Getting Started
No fail planting tips for the novice gardener
‘Dr. Petunia’, Your Gardener’s own Ian Leatt transplants San Marzano tomato seedlings.
Story by Dorothy Dobbie Photos by Gayl Punzalan
daunting. Annuals, perennials, spring bulbs, fall bulbs, corms and rhizomes – what the heck are people talking about? So to get back to the most elemental, ba- sic issues, here’s what you need to know.
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not delicate. They won’t die if you pull off a leaf or prune (cut or remove) a portion of their roots. And many annuals (the ones that die each year and need to be planted from seeds or cuttings) actually do better when you give them a trim after putting the store- bought plants in the garden or your new container. Cutting back a petunia for ex- ample, will only make it bushier and will en- courage flowering. When pruning the roots, make sure not to lose the whole root, but the loss of a few will not harm the plant.
Removing the fear factor. Plants are
from the nursery? You can get good deals on common annuals at the local nursery when they are planted in four- or six-packs.
www.localgardener.net What about those plants you buy
et’s face it; when you are a new gar- dener, the whole world of plants and their growing habits can be pretty
You might get the whole package for $3 or $4 instead of just one plant in a larger con- tainer for the same price. Often, each plant- let is in its own little cell, but some garden centres still plant a whole batch of flowers in one plastic container (sweet alyssum or pan- sies might be sold this way). You do have to cut the plantlets apart and put them into the ground one by one, rather than popping in the whole pack as I have been told novices sometimes do. Don’t worry about cutting the roots.
buy the nursery stock? It’s a good deal less expensive to grow plants from seed than it is from nursery-raised stock. The sidebars with this story will give you a short list of those plants that can be sown directly into the ground once the soils warms up and a list of those that should be started indoors or purchased already started by a nursery due to the time it takes them to reach maturity.
Is it better to plant from seed or to
term ‘spring bulb’ refers to the blooming period rather than the planting period. And
Plants spring bulbs in fall. The
Sun or shade? Look at the leaf and sometimes the root
Got a gifted plant but don’t know
where to plant it? Look at the leaf. These are general guidelines – there are always exceptions, but these points will give you some idea.
Hot sun
• Thick leafed or fleshy leafed plants. • Waxy leaves. • Small leaves. • Silvery coloured leaves. • Hairy leaves. • Taproots or very deep roots. Cool shade
• Large leafed plants. • Thinner leafed plants. • Very dark-coloured flowers (which can bleach out in hot sun). • Pale or blue flowers. • Waxy blue hostas. • Very dark green leaves. • Shallow roots.
Spring 2012 • 19
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