When to plant in the garden

Hi
I've ordered a lot of ground cover plants from J Parkers. Their web-page tells me to plant straight away but I'm never sure if that means outside or in tubs in the warmth until the frost goes. Please can anyone advise? The plants in question are Helianthimum, Campanula Carpatica Alba, Campanula Carpatica, Sedum Kamschaticum, Thymus Serphyllum, Dianthus Deltoides, Gysophylla Prostrata Pink, Sedum Spureum, Cerasticum and Dwarf Asters Mixed. I've lost a lot of plug plants in the past due to the cold and don't want to risk it again; at the same time though, planting straight into the soil is obviously a much quicker way of doing this. Thanks for any help.

 

Unless the plugs are "Super Jumbo", or whatever they call them , my preference is always to pot them up in some multi-purpose compost and molly-coddle them to a decent size before planting out. Depends if you have greenhouse / conservatory though ... windowsill not really the right sort of light to bring plants on as they need to be kept growing somewhat vigorously to make good plants for planting out.

I grow on, and plant out, from 9cm pots to get as much of a flying start as I can, although I dare say that people plant out from Modules that are quite a bit smaller than that.

I don't think any of the plants in your list are tender, but I'm not 100% sure. Even if they are fully hardy they may well arrive a bit "soft" and need hardening off before planting out.

 

Hi Tricky Tree and welcome.
I recently got some plug plants from J Parkers too. I have planted them into small 3" (7.5cm) pots, watered them and put them into my little greenhouse to let them grow a bit more before I plant them out. I check them each day just to make sure they are ok and don't need more water but until they start growing a bit more and the weather warms up I'm careful not to overwater them as I don't want the soil they are in to get waterlogged. If this happens it will force all the air out the soil and plant roots need both to survive.
I would not plant them out yet, particularly with this cold weather we are currently experiencing.

 

I used to use 3" for everything ... changed a few years ago when we had some bad weather, or I was busy at work ... can't remember now ... and struggled to "hold" the plants until I could plant them out, so I decided to change to 9cm which gives me some more leeway before planting out - even into June for things that don't grow massive (they'd be in 1L or bigger by then anyways).

For anyone organised I think 3" should be fine - plus you can get more in a given space, and less compost used. However, I'm not that organised I'm afraid! and I now only use my 3" pots for things that I am going to pot on into a larger pot - Tomatoes for the greenhouse and the like.

 

Well at least we both agree on the best way forward Kristen .
You either type faster than me (very likely) or I started after you

 

I prefer to start with a smaller pot and move them on to larger pots as they grow if I can't put them out until later.
That way the plants don't get 'lost' in the pot and because the roots are nearer the bottom of the pot they get to the water easier.
Once I see roots starting to show out the drainage holes I pot them on (or plant them out if I can.