How To Correctly Plant A Plant In The Ground

I was planting a few plants in the ground the other day with my son and I realized that I needed to give him a few pointers on planting plants in the ground.  At first I sat down next to him and said plant this basil here when he looked up at me and asked what he needed to do exactly.  He knows how I feel about my plants so he wanted to do a good job.  I have planted many plants in my 20 something years of gardening and just didn't realize that there are a few things everyone should know about planting. 
When you get ready to plant something you first want to clear the space of weeds.  I am always fight weeds so I usually need to pull a few out of the way for my new little (or big) plants that I want to go into that space.   Sometimes, if the ground is to hard to pull the weeds out of or to dig the hole to put your plant in, you will need to water the area to make it easier to work.  Do this and let the water soak in.  Usually when I know that I have to weed an area and it is dry, I will water it and then come back an hour or two later to clean it up. 
Next, you get your shovel for big plants and a hand held trowel or what I call "my digger".  I dig a hole twice the size of what the plant is.  When I mean the size of the plant- I mean the size of the soil that is in the pot you are about to plant. Only do this wide not too deep.  You are going to plant the root ball or dirt ball as my son calls it just deep enough to add a little fertilizer to help the plant grow when it is in the ground.  I always put a little bit of soil on top of the fertilizer so the fertilizer will not burn the roots of the plant.  After this step you are ready to plant your plant. 
Grab your plant.  What I do when I am trying to get it out of the pot is, if it is small enough that your hand can hold the pot upside down, turn the pot upside down and use your hand to hold the plant where it will not come out of the pot, fall to the ground and crush the top of the plant.  Then if it hasn't slide out, I will gently squeeze the pot or gently shake it while holding it upside down to get it out.  After it is out of the container I always take the root ball (or dirt ball) and rub my fingers on the outside of the soil to break up the roots that have coiled themselves within the container.  Doing this helps the roots to start growing out and not continue to grow in a circle.  You are not going to kill the plant if you do this.  After this step I put the plant into the hole making sure that the top of the soil where the plant is coming out of the soil is level with the top of the ground.  It is better to plant it a little too high than plant it too low in the ground.  If you plant it low in the ground then the plant may rot and die.  Adjust the soil level in the bottom by adding or taking out soil to make the plant level.
Time to fill the soil back in around the plants roots.  Gently push the soil down getting out all of the big air pockets.  It is also a great idea to mulch after the plant is planted.  This will help bring nutrients back into the ground and help conserve water.
That is the basics.  Happy planting.