Planting and Growing

People choose to grow plants for several reasons, such as putting food on the table, feeling closer to nature, providing a habitat for insects and other animals, or making the outside of their home look beautiful.

In this section, you’ll find all the information you need for planting and growing home gardens. Topics covered include choosing plants, container gardening, soil testing, pruning, and deadheading. Find tips on home orchards, vegetable and fruit gardens, native plants, and herbs.

How to Plant a Home Garden

Planting your own garden is a very rewarding thing to do. Everyone can benefit from getting their hands dirty, whether you’re planting ornamentals, growing fruits, vegetables, or garden flowers.

The first step is to decide what plants you want to grow. Native plants are a good place to start because they are generally easier to grow and cheaper to maintain. Native trees, shrubs, and other plants also help preserve Pennsylvania’s diversity.

Once you’ve decided what types of plants you want to grow in your garden, the next step is to choose the best location. Picking the right spot for your plants is crucial. Most vegetables and flowers need at least 6-8 hours of full sun every day. They also need plenty of moisture. However, there are plants suitable for a range of different locations. For example:

• Sun to part sun and dry to moist soil: Mockernut Hickory, White Ash, Aromatic Aster, and Golden Aster
• Sun to part sun and wet to moist soil: Red Maple, American Holly, Gray Dogwood, and Blue Flag Iris
• Shade to part shade and dry to moist soil: Maple Viburnum, Wild Columbine, Blue Wood Aster, and Wreath Goldenrod

If you want to plant an orchard, choose a location with plenty of sunlight as this is key for maximum fruit production. Grapes also require lots of sunshine. Most fruits require a fair amount of space, but small fruits, such as strawberries, can thrive in a limited space.

Successful pest management includes plant rotation based on plant families. If you’re worried about the soil quality, there’s always the option of using raised beds. You can quickly build them yourself and allow for gardening in conditions that might not be ideal for growth. Growing herbs is another option because they are some of the easiest plants to grow and tolerate various soil types.

You can start your plants in several different ways. Sowing seeds is the most obvious choice, but you have to make sure you select the best seeds and provide the optimum growing environment. You can sow annual seeds indoors and outdoors. Sowing annual seeds is a relatively inexpensive way to produce garden plants.

Some of the most common annuals you can grow in your garden are marigolds, petunias, impatiens, geraniums, and zinnias. When your annual seedlings have developed their first pair of identifiable true leaves, they’re ready for transplanting.

You can also start your vegetable garden indoors. However, before you’re ready to transplant your vegetable seedlings outdoors, there’s lots of work to be done. For example, the quality of the soil is essential when you begin a vegetable garden.

Container Gardening

If space in your garden is limited, container gardening might be the answer. There’s no right way to create a container garden, however, there are four common principles you should follow. These are:

• Choose the right container
• Use the best potting mix
• Select the perfect plants
• Fertilize and water correctly

You can grow vegetables, edible plants, soft fruits, and flowers. Container gardening is also ideal for small spaces, but it is also very effective if you want to emphasize particular seasonal plants and if you want to supplement your fall landscape.

How to Grow and Maintain a Home Garden

It doesn’t matter what plants you’re growing. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs all require care and attention. Every plant has different requirements and growing needs. For your garden to be free of disease and pests and healthy, you need to water and maintain it properly.

The Penn State Extension Master Gardener Manual covers a wide variety of plant and gardening topics for beginners, advanced gardeners, and plant, landscape, and pest professionals.

Selecting and preparing your vegetable garden site will give it the best foundation. After that, various care and maintenance must take place.

Perennials, for example, benefit from dividing. In the fall, some should be left standing, and some cut down. Deadheading is another job you should do regularly, as it promotes new growth and re-flowering. Learn how to propagate using cuttings and layering, and you’ll be able to grow new plants from existing ones.

In a home orchard, correct pruning is essential if you want your orchard to be productive. Use the Home Orchard Calendar to decide when is the best time to do this important maintenance task.

Pruning Your Home Garden

Pruning is an essential task if you’ve got apples and pears or other fruit trees in your backyard. You can increase your fruit trees’ productivity with correct pruning, and you can also renovate old fruit trees that are out of control.

A variety of other plants benefit from judicious pruning. The late winter is the perfect time to prune trees and shrubs to ensure continued plant growth and vigor. Pruning plays an essential role in the maintenance of ornamental plants, and it can increase their health and beauty. Herbaceous plants benefit from pruning techniques such as disbudding, pinching back, cutting back, and thinning. The best time to prune flowering shrubs is when they’ve stopped flowering.