How to Plant Mums

The beginning of fall means cooler temperatures, bountiful harvests of crisp sweet apples and colorful fall mums. Pay a visit to any garden center and you will find a large variety of hardy mums bursting with colorful blooms. Mums are the perfect replacement for summer annuals, blooming from early September to late October. Although many people tend to treat mums as an annual by replacing them every year with new plants, if you place the mums in the ground properly and do not forget to prepare them for the winter, the mums will come back and provide your garden with a wide array of color year after year.

Things You'll Need

• Mums
• Shovel
• Peat moss
• Cow manure
• Water
• Pine straw
• Pine bark

Instructions

1. Take a trip to the local garden center to purchase mums. When choosing the plants, keep in mind that the ones in bloom will give your flower garden an instant shot of color, but the mums with tight unopened buds will last longer into the blooming season.

2. Choose a sunny location to plant the mums. Receiving 5 to 7 hours of sunlight a day will prevent the mums from having tall spindly branches and small sparse flowers.

3. Plant the mums in well-drained soil. Use a shovel to dig a hole that is as deep as the mum’s container and twice as wide. Add peat moss or cow manure to the soil to boost the nutrient value. Remove the plant from its plastic container and loosen the roots with your fingers. Place the mum in the hole and add the amended soil to backfill.

4. Water the mums thoroughly. Newly planted mums should be watered daily for the first week after planting. After that, 1 inch of water a week is sufficient to maintain optimum plant growth.

5. Pinch back the dead flowers to promote future blooms. Use your thumbnail and index finger to remove the dead blooms and any new plant growth that becomes to leggy. This procedure will keep the mums compact and bushy throughout the growing season.

6. Wait until the first frost has passed to prepare the mums for winter. Pinch off any dead blooms and use 5 to 6 inches of pine straw or pine bark to fill in around the plant and between the branches.

Tips & Warnings

• During the summer months, remove new growth when it reaches 4 to 5 inches long.

• If the soil tends to retain water, consider planting the mums in a raised bed.

• Plant garden mums 18 to 24 inches apart.

• Do not fertilize mums that are planted in the fall.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• The Gardener’s Network
• Yard Enthusiasts of America