Take time to prepare your soil well
Soil should be fertile, porous, well-drained yet moist (sites for bog or water plants are the exception). Since most gardeners cannot hope to have the perfect soil mix, and since the very act of growing plants takes nourishment from even the best soils, you can be sure that you are right if, in the beginning, you build for good drainage and yearly thereafter add organic and inorganic fertilizer and soil conditioners such as peat or compost.
Government soil-testing laboratories will test home garden soil on request - some charge a small fee - and recommend materials to improve it. Late summer or fall is the best time to do this. Home soil-testing kits are also avail-able from your garden supplier, but be sure that the material in them is fresh. However, except for growing the few plants that need determined acidity or alkalinity in the soil - rhododendrons and iris are two - an overall program for regular soil improvement will suffice.
Check the drainage
Above all else, check drainage of all parts of your garden. Many good garden plants are lost from too much water rather than not enough. Roots must have air as well as water to grow well. If water fills all air spaces in the soil, plants die. If rain sits for more than an hour on top of your soil, it is not well-drained.
The cure for poor drainage is one of these:
dig soil out of the bed to below planting level, lay 6-8 inches of gravel, then weeping tile, sloping to a deeper dry well, more gravel and finally replace soil; unless this is a familiar task for you, it's a job for a pro
dig out soil to below planting level and lay a 6-8 inch layer of gravel in the bottom, then replace soil raise the level of the whole bed by adding soil to the top - 6 inches is the usual added height - this is the cure most commonly used
give in and make a pond.
Buying stock
Buy from reputable dealers with established businesses, who give a reasonable guarantee. If possible, choose nurseries whose stock is grown in a similar weather pattern to yours. If you want to import plants from outside the country, you must get a permit to do so from the government. If it is possible, bring in imported stock by air - it will be more expensive than by surface mail but much quicker, with less shock to the plant.
All plants you buy should be free of badly bruised or broken branches and roots; be free of disease; be of good form and have an ample root system in proportion to the total size of the plant. As well: bark of deciduous trees and shrubs should look fresh, not dried out evergreens should be fresh and supple; a healthy green (this does not always mean bright green); with roots in a firm, solid earth ball, snugly tied p burlap or container grown
bulbs, conns and tubers should be plump and firm; show no signs of injury, disease or rot; large and medium-large sizes, except for hyacinths, are a better buy than smaller, cheaper stock
perennials are best bought container-grown or wrapped in damp moss and heavy wax paper; buy vigorous, good-sized plants
roses should have healthy, sturdy green canes and be cultivars recommended for your zone; be well-wrapped with roots in moss and heavy paper, or container-grown; although some gardeners have good luck with imported supermarket roses produced in much warmer climates than ours, most prefer those grown in this country
annual seedlings should be bushy, vigorous, not dried out, not leggy, showing only a little bloom, if any; be sure to check the number of plants in a box against the price - what appears to be a bargain may turn out to be two or three fewer plants per box.
Take care
Between buying and planting, keep new plants; cool, out of strong and drying wind and hot sun; if bare root, keep them moist and covered; if balled or container-grown, keep them watered; if aquatics, keep in water; also:
take bulbs out of shipping bags or cartons and store in an airy cool (40°-50 °F) place till you can plant them if more than a day or two must elapse between delivery and planting of nursery stock, heel the plants into a shallow ditch in a shady place (see drawing) and move to their permanent site as soon as possible shade newly planted stock from bright sun for 3-7 days
give extra care in watering, feeding, mulching, staking, guying and winter protection to long-life plants such as trees, shrubs, hedges, during their first vulnerable season.
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