moving the garden

15 years ago

Hey all. Been a while since I've been here, but I really need some advice from you guys. I have recently moved into a new home and would like to take many of my plants with me from my old house. We have prepared beds at the new place. The varieties I would like to take are several types of daylilies, iris, columbine, roses, clematis, and lilies. The only thing I am worried about is the heat here right now--in the 90's. We have been getting plenty of rain here in the mid-west, but I am not sure how some of these plants will react to being moved at this point in the season. I don't have the option of waiting though, it is now or never. Any advice you all have on this would be much appreciated!

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Comments (6)

blueangel
15 years ago
Why not dig a few of each you want
and plant in containers until you
feel good about planting in your
new gardens or leave them in the containers
and plant in the fall

Blueangel
agardenstateof_mind
15 years ago
This is just about the right time to divide/move iris anyway, and daylilies are tough - I don't think moving them now will cause anything more than probable loss of bloom this season.

As for the rest, if the beds are prepared, I don't see how keeping them in pots until fall would be any better than putting them into well-prepared beds; soil temps and moisture levels will probably be more consistent, especially if you mulch well. The only benefit of potting might be that you could keep them in some shade until well established? If that's the case, I'd feel better putting them in their permanent homes and rigging up some kind of temporary shade.

I'll be interested to see how others weigh in on this, as I've never understood the point of transplanting to pots and then again to the bed ... seems like traumatizing the poor thing twice.
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I have the same situation and there isn't more sunshine elsewhere in my little clearing in the woods where we live and work at a year round camp. It's not ideal to have large trees around, but you can still grow things even if it takes longer to maturity. I'd suggest you watch the sun patterns as the seasons change & draw them out on paper, so you know which beds have spring sun or winter sun. Summer sun is easy. We had a huge ice storm in January and at least a dozen trees in lost 25+ feet at the top. They took down a lot of branches as they fell, so we have an increase of sunshine now but it was a huge mess. When we have an arborist out to remove those damaged trees will have even more sun though filtered some. Warm weather crops are especially slower to maturity and I don't even bother attempting corn. I used only chicken & rabbit manures from our animals & homemade compost for many years, but in the past 4 years or so switched to making horse manure compost to increase the volume for enough organic matter to remain constant and not all disappear. We also started adding a complete organic granular fertilizer according to the label in spring when planting and it's sped up growth enough that we are able to grow more than summer vegetables. It's just harder for the plants with less sun in early spring & late fall, but if I can get them almost mature by mid-August when the sun lowers in position the warm weather crops ripen still & cool crops hold well over fall & winter. The little window between late March & mid July is prime time for growing everything, so I try to leave space for late crops to be planted in mid July for overwintering. Hope that helps~ Corrine
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Comments (8)
1750 pots?! You really love your plants! Right now, in Wisconsin, we're having a late spring, very cold and very wet. My garden is mostly shade, so much of is just starting to break ground.The plants are natives and other vigorous plants (think hostas, coral bells, astilbes, goat's beard, solomon seal, lilies, etc), and a few smaller shrubs (ninebark, wegela, coralberry) I'm thinking it's probably a good thing for the garden (if not my back) to force me to separate many of these. It'll probably be for about 2 weeks. Other than finding a high school kid with big shoulders, any tips? P.S. Years ago, before the earth cooled, I went to school in Adrian!
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Comments (17)
YES, YES HE WOULD! I now have 2 new beds in the center of the open area of the yard - more sun and no tree roots (at least for awhile). Both are raised beds about 6-8" high on top of the native clay and are 4x8 and 4x10 ft. #1 was made last fall from soil moved from the most shaded and distressed bed in the old garden. The old spot is now leveled and coming up in grass. I layered the soil into the new bed with compost and a little fine biochar (from burning brush piles at my other rural property), and topped with a grass/leaves mulch last fall. My soil tested excellent so I didn't add a lot. This spring it was loaded with worms. #2 was built this spring, filled with imported topsoil/compost mix from a local company. This part of the experiment was intended to compare my own soil to imported for differences related to possible diseases like fusarium. I added a layer of grass/leaves mix on the bottom, and a layer of compost in the middle. I avoided my own compost as much as possible but there is probably some in there so the test isn't perfect. So far both beds are growing like gangbusters. #1 had lettuce spring mix planted in a cold frame. Weather has been fantastic and the lettuce is applying for statehood. I've been told it's the best tasting lettuce ever. I attribute it to the great soil I spent 20+ years developing. All it needed was sun and freedom from tree roots! Each bed has 3 of the same tomato plants, several peppers, and each will get several basils that are still in pots. If the old soil is full of diseases I should see a difference. Also, I dug deep into one of the other old beds and found a root coming from a cottonwood tree 25 feet away. It was as big as my arm (no kidding) and went the length of the bed. I chopped out a 2-ft section. That bed gets the best sun of the old ones so I just planted sweet taters in it. We'll see if the water situation is better in hot weather. I am basically tickled to death with the new beds and if things keep going as they are, it'll be a great year. Regardless of how this turns out, it's going great so far, and THANKS to all the smart GW people who offered advice. I will post a pic when I can.
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Comments (13)
If you do decide to move them now (which is what I'd recommend, but I'd hate to be the one doing it!), you need to watch this video by Paul Zimmerman. I'm surprised Paul hasn't chimed in here already :) I'd also think about using the anti-transpirant (Wilt Pruf, et al) michaelg mentioned, but I'd use it AFTER the roses are well watered. It will not only prevent loss of water, but it will interfere with the water uptake process. Now that I think about it, it may zero out any benefits. Anti-transpirants are mostly used to prevent water loss in winter, when leaves ARE losing moisture, but frozen ground prevents roots from taking UP water. Using it now may help until the plants can grow some new roots, but I think I'd start spraying the leaves with a good stream of water within a couple of weeks, to aid in the removal of the Wilt Pruf. In the summer heat, it should come off much faster than it does in winter. That way, you'd get the benefits of temporarily lowering transpiration, without taking the chance you're smothering them in the long term.
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Nell Jean
15 years ago
LOL, NJ, to say nothing of traumatizing this gardener with the extra work and watering.

Those little trash baskets from the dollar store with the mesh sides make good shades.

Nell
maryjane43
15 years ago
Here's a technique that works best for me:

The night before you are to transplant, do the prep work. Dig the hole in you new garden. Fill the hole w/ water, wait for it to drain out, then fill again.
Next, water the plant well. VERY well.
Next morning dig the plant up, taking lots of the surrounding soil - try to expose as few roots as possible. Put it on a pot or bag until you get to the new place, plant and water well, making sure you water the leaves.
Provide shade cover.
Sprinkle water on the leaves several times during the day for the next few days - until the roots are settled in, it's important to keep the leaves hydrated.
bluestarmom
15 years ago
I moved 2 years ago this coming July from Texas to Oklahoma (both very hot!). I moved about 30 items in pots and they did fine. Other methods I used were wrapping the roots of some plants in paper towels, placing them in a baggie and then wetting the paper towel with water to keep the roots cool. I have also moved irises and cannas wrapped in newspaper. I just kept everything in the shade and transplanted asap.
mrsgalihad
15 years ago
Everything you listed is fairly hardy and should survive transplaning though they may sulk and even get a little ratty looking for a while. In my experience columbine will often die back to the ground after transplanting and then put out new leaves only after you are convinced it is dead.

moving the garden

Comments (6)

blueangel

agardenstateof_mind

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