How to care for your potted plant once you get it home!
Put the pot(s) in a location that is suitable for the plant to be happy while it waits for you to prepare it's new home. Your plant can be happy or unhappy...you must practice mindfulness to the needs of your plant if you want it to flourish. Perhaps it likes shade & moisture. If you don't know, you need to discover this! Sometimes your plant will call out to you that it needs shade and water... be mindful of what it is saying to you so that you can give it what it requires to live. We may do this also with the seeds of our mind...nurture the seedlings you wish to grow... Likewise, do not nurture the seeds that we wish to avoid in the garden of our mind.
Your garden soil should be prepared with top soil, manure or humus, peat or some mixture like this that is healthy and full of nutrients. Perhaps you have compost in your yard...this is perfect soil for many of your plants! Your plant needs food to live! We don't want to give it dead soil!
Again, you must prepare the soil in a place that your plant will be happy to live. If you plant it in a place it does not like - that does not meet its needs - it will not do well. Be mindful and consider its needs as you address this. If your plant is not doing well once you have planted it, what is the problem? The sun, the water, the soil, the air? It is something you will be able to address.
If you are new to gardening and are feeling unsure, you may ask me to visit your garden to help with plans to plant for the happiness of your flowers.
Once you have chosen the spot for your plant to live and have prepared the soil, wait for a cloudy day to make the transfer of your plant from the pot to the ground. If it is raining, that is even better! Dig a hole for the plant that is three times as large as the pot it is in. Have a bucket of water handy.
Make a mound of dirt in the center of the hole so that your plant will be at the proper depth once you fill in the soil around it - it should be planted so that the soil will be at the same level around the plant as it is in the pot you bought it in.
Now, take your potted plant and put your hand over the top of the pot with the plant stems between your spread fingers. Turn over your pot so that the plant is now resting on your hand upside down. The plant may just drop out into your hand, but if it doesn't, take your other hand and push down on the center part of the bottom of the pot so that your plant loosens. Lift off the pot and turn your plant over and place in the prepared hole. Fill the hole with the water in the bucket and let is settle in a bit. There is no rush because it is cloudy - yet you want to finish the job so the plant is in its elements as it is meant to be!
The soil that is laying around the hole you dug, can now be pushed in around your plant. If you have some mulch, this is a good time to put it over the new soil around your plant.
Check your plant at least once a day for the first week to make sure it is well and has all it needs. If it is a dry spell, water deeply once a week by slowly pouring water over the earth just around your plant so that it can sink down into and below the root system.
If you have any questions or concerns, stop back in and I will do all I can to help you and your plant!
Deirdre
