LADYBUG: BEDDING PLANTS ADD SPLASHES OF COLOR TO AREA GARDENS

Bedding plants are ready when you buy them. They are ready to add splashes of color to flower beds, ready to be potted into containers for the deck, patio and window boxes, and ready to start to grow and bloom from the time of purchase until frost.

To make the most of these vigorous young plants that have been started under ideal situations and growing conditions, it pays for us to be ready, too. Before starting to the garden centers, nursery or grocery to purchase annuals or perennials, it is wise to have the flower beds, hanging baskets, or pots prepared to receive them. (Hope no one has seen the flat vinca outside the garage at Chateau Estates No. 9.)

First it is most important to refresh the garden soil. Plants will flourish if some compost, peatmoss or other soil amendments and a complete fertilizer like 5-10-5 are worked into the soil. My garden plot is an inherited one; therefore it is essential to work around the cornflowers, larkspurs, roses, spring flowering bulbs and iris that are growing there.

Other plots are immaculately kept and have something blooming at all times. There have been beautiful spring flowering bulbs, stock, dianthus, the cutest little jonquils (the real ones), bluebells, iris, peonies, roses and lilies, soon to bloom.

When you purchase living plants, treat them like a carton of ice cream, making them the last purchase before heading home. Cooking in the trunk of the car is no better for plants than for frozen desserts.

Today most bedding plants are sold in plastic cell packs in which each small plant has its own separate mini-pot. When removing the seedling from the cell pack, push the root ball out by pressing the bottom and sides of the individual pack.

If bedding plants are sold in trays, simply take a knife and divide the plants as if you were cutting brownies, or remove the entire contents from the tray and gently move the individual plants apart with your fingers. It is important to keep the root balls intact.

Read the labels carefully. Now it is possible to buy everything from spidery cleome that will ultimately be 4 feet tall to small snapdragons, zinnias, and marigolds that will never be more than 6 inches.

Pop your plants into the garden as quickly as possible. Do not plant bedding annuals and perennials until all danger of frost has past. The critical time is the first few weeks after planting.

Mist the foliage and water plants thoroughly, using a very dilute solution of a water-soluble fertilizer to get them off to a good start.

It is a good idea to mix some prepared soil in the hole dug for the new plant. Then make a well in that and plant the roots into the prepared soil. There are several new ones on the market this year. Sun Grow Horticulture Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., has three new ones: complete, ready to use growing mixes.

Sunshine mixes have a higher water-holding capacity than any other soil or wood-based products. The mixes are Sunshine Water Saver Potting Mix, uniquely formulated to reduce the frequency of watering; Sunshine All Purpose Mix, for indoor and outdoor seed starting and cuttings, and Sunshine Professional Growing Mix, as used in nurseries and seed companies.

It is always good to plant on a cloudy day, but if you must plant on a sunny one, plant, mist and water, and then protect the new plants from the sun. Shading them the first few days is important. One inventive gardener collects old umbrellas and uses them as sunshades. Looks strange, but it works.

~Mary Blue is a resident of Cape Girrdeau and an avid gardener.