Mar 10, 2007 3 min read

PREPARATIONS Turn the soil over with a rototiller or dig down at least 8 inches with a garden spade or fork. Unless your soil is nearly perfect, add peat moss, compost, or other organic matter such as composted manure. Mix in fertilizer at the rate recommended in your soil test, or at a level of two pounds of 5-10-5 (use 5-10-10 in sandy soils) fertilizer per 100 square feet of flowerbed.

For best results, choose bedding plants suited to the amount of light you have. Sun lovers, such as marigolds and geraniums, are bright and beautiful, but they are a poor choice for shade. On the other hand, impatiens, coleus, and other shade-tolerant annuals tend to wilt easily or fade in all-day sun.

When you buy bedding plants in spring, “harden” them off before planting them into the soil. Put them outdoors in a partially protected place at first, but bring them back to the shelter of a porch or garage at night. Gradually accustom them to more exposed conditions over the next week. Do not fertilize until planting.

PLANTING

After you prepare the soil, give it at least a week to settle. Use a trowel to dig holes slightly larger than the bedding plants’ roots. Plants grown in individual cell-packs pop out with minimal root loss. If plant roots are tightly packed, cut a shallow slit down each side of the rootball and cut an X across the bottom. Cutting the surface roots will encourage them to branch into the soil. If several plants are together in an undivided tray, use a sharp knife to slice through their roots.

You don’t need to remove young plants from peat pots. However, you must tear off any part of the pot that might stick up above the soil, wicking moisture away from roots. It’s also a good idea to make several vertical slices through the peat walls.

The best time to plant is in the late afternoon or early evening when temperatures are cooler and sun is less intense. A cloudy, overcast day is even better. Water the plants thoroughly, using water containing a low dose of starter fertilizer. For example, you might use 1 teaspoon per gallon of a water-soluble 15-30-15 houseplant fertilizer.

Information from this column is from “Solution Source”, a Web-based information system from Penn State Cooperative Extension.

For information on other gardening and landscape topics visit this site at a href=”http://solutions.psu.edu http://solutions.psu.edu end

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Cathy Brady and Don Fretts are educators with the Penn State Cooperative Extension, an educational network that gives people access to the resources and expertise of Penn State University.

Penn State Cooperative Extension is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state and county governments. Local extension educators and volunteers can be reached at fayettext@psu.edu or by phone at 724-438-0111.

For more information, check the Fayette extension Web Site, which can be found at http://fayette.extension.psu.edu.