Hey everyone, I'm Taylor. I am fairly new to plants in general, I know the basics, but have the same knowledge as the 12 year old kid with the flower growing in the clay pot on his window sill. So I am trying to expand my knowledge of plants, and have a few plants that were basically given to me, in a position where I could not refuse. So I have ID'd them as: Eastern Star (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) Speedwell (Veronica x) Beard Tongue (Penstemon barbatus) Silver-edged Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) Now, I am planning to plant them where they will have alot of sun, and alot of room, but I need to also know when and how much, I should water them. I have always watered every other day, but I have heard that when outside, you should water once a week if they don't receive any rain. I don't know what to believe, so a little help with that would be great. They will be outside, but I will add soil fertilizer as our soil is very dry and has quite a few pebbles.
when you first plant them out, you'll need to water every day unless it rains. that's only for the first few weeks while the roots are getting situated. once they roots are established, you can back off on the watering to once every few days and then, after a couple of weeks, go to once weekly. now, if it rains, you can skip that scheduled watering - just wait a couple of days and then give the plants a drink. for the first couple weeks, water directly to the roots AND water a bit at the drip line. the drip line is the outermost spot where the leaves hang down. after the first two weeks, water mainly at the drip line (only give a little directly on the roots) so that the roots will be forced to reach out to the moistness - doing this helps the plant to become established more quickly and promotes a really good root system. to transplant, dig a hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the container the plants are in (or the root ball if they're just recently dug up). you'll want to keep the plant at the same height in the soil as it is now. so, fill the hole with some of the loosened soil, place the plant and back fill until the soil is even with the surrounding area. tamp down lightly and water well to settle the soil. i do some water and let it soak down for about 10-15 minutes and then give some more and let it soak in...if you put too much all at one time, it tends to run off and that doesn't do the plant any good. i'd hold off on fertilizer unless it's a root stimulant. let the plant get established for a month before putting fertilizer. what do you mean by 'dry soil' is it sandy? if so, you might want to amend it with some potting soil. the pebbles are no big deal - they aid with drainage.
Wow, great explanation, thank you so much. I am wondering though, so lets say I'm watering once every week, and it rains one day, do I wait another week after the rain to water again? The soil we have is just very brittle, but I guess that won't matter much with the watering. Either way, thank you, great information.
