With a Little TLC, Cheap Plants Can Yield Garden Bounty

Once spring has passed, sickly looking, mistreated, potbound annuals, perennials, vegetables, and herbs—plus shrubs and even trees—begin showing up on sale tables in garden centers everywhere. If the price is right, especially on long-blooming annuals or perennials trapped in too-small pots, these can make great additions to your garden. When transplanted carefully, annuals can continue blooming until the first hard frost, and that can mean four or five months of flowers in warmer climates. Leftover vegetable plants can provide a fall harvest. With a minimum of attention at planting time, potbound perennials, shrubs, and trees can get a good start on many years of bloom.

Before you plant, amend the soil with a good dose of compost. Loosen the soil in the planting hole as you mix it in, then water the soil thoroughly. Dry soil can pull water out of roots and damage them.

Tough Love for Roots

Tough love is the secret to getting neglected bargains off to a great start. Begin by tipping your potbound acquisitions out of their containers. If they’re really tightly potbound, this may involve pushing (hard) up from the bottom or gently crushing the entire pot to loosen the root ball. In some cases, you’ll have to cut the pot off the root ball. Try to resist tugging on the stem of the plant to pull it out‚Äîafter all, the poor thing has endured enough already.

Once you get the plant out of its pot, see if the outside of the root ball is a crowded mass of roots. Although it seems like harsh treatment, make a cut up though the mass of roots on two or three sides of the root ball. This stops the roots from continuing to circle the root ball and encourages them to begin branching and reaching into the surrounding soil. Chop back any roots circling around the bottom of the pot, too.

You may also find your bargain plants have sickly, inadequate root systems. If you only see a few roots when you tip the plant out of its pot, be very gentle when you rough up the root ball or skip this step altogether. Inadequate roots can be caused by over- or under watering, lack of fertilizer or other cultural problems. Moving these plants to a spot with good garden soil may be all they need to thrive.

Prune Before Planting

Root pruning may be all the plant needs to settle into the garden, but plants with overgrown, unshapely tops need some additional work to give them a good chance to realize their potential. Before planting, pick off all the flower buds and trim back the stems. Trim lightly if the plant doesn’t have much top growth, but cut back hard if the plant is larger. Cutting back helps balance the top growth to the newly pruned-back roots. Cutting off flower buds helps direct the plant’s energy toward root growth, and good roots are essential to a healthy, vigorous recovery.

Bargain shrubs and trees usually need considerable pruning to help them grow into shapely, attractive mature specimens. Remove dead wood along with branches that cross or rub. Also prune back wayward stems to balance the shape and size of the plant. Don’t skimp on pruning, but also don’t rush the process. It’s perfectly alright to prune a bit, step back, and then prune some more‚Äîor even to wait several days while considering where to make the next cut. Keep in mind that the best time to plant woody plants like shrubs and trees is spring or fall, depending on where you live. You may have better luck keeping a potbound shrub or tree watered and growing in a shady spot where it’s easy to reach with a hose until it’s time to plant.

Bargain Plant TLC

Ideally, plant on a cloudy or rainy day. If that isn’t possible, plant in the evening to ease the transition into the garden. Water thoroughly immediately after planting each rescued plant. To protect transplants, shade them for a day or two with upturned bushel baskets, boxes with slits cut out of the sides for air circulation, or burlap spread over stakes. Water every few days the first week or so. Gradually resume a normal watering schedule once the plants begin to grow. Continue picking off flower buds for the first week so that the plant doesn’t start blooming too soon. You’ll have flowers soon enough, and in the beginning the goal is to keep the plant producing roots, which will be followed by top growth and flowers.