Dig a hole and stick it in

Published on by weedingwildsuburbia
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When I held the first South Pas Nature Park Planting Party in 2010, my directions to the group of Occidental College students on how to plant was simple and to the point: “Dig a hole and stick it in.” Needless to say, I was quite surprised when this pithy advice did not lead to good results. You see these wonderful, intelligent college kids had soft, clean hands. Most had never done this before. The results were plants that wobbled in the thick layer of mulch that the city had dumped in the park. I spent quite a while with another volunteer checking and correcting these new transplants.

Now, years later, I give far too much advice, hence the YouTube videos that I have been posting for the past few weeks: How-to Plant 1 (Removing plant from pot), How-to Plant 2 (Removing it from pot, loosening roots, planting in container), and Transplanting Herbs (Planting 4″ Herbs in containers).

This new fangled medium of videos has been a challenge for me. Although I think I have improved, they are still – what shall I say? – awful. Though there is nothing like showing, I am going to spare you all from future videos until I get an external mic and take a class or two on creating educational videos. So here’s the last of the series on How-to plant, with a bit more info than “Dig a hole and stick it in” (though that really is the crux of it).

9 thoughts on “Dig a hole and stick it in”

  1. Nadege
    January 8, 2014

    I love these videos. Thank you very much!

  2. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  3. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    I received the following comment in an email:<br /><br /><i>One question: you are using a short handled scooping shovel versus a longer handled digging shovel – is there a specific reason for that? If so, can you still edit the video and tell you audience why? </i><br /><br />My response: Don&#39;t say anything bad about my shovel! I love that shovel. As gardeners we all have tools that we

  4. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    Comment from Monica:<br /><br /><i>Wow, Thanks Barbara – I think there must be a million different ways to do this. I think back 12 years ago when we ripped out the front weedy lawn and planted manzanita, ceonothus, western redbud, sages, toyon, and sagebrush, having had no direction on &quot;how to&quot;. I&#39;m amazed that the majority of these bushes made it and still thrive. Maybe I can

  5. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    @ Monica. Not beginner&#39;s luck, rather an innate, green-thumb. Many people, myself included, had to lose to learn. <br /><br />I&#39;m not big on the filling the hole with water. I made an earlier video in which I did this. My problem with it is that you are working with very wet soil and this ruins its structure and can compact it. If you have clay soil, it is best to not work with it either

  6. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    Another point. In this video, which I made before receiving comments on how much soil to remove from the rootball, I talk about not removing too much soil since the plant was lightly rooted. I was afraid that if I shook or washed off too much soil, the small delicate roots would break off leaving the plant with even fewer roots. <br /><br />I am not really sure that that would have happened with

  7. Barbara E
    January 8, 2014

    Another point. In this video, which I made before receiving comments on how much soil to remove from the rootball, I talk about not removing too much soil since the plant was lightly rooted. I was afraid that if I shook or washed off too much soil, the small delicate roots would break off leaving the plant with even fewer roots. <br /><br />I am not really sure that that would have happened with

  8. sima
    January 12, 2014

    Barbara, <br />I planted 4 pots today using your video as a guide. Very easy to do. Much better than what I have been doing. Thanks so much.<br />sima

  9. Barbara E
    January 12, 2014

    Now let&#39;s just hope they make it :)<br />

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