Garden Planting: What is important?

Planting and caring for garden plants properly requires some work. But if the basic requirements are met and a few activities are carried out regularly, nothing stands in the way of a colourful, healthy garden.

Contents

1. The basic requirements
2. Tasks in handling garden plants

The basic requirements

Before you start caring for and planting your garden plants, you need to determine the conditions in your garden. This is because every plant has different requirements in terms of soil, light and climate. The choice of gardening tools and equipment is also a factor that influences the planting of the garden.

Soil

What is generally referred to as soil actually comprises many different types of soil. Soil differs in its composition, nutrient density and pH value. The right soil is crucial for plants to grow well: It gives their roots support and provides them with all the nutrients they need.

Soil can be roughly divided into three categories:

Sandy soil is light and water-permeable. It dries out quickly and stores nutrients rather poorly. It is unsuitable for plants which need a lot of water and heavy feeders.

Clay soil is considered the ideal garden soil. It stores water and nutrients well and is not too water-permeable.

Clay soil has an even higher water and nutrient storage potential. However, it is usually so dense and heavy that the risk of waterlogging is higher than the other soil types.

Another indication of the quality of the soil is its pH value. It can be easily measured using a suitable test from a specialist retailer. A pH value of 0 indicates extremely acidic soil, while high pH values indicate alkaline soil.

Acidic soils usually contain a lot of humus and therefore nutrients. However, the lime content is rather low.

Alkaline soils are more calcareous.

Determining the pH value can therefore provide information on whether a soil needs additional liming. This is because too much lime prevents nutrient uptake. A pH value between 6 and 7 is ideal for most plants.

Any soil can be improved by adding the appropriate substances such as lime, sand or compost. Specialist retailers sell special soil mixtures for many plants, such as roses or tomatoes, which are precisely tailored to the needs of the plants.

Garden equipment

The right garden tools and equipment make planting and tending the garden much easier. If you want to buy larger tools such as lawn mowers, hedge trimmers or chainsaws, you should consider where they can be stored beforehand. In large gardens, a tool shed or garden shed can serve you well.

For gardens in which mainly flower beds and smaller shrubs are to be planted, a small set of basic equipment is sufficient. Secateurs, a hand shovel, a rake and watering can are sufficient for basic work.

Climate

Temperature and humidity determine which plants can grow in the garden and when. The right soil temperature is particularly important when sowing seeds or setting out pre-grown plants. Many young plants cannot withstand frost and so the tender roots die immediately. From mid-May frost is no longer to be expected, so most plant species can be planted by then at the latest.

In a greenhouse, temperatures are consistently higher, so the sowing, germination and harvesting times are often sooner or shorter than indicated in the planting calendar.

Light conditions

Plant protection

Various measures can be taken to protect garden plants from pests, weeds and diseases. For example, cleverly planted mixed crops, crop rotation and regular tilling of the soil have a preventative effect. Proper care is also crucial: for example, damp leaves on tomato and strawberry plants are more susceptible to diseases and fungi. They should therefore never be watered from above, but always directly at the roots. If it is already too late for preventative measures, direct measures such as applying pesticides, setting up pest traps or removing weeds can limit the damage.

Tasks when dealing with garden plants

Once the perfect conditions for planting have been created, the gardening work can really begin. Depending on the type of plant, the time of year and your personal ideas, there are various tasks to be carried out.

Young plants that have been grown indoors or in a greenhouse must not be planted outdoors too soon! Both too much sun and too low temperatures would be too much of a shock - the plant would not survive. Therefore, the cultivation must be hardened off slowly

Hardening off

Instead of immediately planting the tomato seedlings in a sunny vegetable patch, for example, the pots with the young plants should first be placed in a semi-shady, wind-protected spot so that they can acclimatize slowly. The pots and containers should be brought back inside if there is a frost at night.

Growing offshoots

Some plants do not reproduce by dispersing their seeds. Instead, offshoots are formed which are separated from the mother plant and can later live as an independent plant. To grow offshoots, the so-called cuttings are cut off and planted in a container with potting compost. After around two weeks, the offshoot can then be repotted or planted out. Plants that can be propagated quickly and easily using cuttings include:

• Blackberries
• Cucumbers
• Raspberries
• Elderberries
• Lettuce
• Lavender
• Peppers
• Roses
• Spinach
• Thyme
• Tomatoes

Fertilize

Over time, garden plants draw the available nutrients from the soil. This is why even the most nutrient-rich soil needs to be fertilized regularly - especially if heavy feeders, i.e. plants with high nutrient requirements, have been planted in it. Whether artificially produced mineral fertilizers or organic fertilizers such as compost or manure are used is a question of personal preference and the specific nutrient requirements. Mineral fertilizers are available as complete fertilizers, which contain all nutrients and trace elements, and as individual fertilizers, which only add certain substances.

Overwintering

To ensure that plants survive the cold season and bloom again next season, they must be overwintered correctly. Exotic plants that originally come from warmer regions must be kept indoors as they cannot survive the low temperatures. These include lemon trees and oleander, for example. Other plants are less sensitive. For roses, it is sufficient to wrap the plants in linen or jute bags. Rhododendrons can even survive the winter without any covering at all. Ideally, tuberous plants such as dahlias and amaryllis should be dug up and the tubers stored in a cool, dry place indoors.

Transplanting

Potted and tub plants need to be transplanted regularly so that they can continue to grow. If the pot is too small or the nutrients in the soil have been used up, it is time to repot. The ideal new pot is 2 to 5 cm larger than its predecessor. How often you need to repot depends on the type of plant and its condition. However, repotting is not necessary more than once a year for any variety.

Refining

Plant grafting involves combining the benefits of two plants to create a hybrid from two identical plants (e.g. apple tree and apple tree) or two related species (e.g. apple tree and pear tree). When grafting, however, no new species are bred. Fruit trees, tomatoes and roses are particularly suitable for grafting. A branch or bud of one plant is attached to the trunk or branch of the other plant. For example, a cherry tree with weak roots can be improved by grafting on a cherry tree with strong roots.

Breeding

In contrast to grafting, breeding involves the deliberate selection and crossing of two individual plants (parent generation) with the aim of creating a genetically improved version and then propagating it (daughter generation). The simplest type of breeding is selection breeding, in which the plants with the desired characteristics are simply replanted and allowed to reproduce naturally, while the plants with undesirable characteristics are removed.

Planting bulbs

Many popular flowers are not sown but planted in the garden in the form of bulbs. The right time to plant the bulbs depends on the type of flower. Hardy bulbs that are to flower in spring are planted in the fall. Cold-sensitive varieties should not be planted until spring. Winter-hardy varieties include crocuses, tulips and daffodils. Begonias, dahlias and gladioli should not be planted until the end of March.