Plant Talk

It's Mulching Time Again....Freshen The Garden and Feed Your Plants

 
Nothing makes a gardener's heart flutter like a big pile of dark, manure-rich mulch. (There's a Valentine's gift idea for the gardener in your life....).

Well-composted manure feeds the plants and breaks down over time, along with the bark in the mix,  to improve the soil. In the meantime, a fresh coating of mulch hides winter debris, and makes your garden look as if you've got great soil. Keep adding manure mulch once or twice a year, and that'll be true.

I'm afraid my garden isn't cleaned up enough yet to spread mulch - but my more-on-top-of-it neighbor had this beautiful big steamy pile of mushroom compost delivered last week, and just the thought of it down the alley from me is enough to get me out there cutting down old lily stems and tidying up enough so that I can top my beds off.

Now through February, before the bulbs are up much, is the perfect time to spread mulch. Don't push it up too close to woody stems, or smother the tops of perennials as you work. It's time for water-proof boots, gloves, and recruiting a friend with a strong back to help with the shoveling doesn't hurt either...

If it's mulching time, spring can't be far away....

Putting the Garden to Bed

I'm so ready to be done with gardening by November; I don't like to be cold and wet and, as embarrassed as I am to admit it,  I'm afraid of spiders. At this time of year there are all those fat, slow-moving spiders that get in your hair, on your arms....they give me the creeps. So I keep a watch out for spiders and shamelessly follow the sun so that only  the warmest areas of the garden get much attention. But I'm driven by the need to clean up enough to get bulbs into the ground, as well as by the thought of how grateful I'll be in springtime for every bit of work accomplished now. 

So here's the minimum that needs to be done before coming indoors for awhile.....

There's a rhythm and order to autumn work, just as in springtime.  First bring in any plants you want to winter over; my windowsills are full of tender succulents and scented-leaved geraniums. Then clean up and compost the shriveled pumpkin vines, spent annuals, perennials that have already mushed down, like ligularias and hostas, and those that have fallen over like sneezeweed, or grown rampant, like hardy geraniums. I like to leave lily stalks, ornamental grass blooms, and even yellowing raspberry canes for the birds, and to keep the garden from looking too barren. It's time to cut back the flowers on lavender so that water doesn't run down inside and freeze over the winter, and to cut back the longest branches on rose bushes so they don't whip about in the wind.

All this cutting down and clearing up should leave some exposed soil, so go ahead and add some lime or bulb food if you're so inclined. Then tuck bulbs, including lilies, into pots and areas where the soil drains well and they'll get sun come springtime.  Then top off any bare soil with a generous helping of compost and/or mulch......and you're done until after the first hard frost does its damage.

These fancy-leaved geraniums are no longer blooming, but the foliage will carry on until hit by serious frost.

A yellowing stand of lilies adds height and bulk to the garden, and is a gathering place for chickadees and other little birds...

A spent lily stalk has its own stark beauty against the November sky....

After all the cleanup, smaller beauties like hellebores become the stars of the garden again...

Sun Drunk

A gardening friend asked if you could get drunk on the sun? It sure feels like it the last couple of days, when the temperatures soared to over 70 degrees. What a fine  excuse for a gardening marathon, the first hard-core stint of the year.

Here's my springtime sequence of tasks, which I try to do in order, but always get pulled off track , usually by a transplanting chore. With interruptions for nursery runs or writing down ideas and plans, here's the drill:

First I clean up, cut back, and do the early pruning, like roses, clematis, hydrangeas and evergreen ferns. I cut back woody heucheras to just a little stub, tidy up leaves, evergreen grasses, and this year, unfortunately, dug up a number of corpses of dead plants, like lorapetalum and hebes, lost in the big December freeze.

Next I work on the soil, adding more to raised beds with "shrinkage" over the winter, piling compost on all the beds, and scratching in a balanced, organic fertilizer around heavy feeders like hosta, clematis, hydrangeas, roses, sweet peas. Water thoroughly.

I check all the drip hoses in the raised beds, and replace or re-route soaker hoses if need be. This must be my least favorite chore of the year...

Now is the time to transplant anything that needs more space or a different situation. It's also time to divide overgrown or congested perennials, like crocosmia. I dug up all my strawberries this year, dividing up the mother plant, re-planting the more mature babies.

Plant! Seeds, starts, fresh baby perennials - over the last couple of days I've planted a trio of Helenium 'Mardi Gras' (above) a few 'Carmen' oriental poppies (below), rows of lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower. Artichokes, sedum, swathes of coppery little carexes..and I haven't gotten to containers, yet, or trimming out any of the beds, annuals or any warm-weather vegetables, but I'm trying to remember to leave space for sunflowers, nasturtiums, pumpkins, carrots, and beans....let alone dahlias!

Water, and add a top dressing of rich, dark well-composted manure mulch so the plants are well fed and the beds look tidy and fresh.....                                                                                          

 

Enjoy the look of bare soil between plants, because it won't last long....

Portland, Whidbey Island and mulching Q&A

I'm off to Portland this weekend to speak at the Yard, Garden, and Patio show - Oregonian garden writer Kym Pokorny gives the show a glowing review on her blog.

If it warms up a bit (34 degrees here on lower Queen Anne this morning) and doesn't rain - both big if's for late February - I'll be posting photos of Portland's very urban Chinese garden, one of my favorite destinations. I also hope to spend time at   the Elk Rock Gardens of the Bishop's Close, an elegant old garden along the river. Maybe the witch hazels are still in bloom - you can see a pictorial tour here.

Whidbey Island hosts a fine day-long master gardener workshop in March. You not only get to go to beautiful Coupeville, but spend the day learning practical gardening skills from some of the best gardeners around. You'll be close enough to Ebey's Landing to go for a hike after the lectures are over - Ebey's Landing must be one of the most beautiful places on earth - where else can you see snowy mountain peaks, expanses of salt water, ancient forts and farmhouses, and all that beautiful farmland stretched out below you? Here's the details of the workshop:

The  Island County Master Gardeners'  Whidbey Gardening Workshop, Saturday, March 14 in Coupeville.  More than 50 gardening and nature-related classes offered by horticulture experts, veteran Master Gardeners and nursery professionals.  Between classes, shop local vendors for interesting plants and garden-related wares, and peruse a variety of educational exhibits. Keynote speaker John Christianson, owner of Christianson's Skagit Valley Nursery, will open the day's events with a discussion of "A Nurseryman's Garden: The Constancy of Change."

    Select the classes that interest you and register by March 10 at www.island.wsu.edu, or call 360-240-5527 to request a registration packet by mail. You have nothing to lose but the winter blahs!

And now a quick Q&A before I hit the road:

Question: What kind of mulch do you use on your garden? Mine is looking ratty and needs a thorough mulching. Should I use Cedar Grove compost? I could order a load delivered, but don't know what to ask for...thanks for any advice.
Candace

Answer: Cedar Grove is a fine choice, made locally. In late winter, when plants are starting their growth spurts and soil can be depleted by rain and the previous growing season, I always use a rich, dark brown feeding mulch. This makes the garden look tidy, shows off the fresh green emerging leaves of bulbs and perennials, and nourishes the plants. There's a big debate among people who know much more about this than I do as to whether chicken or steer manure is best for plants. I think applying one or the other is much better than nothing at all. This year I'm not getting a big load delivered, but buying bags of Whitney Farms, or another good organic brand, whenever I'm at a nursery, and spreading mulch in beds and planters over the coming month. This is my new incremental gardening approach, designed not to be too overwhelming or exhausting. Or anyway, that's the plan - good luck with your mulching, and the next few weeks is an optimum time to get it done.