One of the great things about being a beginner at something is that you have nowhere to go but up. Here’s my second attempt at creating short how-to garden videos. Notice that I did listen to your gentle suggestions, please keep them coming. Still way too serious for my own good but you will notice Milo walk by in the first few seconds to lighten things up. The South Pasadena parrots were also an interesting distraction. Continues to take a ridiculous amount of time to do but, like I said, it can only get better.
Hi Barbara — I normally agree with you and am devoted to this website, but having switched to bare-rooting plants, I would never go back to planting a nursery plant in nursery rather than site soil. Perhaps the only time you will get to see a plant's roots other than after it's dead is when planting bare-root. The condition of those roots will tell you a lot about whether the plant will
I liked your video. Keep it up. Very informative.<br /><br />I see Emily Green's points, and have planted both ways, but both work.<br /><br />I say do what works for the individual gardener. Prisk plants were mostly planted as is with gardening soil pretty much intact, so<br />looking at Prisk overall one can see that this works 98% of the time.<br /><br />I've also lost lots of soil
@Emily. I hosed off the soil from a lime tree that I planted years ago. I was gentle but not all plants could have taken it. I did it so I could see the entire root structure and the plant has done amazingly well. <br /><br />I will try your technique some more, though a few things worry me a little. First, since the potting soil needs to be dry so it doesn't cling to the roots, the plant
Good points … it has to be demonstrated or described more carefully. Droughtyness is not a problem because the potted plants are not allowed to dry out, they're lightly moist. When shaking the soil off them the amount of time that the roots are exposed is probably under a minute and then they are watered in and ready to hydrate instead of already saturated. It's very, very time sensitive.
Wow! Thank you, Emily! Who would have thought that a topic that I originally covered using the following words: "Dig a hole and stick it in" would be so much more interesting?<br /><br />A common reason that I see for plants failing in their first and second years is the decomposition of nursery soil around the root ball. Whenever I see a plant struggling at this time, I get down and
I always do two things: do lots of pressing around the plant when I plant it, and TONS of watering as I press, to make sure all the air pockets are out. I keep the plants moist for a good while, depending on the rains, and then back off. <br /><br />There is NO overwatering when you first plant a plant, except for a few plants (you may know them, e.g. Penstemon palmeri, Trichostema,
I've always loosened the soil arount the roots. I may be crazy but I feel I'm giving the roots a chance to spread and breathe before they go into the ground. I keep thinking how stiff they been when they're in the pot. I know there are some plants that do not want they're roots disturbed at all eg, Matillija Poppy. And I make sure the planting hole has been watered before planting