Making beds outdoors is one of my favorite tasks. Here are some simple steps to creating a no-fail perennial bed.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Making beds indoors isn't my favorite task. Thank heavens for big ol' down comforters and closable bedroom doors.
Making beds outdoors is one of my favorite tasks. Here are some simple steps to creating a no-fail perennial bed.
Some of the tips are from "Better Homes and Gardens Perennials" and some are from trial-and-error at the Busse household. Soon the garden centers will have lots of beautiful perennials available, so now's the time to get the bed ready for planting.
First, choose what shape you want your bed to take. A garden hose moves easily, outlining where the bed will be. Use a square-edged spade to remove any grass (and put that grass in your compost pile).
Next, feed the bed. Apply a generous amount of well-rotted compost to the entire bed. A 5-inch layer is good. It will help with aeration and water-retention. If you don't have a compost pile, you can purchase compost. Add "Start A Compost Pile" to your to-do list - after "Make A New Perennial Bed."
Mix thoroughly. You can use a small electric tiller or just a shovel, but be sure to till down to a depth of at least a foot, and if you're planting larger plants, go down 2 feet.
Edging comes next. Use a hand trowel and make a smooth surface along the edge of the bed. Stand bricks on their wide edge to make a lip to hold mulch. Lay bricks flat around the outside edge for a mower path and to hold the "vertical" bricks. Also, check your garden center for other easy, inexpensive edging materials.
Plant! That's the next step. Read the tags to check the mature sizes of the perennials you're planting, allowing enough room for them to grow. Place all of the plants on the bed before you plant, rearranging until you have a design you like. Keep smaller plants toward the front of the bed. I like to mix "bloom times," so something is always in bloom.
Water continually until the plants are established - well into the summer. Make sure the water reaches the roots. Sprinklers, soaker hoses, watering can - any will do just fine.
Mulch. Why do you need to mulch? It conserves water and suppresses weeds. Organic mulches include shredded bark, pine straw, cypress mulch and wood chips. For a new perennial bed, spread mulch to a depth of 2 to 3 inches.
A few last bits of advice: Again, don't forget to water, especially in dry periods. Fertilize in the spring. Deadhead plants such as phlox, veronica and Shasta daisies so they re-bloom. Mulch again in the winter.
Some spring tasks
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Making beds indoors isn't my favorite task. Thank heavens for big ol' down comforters and closable bedroom doors.
Making beds outdoors is one of my favorite tasks. Here are some simple steps to creating a no-fail perennial bed.
Some of the tips are from "Better Homes and Gardens Perennials" and some are from trial-and-error at the Busse household. Soon the garden centers will have lots of beautiful perennials available, so now's the time to get the bed ready for planting.
First, choose what shape you want your bed to take. A garden hose moves easily, outlining where the bed will be. Use a square-edged spade to remove any grass (and put that grass in your compost pile).
Next, feed the bed. Apply a generous amount of well-rotted compost to the entire bed. A 5-inch layer is good. It will help with aeration and water-retention. If you don't have a compost pile, you can purchase compost. Add "Start A Compost Pile" to your to-do list - after "Make A New Perennial Bed."
Mix thoroughly. You can use a small electric tiller or just a shovel, but be sure to till down to a depth of at least a foot, and if you're planting larger plants, go down 2 feet.
Edging comes next. Use a hand trowel and make a smooth surface along the edge of the bed. Stand bricks on their wide edge to make a lip to hold mulch. Lay bricks flat around the outside edge for a mower path and to hold the "vertical" bricks. Also, check your garden center for other easy, inexpensive edging materials.
Plant! That's the next step. Read the tags to check the mature sizes of the perennials you're planting, allowing enough room for them to grow. Place all of the plants on the bed before you plant, rearranging until you have a design you like. Keep smaller plants toward the front of the bed. I like to mix "bloom times," so something is always in bloom.
Water continually until the plants are established - well into the summer. Make sure the water reaches the roots. Sprinklers, soaker hoses, watering can - any will do just fine.
Mulch. Why do you need to mulch? It conserves water and suppresses weeds. Organic mulches include shredded bark, pine straw, cypress mulch and wood chips. For a new perennial bed, spread mulch to a depth of 2 to 3 inches.
A few last bits of advice: Again, don't forget to water, especially in dry periods. Fertilize in the spring. Deadhead plants such as phlox, veronica and Shasta daisies so they re-bloom. Mulch again in the winter.
Some spring tasks
I'm hauling out the peony stakes this week to get them into place before the plants start to grow. I'm not going to let them beat me this year! This is another plant that has a lot of pronunciations, depending on where you live. Last month, a gardener I met in Alabama called them "pie-knees." I say, "pee-oh-knee." How do you pronounce this one?
If you're a peony lover like me, you'll enjoy the book "Peonies" by Pamela McGeorge (Firefly Books, June 2006). It's beautiful, informative and practical with lots of color photos, history, cultivation and propagation techniques, details for care and feeding including over-wintering and remedies for pests and diseases.
Fertilizer
Cindy from Winfield writes: "What sort of fertilizer do you recommend? And when should I apply fertilizer to my lawn?"
I prefer Osmocote, a continuous-release form of plant food that provides up to four months of fertilization. I buy it at Green's Feed and Seed, and there are formulas for indoor plants, vegetable and bedding plants.
There's a new product I will try this year called PotShots. These are nuggets that deliver nine essential nutrients straight to the roots of container plants for up to nine months. You measure the width of the container and then follow a dosage table on the package to determine how many nuggets you push down into the soil. This sounds like a great way to fertilize those hard-to-reach hanging plants in my garden room.
As for when to fertilize your lawn, there are so many factors (Climate? Grass type? Type of fertilizer?) that it's a hard question to answer. I recommend visiting the Web site www.allaboutlawns.com/lawn-maintenance-care/fertilizing/when-should-I-fertilize-my-lawn.php. Extensive and helpful.
Loudon Heights plant sale
The Loudon Heights Garden Club Plant Sale features plants from Doug Jolly's nursery in Flatwoods. The sale will start at 10 a.m. April 18 at the park at the corner of Loudon Heights Road and Loudon Heights Circle. Proceeds are used for the upkeep of the park. Plants available on a first-come, first-served basis, and include native, deciduous azaleas (Rhododendron arborescens, Rhododendron canescens), Caryopteris "Petit Bleu," Bridal Wreath spirea, Rhododendron "Landmark," "Olga Mezitt" and "Wise Chap;" Viburnum "Blue Muffin" and "Cranberry Bush"; and Japanese maple tamukyama.
To order, call Terry Potesta at 304-342-1162 or e-mail terrypote...@suddenlink.net. Delivery on or before April 18.
Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1249.
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