Time to Plant!

We want to share this delightful video with you because it celebrates the planting season and was created by a couple of our favorite customers.

Those who are mid-Cape residents might recognize someone you know.  After watching the video and as you hum the song, here are some tips for successful planting:

• Plants get established more quickly and grow faster if you loosen the soil in the area where you are planting. Amendments such as compost or composted manure can be worked into the ground at the same time: two for one!
• Most plants don’t want their stems to be buried too deeply. Use the soil level in the pot (scraping away any mulch to find the real surface) as your guide and place this even with the soil level of your garden. For ball-and-burlap plants push the soil away from the stem or trunk to find the “root flare.”  This is the place where the stem gently flares out and away from the trunk just before the roots start. You should be able to see this flare, even if it’s subtle, above the soil line.
• When planting annuals mix equal amounts of time-release fertilizer and an organic fertilizer into the soil before planting. This is only necessary for annuals since they only have a summer to grow and bloom. You can turn a light amount of an organic fertilizer into the soil for other plants or wait until the following year to apply an organic fertilization.
• Be sure to water all new plant installations right after they go in the ground, even if rain is predicted.