the water to really percolate down and out.
Keep smaller plants well-watered for at least the first two weeks after planting. With lbig plants, like trees and large shrubs, keep well watered their first year, including through the fall.
Plant with Caution in Fall
You will hear that fall is a great time to plant, and definitely in milder climates, it’s fine to plant perennials, roses, shrubs, and trees in the fall. But in Iowa, with our highly variable weather, it’s always a gamble. It might be extremely dry or winter cold might arrive earlier than expected.
New plants in Iowa are more likely to do well in spring, when they have several months to establish themselves before winter’s worst. If you plant in September or October (except for bulbs, of course), there’s a higher risk of their not surviving the winter.
Root Stimulant or No?
I’m a good cheap Iowan and if I have to spend money for it, I’d like to avoid it. I also like being earth-friendly and not dumping garden chemicals unless I feel I have to. I’ve tried root stimulant and while perhaps it helps, I can’t tell a big difference. So I’d just follow good general planting practice (time it right, amend the soil well, keep it well watered for a couple of weeks, etc.) and forget about special additives or chemicals. The exception is if I’m transplanting something a little tricky and it’s worth the extra money to me, such as transplanting a larger rose, tree, or shrub.
— Veronica Lorson Fowler
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