What a first-year native planting actually needs.
The starter kit’s checklist says what to do in year one. This is the short list of things it takes to do it, in the order you will reach for them. None of it is specialist: a native bed needs less than a vegetable patch, and after the first year it needs almost nothing.
- A soil pH test kit. The checklist's first instruction. pH decides more about which natives suit your ground than any other single fact, and a kit answers it in an afternoon. Browse on Amazon
- A 25-foot tape measure. The bed planner asks for length and width; a bed measured is a bed you can plant with the right number of plants instead of a guess. Browse on Amazon
- Stakes and mason's line. For marking the bed out on the ground before anything is dug, which is how a drawing becomes a shape you can walk around. Browse on Amazon
- A soil knife or hand trowel. Plugs and quart pots go in with a hand tool, and a soil knife also gets weed roots out whole, which matters in the first summer when competition is what loses a planting. Browse on Amazon
- Garden gloves. Some natives are hairy, a few are prickly, and all of the work is on your knees. Browse on Amazon
- Plant labels. Natives spend year one building roots you cannot see. A label is how you tell a slow start from a loss, and how you know what is where next spring. Browse on Amazon
- Shredded hardwood mulch. Two inches after planting keeps the ground even and the weeds down through the first year. Fallen leaves do the same job for free from the second fall on. Browse on Amazon
- A watering wand or soaker hose. Deep and infrequent watering is what draws roots down; a wand or a soaker hose puts the water at the base instead of on the leaves. Browse on Amazon
- Deer or rabbit netting. Only where you have them. A first-year planting is the tender one, and a season of netting is cheaper than replanting. Browse on Amazon
The links are affiliate links to Amazon searches for each item, and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. They show you current options rather than recommend a brand; we have no arrangement with any maker.
What you will not need: fertilizer. Rich feeding produces soft growth that fails in the first dry spell, and the checklist says so.
The starter kit has the checklist itself, and the bed planner works out how many plants your bed holds before you buy any of this.