The Good Thing - About Gardening

Welcome to my gardening page. Organic and perennial gardening are my primary interests, and I will be experimenting with raised bed, square foot gardening this year. Follow along on the progress and please feel free to leave comments or suggestions - or just say hello!

Check out my full gardening site at www.thegoodthing.org

Hostas, hydrangeas, lamb's ear, and phlox - local nurseries and greenhouses are stocked with a multitude of perennial plants to choose from. The range of color, texture, and size increases every year, making it easy to add to your garden collection. There is a vast array of perennial seeds available too, and starting perennials from seed is an inexpensive option for expanding your collection. It's very satisfying to nurture the seedlings until they have matured enough to plant outdoors.

It is also very pleasing to mix and match and move the plants around in your landscape until you find the right combination to suit your taste, much like an artist applying paint to a canvas. All you have to do is decide which ones you want to add to your pallet this season.

Once you've made your selection and it's time to welcome the new perennials into your garden, you'll want to make the transition as smooth as possible, to ensure the health and success of the new additions.

Small plants can be kept indoors and transplanted to larger pots until they've grown large enough to fill a quart-size container. Perennials can be kept in containers for an extended period, as long as the pot is large enough to accommodate the root system and is kept moist. If you are not sure where you want to put a certain plant, you can leave it in the pot and move it around in your garden to get an idea of what is visually pleasing, and where the plant might do best.

In general, perennials can be planted in the ground any time during the growing season as long as the ground can be worked and there is no danger of frost. However, spring and fall are ideal times due to the cool, moist conditions, which are more favorable for transitioning them. When buying large perennial plants from a nursery where they have been kept outdoors for a period of time, you can go ahead and plant it as soon as your garden soil can be worked up.

If the plant was sheltered in a greenhouse, or started from seeds indoors, you will need to gradually transition the plant to the outdoors. This process is called "hardening off" and is done by setting the plant outside each day in a sheltered area away from strong sun, winds and frost. Keep the soil moist but not wet and bring the plant indoors in the evening. After about a week, and if the danger of frost has passed you can go ahead and plant the new addition in your garden. Keep the plant watered, especially during dry spells. You may want to apply mulch around the plant to keep weeds at bay, and moisture in the soil.