When you are planning a garden it is nearly always the case that in order to get a fuller and more mature look in a short time you naturally (and rightly) plant more thickly than normal and thin out as plants begin to establish and grow. Always the question is when to do it and whether to just cut down and throw away, or try and transplant the surplus somewhere else.
The first job in the transplanting is preparing the plant by cutting it down to a leafless framework. This is followed by cutting a circular trench about a foot or two deep round each of the plants to be moved (starting about 36 inches from the stem), having first watered the ground to make the digging easier. When this is done the soil around the root is gradually and carefully forked away all around the plant until you start to see the mass of roots. At this point you may start to think you need a degree in Mining Engineering. This is not necessary, but you do have to start to cut under the root ball. Do it, or have it done carefully. It doesn’t matter how long this takes. The important thing is to save as many roots as you can. There will come a point when you have cut the ground from under the plant so much that the root ball is balanced on a small mound of soil and can be rocked onto its side easily. Before you push it over, place a large piece of rolled sacking under one side of it, roll it carefully onto the sacking and then unroll the sacking out. This means that it will be sitting on the sacking when you get it upright again.
Then it’s just a matter of tying the sackcloth tightly around the root ball before it’s lifted out to its new home. It’s far easier to do than it is to describe it. The new site must be prepared before you move the plant. Make sure that the hole is wide enough and deep enough and that compost is worked into the bottom of the hole and firmed down.
The soil mark on the stem of the plant is the mark to which it is planted in its new home. When the plant is in its new hole, the sacking is undone and either removed or left to rot away. (Plastic ones don’t do this and shouldn’t be left in the ground.) Fill up the hole with good compost. Watering will be necessary for a few days. Probably a trickle during the night onto the root ball will be sufficient.
Lisianthus
The Lisianthus is something quite special and only became fashionable a few years ago. It belongs to the gentian family and produces either white, blue or pink flowers above very attractive blue/grey foliage. It is really a three in one plant. By this I mean in bud it looks like a rose. When it’s slightly more open it looks remarkably like a tulip, and when it is fully open like a poppy! The Lisianthus is a fine pot plant and will last for weeks when grown in good light and not over watered.
Until next week may your God go with you wherever you may be.
