Planting Annual Beds Adds Summer Color
In May it is time to plant our gardens and flowers. On the front range of Colorado our average last day of frost is around May 15th.
Most of the flowers that we use are an annual which means they cannot survive our cold winters. Additionally, they cannot survive a frost so we need to plant them after the danger of frost is over, or choose to protect them if a frost is predicted.
The first step is to remove all of the plant material from the year before and take it to the compost pile. We then need to loosen the soil and incorporate some organic material into the soil where we will be planting. The new plants should be planted so that the top of the root ball is at soil level. If the plants are root bound we will need to break up the root ball prior to planting.
The new plants will need to be watered lightly at least once per day for the first two weeks. Plants should be fertilized with a slow release fertilizer, like osmocote, along with a foliar feed on a weekly basis.
