Rosemary Rescue

I was having trouble keeping this Rosemary plant hydrated because it has out grown the pot it is planted in, and cracked the side of the pot wide open.  Actually I have a number of plants that have done this and need to be replanted in the ground, both to save the plant and reduce my water requirement.

This Rosemary plant is about 3 years old.  It started from a seed and was once a cute little plant in a big pot.  Obviously it has out grown its neighborhood.  First I'll need a 10 gallon pot sized hole in one of my gardens to transplant it.

This is the East side garden, in the bed close to the fence.  It get great midday sun.  This be was dominated by Oregano, to the right, which I cut back, and pulled up the roots around the new home for this Rosemary.

First I tilled the exposed bed, adding compost for nutrition as with the Organic Bed.  Then I dug a hole for the Rosemary which is about four or five inches larger in diameter than the original pot.

You can see that the Rosemary plant was trying to break out of the pot it was planted in.  This created the pressure that cracked the pot in the first place.  The roots are bound up together, or rootbound.

I use a Tine (Fork) to pull the roots apart, and also rough up the sides once its in the hole.  First I'll add some Compost Soil Mix to the bottom of the hole first.  Then level the Rosemary plant in the hole.

Its important to get the Root Ball of the plant level with the new environment.  Then will stuff the surrounding area with Compost Soil Mix.

Then water it thoroughly because the compost and exposed soils are very dry, and the root ball fairly dry as well.  Then I'll mulch the area with compost to add some extra nutrition over time, as well as the mulching effect to hold moisture in the soil.  I have noticed that the Organic Bed holds its water well and I never seen plants that seem to need water.

To the left I have planted "Pickle Bush" Cucumber seeds.  They will grow up the frame and bush out.

Then on the other end of this garden I am planting a Tarragon plant which has similarly outgrown its 10 gallon pot.  It had similar water retention problems from the cracks in the pot, and was generally not doing well.  Tarragon is a grassy herb that spreads through rhizomes, so it really needs to be in the ground anyway.

So now this bed has a variety of plants, and not just blanketed by Oregano.  There are some Wild Strawberries back in the corner.  I'm thinking that I have a Gold Leaf Acuba that would do well under the cover of the Hearty Hibiscus (Rose of Sharron) in the corner.