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Can hardy plug plants go outside now?

DeeWestDeeWest Posts: 39
in Problem solving
Hi everyone,
I have ordered hardy plug plants from T&M but I wondered if they can now go outside. All of them are described as hardy perennials. I live in the south east. Thanks for your help in advance
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,254
    How big are they?  I wouldn't plant small ones out ... I'd put them in pots in a sheltered spot and keep an eye out for molluscs ... possibly stand the pots in trays of grit to keep snails etc at bay.  
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • DeeWestDeeWest Posts: 39
    When I bought them they were the type you push out with a pencil, really tiny. I moved them on to a seed tray, each 'pot' about 3cm wide, and they're getting to a point where they are filling it up now. would they be strong enough? Thanks fr tip re snails and slugs.
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,572
    Best to grow them on in individual pots starting with ones not much more than twice the size of the plugs and working up as their roots fill the pots.   They will have been grown indoors so, as Dove says, keep them somewhere sheltered from extreme cold, wind and rain and watch out for slimesters chewing the lovely new shoots.

    As they grow, pot on.   The bigger they are when they go out into the borders, the better they will stand up to the general hurly burly of weather and competition unless it's a brand new bed with nothing else in it yet.  Then they can go out a bit smaller but I'd still wait till May to plant out in final positions.

    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Leicestershire, UKPosts: 11,391
    I agree and would pot hardy perennials on from those 3cm pots to 7 or 9cm if they have outgrown them.  Some HPs I pot on again to 15cm and don't plant out for a year (eg echinacea) as they never survive in my garden otherwise.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,687
    At 3cm wide, if you plant them out, you'll never see them again. For borders, they need to be at least 10cm wide pots. Planting out so early, you will need to make the soil extremely free draining depth-wise. 

    For containers, 5-6cm wide plants are fine, but you need to keep an eye out if you have squirrels. 
  • Pauline 7Pauline 7 West Yorkshire Posts: 2,144
    When you give pot sizes, eg.  3cm 5cm.  Is that the diameter of the pot? 
  • LynLyn DevonPosts: 21,141
    Yes Pauline, but  I prefer to use square pots which I can buy quite cheaply from eBay. They last a long time and the roots don’t go round and round as they do in round pots. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Bright starBright star Wrea GreenPosts: 1,121
    I use square pots too, 3 inch /7cm pots are my go to pots for sowing and pricking out into. 
    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Rhondda ValleyPosts: 2,703
    Just picking up on your square pots........I asked for them at a well known garden centre,as I find them easier to arrange than round ones,spacewise. Only to be told they don't stock them anymore as there's no demand! Surely others must want them??
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • LynLyn DevonPosts: 21,141
    They do fit much better into a seed tray.
    I buy these, in 7 and 9cm size. Big outlay but I’ve had them for a few years, if you’re careful you can reuse several times. 
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SQUARE-PLANT-POTS-7CM-9CM-2-3-4-5-5-5-LITRE-L-LT-PLASTIC-POT-3-5/131415487573?hash=item1e98f93455:m:m6iSvef2b3kGZYXktl9tN2Q
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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