Planting Garden Plants
Putting together all the various elements can be a daunting prospect. Preparing the ground and planting a single plant is straightforward task, but when a large group or even the entire garden is to be planted, the work can seem impossible. however, there are some simple guidelines to follow that can eliminate must of the worry and reduce the effort.
A plant’s hardiness is possibly the most important of the three, and it is judged not just by the plant’s ability to withstand winter cold but also the degree to which it might be damaged by Spring frosts.
Every plant needs to obtain a cocktail of nutrients from the soil. In many cases there are only very small amounts of each nutrient in any given area of soil, and even when the gardener adds extra fertilizer, the plant has to seek out these nutrients from a very large area.
It is essential that the soil is broken up to enable the plant’s roots to pass easily through it. Before planting, therefore, use a garden fork and spade to dig the whole area to a depth of 50ern (20in). although when you do this, you must make sure that the top 25cm (loin) or so of topsoil is always kept on top of the subsoil.
Next, place a sheet of tracing paper over the plan. Use The Plant Selector to find the names of the plants you want to include in your scheme, and write them on the tracing paper in the appropriate place. The advantage of using tracing paper is that if everything goes wrong and you do not like the end result, you can simply tear it up and start again without having to go to the trouble of redrawing the plan and circles.
If you need to prepare a larger area and cannot cope with the double digging by hand, you might want to hire a mechanical mini-digger. The principle is the same, however: remove the topsoil from a trench across the area to be dug and store it close to the far end of the area being prepared but not actually on it. The trench needs
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