Use care transfering plants from pot to ground
Plants are on tantalizing display at local garden centers. Most local nurseries will open sometime this month. Trips to Seattle have resulted in major purchases that are now being hardened off to acclimate to our zone. However, the longer these remain in the pots, the more root bound they may become. Releasing them from bondage later may be a challenge.
Removing plants from their containers is not always the simple chore of tapping on the bottom of the small pot and catching the plant. If the pot soil is not moist, the roots tend to stick to the pot. Soaking the pot before attempting to remove the plant will ease the release as well as give the roots some moisture to take with them. To remove small bedding plants planted together in flats, ease a knife or spatula around each plant, or gently use your fingers in a separating and pulling action.
Those plastic cell-packs like to hold on to their little starts too. Turning over the pack, pushing gently on the cell usually brings the plant out. However, if the soil is dry and the plant is root bound, use the moisturizing technique. Alternately, use a scissors and cut the sides of the cells to remove plants. It may take more time, but the process may be more satisfying.
Whenever you find tight root balls, carefully and gently pull the roots to separate. In cases where a knotted ball of roots lies at the bottom of the root ball, cut off that knot with a sharp blade, then spread the remaining roots.
Plants started in peat pots must be soaked thoroughly in a shallow container for several minutes before planting. There isn’t enough soil moisture to do this and a dry pot acts as a root barrier and a wick that pulls moisture out of the ground. Some gardeners recommend cutting off the bottoms of the peat pots before planting to hasten the root growth.
If gardening were as simple as buying plants from greenhouses and nurseries, taking them home and dropping them into soil, more of us would be gardeners. But the plethora of gardening magazines and gurus seem to have boundless advice on how we should do it. Model gardens thrive to intimidate us. New plants become the annual “must-haves.” Vogues and trends are as remarkable as changes in the clothing industry. Specialized gardens (woodland, white, xeriscape, water, single species) become standards of success and social status.
The words of Helen Gunn, an English writer, gardener and critic, in a recent issue of “The English Garden,” offer some consolation. “What irks me is the tacit implication that there is a right way and wrong way to arrange your garden… . Plants are just plants. Why inflict on them our own need for social stratification?… When the received wisdom about how a garden should look is derivative, the thing to do is look to yourself. At least you will get something personal and original.”
Take heart. It’s your garden!