Getting New Plants Established (aka Native Plants are NOT 100% Maintenance-Free, Unless They’re Plastic!)
“I want a maintenance-free landscape that blooms year round” is something that I often hear, and while I try my best to maximize multi-season interest, and use the appropriate plants for a space, plants are well… living things, and they do require certain input to acclimate to their new conditions.
Of course, native plants can be some of the lowest maintenance plants to put into your garden… ONCE THE PLANTS ARE ESTABLISHED. That is an incredibly important caveat because well, no plant should be expected to be ripped from ideal nursery conditions, plunked into your (unamended) soil, and miraculously thrive all on its own.
Steps to getting your new plants established
I recommend immediately watering your new plants after planting to help them get settled into the ground and their roots settled into the soil. If you want to provide any amendment at all (not typically necessary for native plants), you can top dress the area with 1-2” of compost, which will act as a slow-release fertilizer and help to improve the soil over time. Mulch can applied over the compost, or the compost can act as your mulch layer. (If appropriately layered with a groundcover, the groundcover plants will ultimately take over as the “mulch” for the bed, reducing the long-term need for watering and weeding.)
The first week, it is critical to water the plants every day, unless it rains significantly. If you are not sure how much rain your plants have gotten, dig down in the soil to see how far down the moisture extends. (People always ask how long and how much, but it really depends on a lot of variables, including your soil structure, previous rainfall, etc. so the best way to know is to dig a bit, ideally at least a couple inches. Another method of checking with traditional sprinkler systems is the “tuna can” method of measuring.) If you are able to set up a soaker or drip system, that is ideal. Better yet, attaching one to a rain barrel, so that later on, on dry days, you can go out in the morning and open up the rain barrel to empty it and give your plants a nice watering.
After the first week, you can switch to watering about every other day.
The third week, about every third day for the remainder of the first month. Then, about once a week through the first growing season, when sufficient rain is not received (again, check your soil moisture if you’re not sure!).
I generally say after the first growing season, your plants typically will not need additional watering if they have been well-established. Helping the plants to get well-established also includes keeping weed pressure down. Periodically weeding your new beds and keeping mulch on them until they have had a chance to establish and fill out is imperative. Left to their own devices, weeds can quickly overtake a newly planted perennial bed. You can find methods for weed removal here
Watering equipment recommendations:
Any method for getting water to the plants regularly is fine, though it’s ideal to keep the water focused on the roots and soil when possible (rather than erratically spraying into the foliage, etc, which increases the possibility of fungal issues and disease).
If you have a rain barrel, I recommend attaching a soaker hose (the snip n drip system from Gardener’s Supply is great), opening it up on a dry morning and letting it go, applying a nice, slow soak to the soil around your plants.
If you are using a more traditional hose and hand-watering, I personally recommend the lightweight Flexi-hose, rather than lugging a heavy hose around the yard
If you want a more hands-off approach, you can set up a water timer and schedule your watering automatically, or turn it off and on via Bluetooth. (I also find these helpful for my veggie beds if I’m headed out of town.)
If you’ve done a good job of getting your plants through the first growing season (and chosen appropriate plants for your location), they should be fairly hands off in subsequent years. Continue to watch during especially hot summers, however. If we experience periods of drought the first couple years, particularly for larger trees and shrubs, short-term auxiliary watering may be necessary.
