Tips For Planting Established Plants

Before you even think about what tools you'll need, give some consideration to whether you've chosen the best location for your plant – does the spot you’ve picked have enough sun or shade for that particular plant? Have you thought about and allowed enough room to accommodate the height and width of the plant when it is fully mature?

It's always wise to plan your plantings well in advance, so that if you have poor soil where you intend to place your lovingly selected plant, you’ll give it the best chance of flourishing by making any amendments necessary to the soil well before planting. 

You can do this by making a number of successive applications of organic matter to the soil area you want your plant to grow. You can use mature compost, lucerne hay, worm castings, well aged animal manures, etc. or a combination of any of these.
Apply each layer to the soil surface, about 10cm (4inches) deep. Don’t dig it in – worms and soil microbes will do this job for you and make improvements to the soil structure at the same time. It can take a while as well as several applications over a few months for your soil to show improvement, but it is worth the wait - as your new plants will show you.

When you’re ready to plant, dig the hole about double the width of the pot, but only slightly deeper. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole and score the sides of the hole with your garden fork. if you have smooth sides to your hole your plant will essentially become "root-bound" in the hole.
Push a little of your soil back into the hole and settle your plant onto it, making sure that it is no deeper or higher in the ground than it was in the pot. If the plant was a little pot-bound, tease the roots and spread them out over the mound of soil in the hole. Remove any damaged roots with sharp and clean secateurs. Gently back-fill the hole around the plant, add organic fertilizer in the top 5cm (2inches) of soil and water in well. 

Cover the soil surface around the plant with a 10 cm (4inch) layer of mulch, such as wood-chip, compost, straw or well rotted manure. Your plant should quickly adapt to its new home. 

Warning, don’t add compost to the base of your planting holes.

Gardeners are often advised to add compost into the base of the planting hole. I recommend against this for several reasons. And it can be particularly harmful if you have poorly draining soils.

In nature the process is that leaves along with other organic matter fall onto the soil and break down over time, which feeds plants and adds to the topsoil. Adding a concentration of topsoil to your planting hole can lead to several problems.

Firstly, if the organic matter isn’t fully composted, the composting process will continue at the base of your plant, removing both nutrients and oxygen from the soil, rather than enriching it.

Secondly, if the surrounding soil is not fertile, the plant’s roots will not explore beyond the hole it was planted in, making it practically ‘pot-bound’ in its hole.

And thirdly, as the organic matter continues to break down it's volume will decrease - most likely causing your plant to sink in its planting hole. If it was planted in clayey or poorly draining soil, the plant will be sitting in a ‘plug’ of water and probably end up suffering root-rot.

Back-fill the hole with the soil you removed. Add compost or mulch to the surface area and water in well.

The best time of year to plant deciduous plants is through autumn (fall) and winter. The time of year for planting evergreen plants doesn't matter all that much. If you do plant in summer, you'll need to give your plant more care - with extra water and perhaps shade if it's really hot and sunny.

If you're moving a plant from one part of your garden to another, water it well the night before. 

If you're planting bare-rooted trees soak them in water with a mild concentration of Seasol or other seaweed liquid fertilizer.

For any other plants in pots, just be sure to water them about a half hour before planting.