Preparing to Plant: A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Your Planting Design
This blog post is for novice garden designers, garden design students, or homeowners tackling a large planting scheme for the first time.
Using a recent project (Farmhouse on Ilkley Moor) as a case study, we’ll walk through the key steps in preparing for the planting phase. The garden design covered approximately 1,000m² in total, with planting beds spanning around 275m².
Preparing Your Planting Design for Implementation
Before plants arrive on-site, the following key steps should already be completed:
- A detailed planting design plan, including plant lists, quantities, sizes, and setting-out plans if required.
- Preparation of the planting beds.
- Plants sourced from reputable nurseries.
- Delivery dates scheduled.
Once delivery dates are confirmed additional preparations are necessary to ensure the planting process runs smoothly. These include:
- Updating setting-out plans if needed.
- Preparing tree pits and planning for staking, particularly for trees.
- Arranging extra help – be it friends, family, or professionals – to assist with deliveries and planting.
Updating Setting-Out Plans
For larger planting projects, condensing everything onto one sheet can be overwhelming.
Instead, consider preparing a planting master plan with referenced areas and individual sheets showing specific beds at a larger scale.
This makes communication and execution easier for those setting out the plants.
Plans in black and white may be preferred by planting contractors as photocopying and printing plans in colour cost more. However some people like to work with plans in colour for speed of reading groups of plants on site.
Prepare any large planting pits ahead of time.
If professional landscapers are involved in the garden build or bed preparation, ask if they can dig the pits for trees and other large specimens before leaving the site.
For very large trees or plants, you may need to hire heavy lifting machinery.
For less cumbersome items, tools like rootball hooks can be invaluable. They can allow up to four people to move heavy plants efficiently.
Delivery Day
Setting out plants can be time-intensive, so extra help is a great time-saver.
Efficient preparation of tools and materials is also crucial.
Order items such as tree-staking equipment, soil improvers, and mulch in advance, and ensure they’re ready on-site.
Safety is paramount – professionals should wear steel-toe-capped shoes.
When the plants arrive, they’ll likely be packed onto Dutch trolleys or pallets. These will need to be unloaded, checked (for type, size, and quality), counted, and placed near their respective beds.
As the person ordering the plants, you’re responsible for ensuring they’re unloaded safely without damage. Sometimes, delivery drivers may assist but be prepared to manage this process.
Other preparations before planting
Prepare for bare root plants eg roses and soak the roots in water for 2 hours prior to planting.
Also ensure Mycorrhizal Fungi is on site ready for planting.
Common plant issues:
Key checks for plant deliveries:
- Inappropriate substitutions or mislabelled plants.
- Poor-quality top growth and / or root systems.
- Damage during transit.
- Plants that are the incorrect size or form.
Problems to watch out for:
- Vine beetle damage – irregular notches in the edges of leaves.
- Bind weed – white and pink funnel-shaped flowers brittle white roots.
When Melissa Morton Garden Design sources plants, we perform these checks on behalf of our clients, addressing any issues along the way. Communicating directly with the suppliers and landscape professionals is to be expected.
Setting Out Plants
After checking the plants, sort them into groups for each bed. If you’ve used a grid on the plan, consider spraying a 1x1m grid onto the bed to help.
Place plants on the ground where they are to be planted, spacing them appropriately. It’s common to make minor adjustments to placements once on-site, but avoid making significant changes to the overall scheme.
The planting plan should already account for plant sizes at maturity. Resist the urge to crowd smaller plants (e.g., P9s) too closely together – they need space to grow into their full size.
Next Steps: Planting
Once the plants are set out, the next step is planting! We’ll cover this in detail in our next blog post.
