Don't Leave Flower Beds Empty This Winter - Use Them To Heel In Shrub & Tree Seedlings For Spring

Don't you just love it when a solution works for two problems? Gardeners often end up with tree and shrub seedlings purchased in the fall that they run out of time to plant. They also may have flower beds that are sitting bare and inactive. The heeling-in technique can address both situations. Heeling-in is defined as a temporary planting technique that provides dormant plants, especially their roots, with an extra layer of protection from winter weather. 

Heeling-in mimics planting, while making it easy to move your tree or shrub to its permanent planting place in the spring, since they aren't actually planted. Virtually any kind of plant can be heeled-in, but the practice is especially common with bare-root trees and shrubs. One of the downsides of bare-root trees you should be aware of before planting is that their roots are vulnerable to drying out if not planted or heeled-in immediately after purchase. What if the ground in your beds has already frozen? Heel in using a wheelbarrow or bucket, with sand, sawdust, or mulch as your heeling-in medium. It also doesn't hurt to know how to care for dormant plants in the winter.

The first step in heeling-in is prepping the plant. Both potted and bare-root plants can be heeled in. Remove any packaging and soak the roots of bare-root trees or shrubs for an hour. Next, identify a spot you'll use for heeling-in. Consider a raised or regular bed in light shade that's not being used for other purposes. You may want the site close to your house to provide a bit of extra warmth, and so you can check on the heeled-in plants regularly.

Dig a V-shaped trench that will enable you to lay heeled-in plants at a 45-degree angle, which will keep them from tipping over and will remind you of where you've placed your heeled-in plants. The trench's depth and width should accommodate roots, and soil should provide coverage up to the top of the pots you're heeling in if they're remaining potted.

You can keep plants in their heeled-in state for up to a month into the spring, but plant before plants come out of dormancy (if leaves start to emerge, the plant is out of dormancy, and it's too late to plant). Gently dig the plants out of the trench, shake off excess soil, and soak roots for up to a half-hour. As you get ready to plant, be sure you're leveled up on everything you need to know about transplanting the tree in your yard.