In the programme you saw me planting some of the shrubs in the Garden. I started by giving the all the plants and shrubs in pots a good soaking a couple of hours before I was ready to plant. If you put plants in with dry compost around them it's very difficult to soak them and the roots will take longer to emerge into the surrounding soil. I then dug a hole roughly twice the size of the root ball of the shrub. I mixed some organic material in with the soil at the base of the hole, placed the shrub in (making sure it was sitting at the right level) and then refilled the hole around the roots. You might have noticed when watching me that I used the ball of my foot raher than the heel to firm the shrub into the back of the hole. This is a good way to avoid over compressing the earth (and is again a tip I picked up from Norrie). Once the shrubs were in I gave them another generous water just to get them going. The process for smaller plants is very similar but rather than your foot you should use your spread fingers to firm in the plants (again this is better than pushing too hard with your thumbs).
If you would like to contact me about the garden you can email me at: nina@somewhere.org.uk More about the MUSTER project More about SOMEWHERE HOME