Rain and sun are working, so don’t put off weeding. I didn’t think I had but, “ugh!” The lawn (aka – crabgrass runners, Creeping Charlie and the like) had creeped into my narrow perennial band reducing it from 36 inches wide to 18 inches! My weekend was spent removing this sod and adding it to the compost. The border looks much better. I’ll add mulch now and keep a more proactive eye on this simple ‘showcase’ spot. I want this bed tidy and so will need to spend more time on it.
To do this dramatic weeding job, I needed to resurrect a favorite garden tool, a Korean hoe. Useful for digging and forming seed rows, the hoe also cuts under and lifts sod in small easy-to-manage chunks. Sadly, this hoe was all but lost. A few years ago, I left it on the edge of a raised-bed access path. I completely lost track.
That tool was picked up and chewed by an industrial mower. The handle was ripped to pieces. The iron hook remains but is very tricky to use. I used it anyway this weekend while wrapping the ‘handle’ in a rag to keep it usable. It was still the best tool for ripping the sod-like weeds that had creeped into the perennial bed. Anyone know how to fashion a new wooden handle? I’d love to hear from you.
That lesson should have taught me to be more proactive about tool identifiers. But just recently while scouting for garlic mustard and rooting around, I lost my garden fork. Sigh. The lesson here, my friends, is to mark your tools. I’ve already lost my yellow-handled garden fork. It still hasn’t reappeared. But my brown-handled fork was left in a retraceable spot on Saturday. I did find it and now I’ve wrapped the handle with fluorescent pink landscape ribbon. You can spray paint, buy a bright colored tool, or wrap with something ‘unnatural.’ And you thought those fancy patterns and colors were all about style!
As you head into the gardens in earnest, I encourage you to invest in good tools that you need for your most common tasks. Good tools make your job easier. And don’t lose them.
Shady planting areas will benefit from early flowering woodland plants like, Trillium erectum, Dicentra cucullaria, Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana) or Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). These early spring plants will catch your attention when not much else is happening in the garden. Giving them space will attract and keep pollinators around. Support this diversity and you improve the health of your cultivated vegetable and ornamental gardens because you are supporting native insects that feed on pests and pollinate the natives.
Continue planting your cold-hardy vegetable starts like kale, spinach and beets. Their seeds can be planted directly into vegetable beds. Keep the soil moist and maybe scatter a smattering of straw or salt hay over the top to keep the moisture in the soil.
After my extensive weeding, I spread mulch on the perennial beds about 3 inches deep. Mulch can be straw, salt hay, pine bark, shredded cedar or hemlock bark. It all depends on the look you want. Salt hay has an added bonus because it is cut from salt marshes and the seeds only germinate in salt water! Mulch keeps soils moist, reduces the chance of weed seeds germinating, and helps keep roots cool. Quick tip: use an oversized pot to protect young perennials while you spread your mulch. This helps make the spreading of mulch more efficient. I emptied a bag of mulch and will re-use the empty bag to collect weedy plants that I want to keep out of the compost. I can solarize the weeds (and weed roots) and then put the full bag in the trash.
I don’t weed my lawn. My husband and I agree on a lawn height of about 3 to 4 inches that helps crowd out weeds. By leaving the clippings on the lawn, we restore nutrients to the soil and we don’t need to fertilize. If you use gas powered lawn equipment, be sure to use the highest octane fuel you can. It improves the efficiency of your tools.
And on the subject of lawns, they don’t have to be resource intensive. I hear folks want to “get rid of lawns” and plant perennial gardens or shrub borders. And true, monoculture in the landscape is not a natural thing. A mixture of groundcovers including grasses makes sense when trying to support a diversity of insects and wildlife.
However, any landscape will require some maintenance or planning. If you have a low-impact mower, ie. electric/solar powered tool, a lawn-ish ground cover can have a low-impact maintenance plan. Skip fertilizers and intense weed prevention programs and your bi-monthly mowing can be an organic, simple solution that prevents erosion and encourages wildlife. Rarely do we as homeowners need a lawn that is ‘blemish-free’ like a croquet lawn, grass tennis court or golf green. Keep the grass and nix the hyper-sensitive lawn care unless you absolutely need a weed-free grass area.
Remember the spongy moth invasion of last May? Spongy moth has hatched. Watch for the ¼ inch caterpillars to begin blowing in on their whispery thread balloons. They land on trees and make their way walking up trunks to devour foliage. You can spray the foliage with Spinosad a broad-spectrum organic spray but only use where and when bees are not active. Also, Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki is the strain of Bt that kills all the larvae (caterpillars) of moths and butterflies as well as spongy moth larvae. If you are trying for more diversity and pollinators in your garden, you should limit where and when you use this helpful control. If I see a group swooping in, I’ll protect my young peach tree and let the birds get the rest.
Keep watering seedlings in starter trays. Put trays in the warmest brightest spots you can find but check that the cells haven’t dried out. If seedlings have 2 sets of true leaves, you can up-pot into a 4” pot.
Time to plant bulbs in the garden of gladiolus, crocosmia, acidanthera. All these stunning flowering bulbs like a protected spot in full sun. I’ve planted mine around a big, warming tree stump—a good-sized rock would do too. Water regularly until you see the leaf blades emerge then fertilize to keep those bulbs growing.
Garden centers have gifts for Mom. Everything from flowering trees to gift cards are now available at your favorite garden center. Rose bushes, hanging baskets, garden hats and gloves all make great gifts. As a mom, I always appreciated the gift of time or labor. Check in with mom to help with weeding, pruning, or planting to help her enjoy her landscape more. It’s the best gift ever, especially for the lazy gardener.
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I call myself the Lazy Berkshire Gardener because I don’t want to work too hard in my gardens. I want to enjoy them. I find it easier to observe my landscape and let the compost happen, the water pool up or daisies to self-sow. I look for ways to do the minimum task for the biggest impact. For example, mulching is better than spraying and much better than weeding all season. I look for beautiful low-maintenance plants that thrive in or at least tolerate my garden conditions. Plus, I’m willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
