Plants are pretty tough, but our aim as gardeners is to make their lives as easy as we can, so we reap the benefits of stronger growth and better flowers. And this begins with the actual planting process.

1. Gather together: spade and fork, rake, watering can, garden compost, bucket, general fertiliser, and, if you are planting trees, stakes and ties.

2. Look carefully at the place you have earmarked for the plant, checking there is enough room for it to grow to its full size. If you are planting a new border, lay out all the plants on the soil (in their pots) and assess whether each will have enough space to grow.

3. Clear the site of weeds and rubbish. Dig out perennial weeds, recognisable by their thick, invasive roots.

4. If you are planting up a large area, spread compost over it and dig it in, forking the soil over to a spade’s depth. Break up clods with the back of the fork, then rake it so it is level. You want a fine, crumbly texture. The smaller the plant, the finer it should be.

5. If the plant’s rootball is very dry or it is a sunny day, soak the plant, pot and all, in a bucket of water. Bare-root plants, which have their roots exposed and often come wrapped in sacking, should be unwrapped and given a good, long soak, too. Keep the roots protected from drying winds and the sun. Dig a hole 6in wider than the pot and slightly deeper. Stab the base of the hole with a fork and loosen the soil a little. If the soil is dry, pour a gallon of water into the hole and let it drain away.

6. A light sprinkling of fertiliser will give your plants the best possible start. Mix it into the pile of soil you have dug out.

7. Take the pot, give it a gentle squeeze or tap it on the palm of your hand, and carefully slide out the rootball. The roots may be very matted; if so, gently tease them out with your hands or use a hand fork. Don’t break up the rootball completely, but don’t worry if a few roots break off, as they will regrow. Cut off any diseased or damaged growth and prune back any long straggly shoots by a third.

8. Place the plant in the hole and check the depth. Aim to cover the top of the rootball with about ½in of soil: too shallow and the roots will dry out; too deep and the stems will rot. If you have a bare-root plant, look for the “nursery line”, the darker patch at the bottom of the main stem. This was the soil level when the plant was growing in the field; simply replant to this depth.

9. Gently fill in around the roots, drawing the soil in with your spade, then firm it down with your hands. If you are planting a whopper in a big hole, half-fill it and firm once, then fill to the top and use the heel of your boot to firm again. The aim is to secure the plant in the ground, not make it feel like it’s being concreted in.

If you are planting a big, single-stemmed tree, it will also need staking. Hammer in a stake about 2in from the trunk, making sure you avoid the roots. Then ask a friend to hold the tree upright while you fill the earth back into the hole and use rubber ties to fasten the tree to the stake.

10. Lastly, water the plant thoroughly. In hot spots, use a spade to create a moat around the plant. Fill this up when you water, and it will stay where it is needed, instead of running off across the garden. Continue to water thoroughly every other day for at least a month, more frequently in very hot spells.

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Cool In Your Code

• Specials

• First-time buyer

Times recommends

• Second homes: credit crunch casualty or money-spinner?
• How I built my own sliding house
• Top 10 incentives for house buyers