Planting shrubs to give them a good start

Well I have told you of my ideas on shelter, what trees I planted, how I planted the trees and how I fenced out the critters. So lets go from the extensive to the intensive and talk about my ideas for plantng shrubs.

OK this naturally refers to the garden area which will be surrounding the house so eventually it will be the most protected area of your place but because we live in low rainfall area, even though the garden will be irrigated (that is another story) we still need to ensure we give the plant a good start.



Most plants you buy come in plastic planter bags of various sizes. Now the job of  the plant nursery is to rebag as the plant grows before it is sold. Some nurseries do and some (a lot) don't. So before I plant the shrub, bush, small tree etc., I do two things that I think are important.

First a get a large bucket and fill it to the brim with water. The I take the plant in the planter bag and put it in the bucket so that the bottom of the planter bag is at the bottom of the bucket and covered by as least 20-30 centimeters of water. If it tends to float (not a good sign) then weigh it down with something. Leave it in the bucket for an hour or so. The reason I do this is to ensure that all the air is removed from the potting mix surrounding the roots, meaning the whole root mass is in contact with water. If you just hose the plant you can't guarantee that all the air has been removed and all the roots are wet because the water just runs off - there could be some air pockets. Some of the potting mix may float but don't worry.

So I have a hole dug and may have put some compost at the bottom of it. Now take the plant out of the bucket and  make sure your hole is deep enough - the potting mix surface should be just below the surface of the ground when it is sitting on the bottom of the hole. Having taken the plant out of the bucket there are two ways to remove it, one that saves the bag and one that doesn't. I use the latter usually, slitting both sides of the planter bag as the plant lies on its side. Doing it this way means you can remove the bag with the least disturbance to the root ball.

Now the second thing I do surprises some people but it is very important. When you take the bag off, you should see a few fine roots at the base but very few on the sides and the potting mix should be loose - this will vary considerably however. If the root ball floated at first in the bucket and when you took the bag off the potting mix is bound in, the plant has been in the bag to long and has, or is in the process of becoming root bound (see photo). If you see roots that are say more than 3 mms thick coiling around the root ball, grab your receipt and take the plant back to the nursery for replacement or refund.

If the roots are fine then get a large sharp knife (not from the kitchen!) and slice the bottom 3 cms of the root ball - this is easy if there are a lot of fine roots but can be tricky if there aren't many - the latter is preferable. Then slice the same distance into the side of the root ball (from its top to its bottom). Do this so you have four cuts all the same distance from each other. Then carefully put the plant in the hole with as much as the potting mix as you can and carefully replace the soil, with no organic stuff (leaves, grass etc.), firming the soil with your fist as you go. When you have the plant "planted", stake it if you need to and water it again until the water ponds about the plant base..