When Your Garden Comes By Mail

Television gardener P. Allen Smith visits The Saturday Early Show with advice on handling seeds and plants ordered through the mail.

Mail-order seeds and plants can be an easy and economical way of adding unique or hard-to-find additions for your garden. Once they arrive, there are some things you can do to ease their transition into their new home.

1. Upon arrival: Open the shipping box immediately and check the contents against the packing list and your original order. Contact the company if there is a problem.
2. Seeds: Keep the seed packets in a cool, dry place until you're ready to plant them. Some seeds with hard outer shells need to be soaked overnight prior to planting. Check the seed packet for instructions.
3. Plants shipped in containers: Some plants arrive already potted up. Check the soil to make sure it is moist. Remove plastic wrapping and repot, if necessary. Keep in a cool, filtered light area until you are ready to plant them in the garden. Keep soil moist but not soggy.
4. Bare root plants: Roses, shrubs, and trees often arrive without soil around their roots, packed in moist shipping material. Check the roots and prune away any broken or mildewed areas as well as any damaged branches. Soak the roots in warm water for a couple of hours, then pot them up in a container until you are ready to plant them in their permanent spot.
5. Perennials: Whether they arrive in containers or bare root, step them up into slightly larger pots and let them acclimate before introducing them to the garden.
6. Labels: In their dormant state, many of these plants look the same. It's easy to forget which is which. Be sure and tag them with a permanent label.
7. Root stimulator: Give the repotted plants a little dose of root stimulator that will encourage root development. This will begin immediately even though plants may appear dormant. If conditions allow, let them settle in for two to three weeks, then plant them in the garden.

1. Containers of various sizes, potting soil, pruners, root stimulator; potting the plants help them "settle in" before planting them in the garden.
2. Labels and permanent marking pens: This will help you correctly identify each plant in its dormant state.
3. Buckets to rehydrate bare root plants before potting them up in containers.

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