I have weather whiplash. I have snapped into early spring again. Last Saturday turned out warm and beautiful, but the cold front with misty weather and winds has taken hold since. I didn’t plant my summer bulbs of dahlia, acidanthera, gladiolus, and crocosmia after all. I ran out of time over the weekend. But I did bring the tubers into the breezeway to expose them to light.
They will need moisture soon, but I decided to wait until I plant the full containers with supporting annual flowers next weekend in anticipation of Memorial Day. I realized that moving the dahlias into gradually brighter conditions would be better for the plant growth, too.
If you took advantage of good planting weather last week, don’t worry too much about the cool and windy weather. You can protect plants with cloches, hot caps, or row covers if needed. Air temperatures will feel like the high 30s, but I believe soil has warmed enough that cold-weather crops and spring annuals should be fine.
While your spring bulbs still have green leaves (and you know where they are), scrape some all-purpose fertilizer around them to help replenish the bulbs for next year.
When planting containers and hanging baskets, don’t forget to add interesting foliage to the mix. Flowering plants may not be in full flower every day. Let colorful foliage fill the gaps literally and figuratively.
Wait to set out your tomato, eggplant, and pepper transplants into the garden until soil has reached 60 degrees. I have selected my tomato plants, but they are staying under the cover of my porch protected from wind and cold soil while still enjoying bright eastern sunlight. I will probably wait until Saturday, May 31.
More vegetable garden reminders: Thin carrots to two-inch spacing. Begin hilling soil around potato plants when they are eight to 12 inches tall. Keep harvesting asparagus that are as thick as your pinky finger. Leave thinner sprouts to develop into full photosynthesizing fronds that feed the roots for next year’s harvest.
With all the rain, remember that standing water is a call to breeding mosquitoes. To reduce the population around your home, use Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. ‘israelensis(Bti) products or mosquito “dunks.” These can be broken into pieces as determined by the surface area of the standing water around your property. I use about a quarter of a “donut” per rain barrel to prevent excessive mosquitoes. The natural bacteria infects the developing mosquito larvae in the rain barrel and prevents them from maturing. The bacteria is a bio-rational control in that it only affects the target—the mosquito larvae.
Native plants are the latest design craze, not just to save honeybees but to encourage the ecological food chain of all our native species. That is a high task. We lazy gardeners should review native plant lists and opt for native options as feasible when replacing dead plants or for fulfilling a design choice. There are hundreds of optional plants that have the added quality of being vital to the existence of a species while also filling your niche design needs.
I have a hedge roughly 60 feet long of arborvitae Thuja occidentalis “Emerald Green” that I inherited when we purchased the property. This arborvitae is a selection of the eastern native Thuja, and it has achieved mature height at about 15 feet. It is a great plant for hedges and short barriers that will also attract nesting birds of all sizes.
Unfortunately, these native trees were planted against a fence to the south and the bottom third of the tree branches have died from lack of sunshine (and perhaps poor ventilation).
This column should be called the distracted gardener. I intended to pot up my summer bulbs last weekend, but then I noticed the scraggly arborvitae. They called to me. I had some pretty Violas that needed planting, and the base of the arborvitae fit the bill as a garden area with full shade through the summer that I could see from my deck. Great, but, as I leaned in to plant, dead arborvitae branches started poking me. That is how I ended up spending the afternoon pruning.
Meanwhile, I enjoyed the fruits of my garden editing from the last few years. We have a bank of Norway spruce (Picea abies) with many dead branches under the dark canopy that just begged invasive oriental bittersweet to take hold. After a few seasons of clearing that mess, the garlic mustard, and other invasive opportunists, I have a beautiful patch of thriving false lily of the valley (Maianthemum dilatatum).
I prefer the kind of gardening where I explore what is growing and pull or reduce the plants that I don’t want. That is how I manage the overabundance of goldenrod. It moves into every garden, and I just remove it from unwanted locations.
Continue to know your weeds and dig them out or cut them back to weaken them as required before they flower and set seed. I have bishop’s weed or goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) in numerous “ignored” locations around the yard. I have reduced the number of plants in one spot by mowing it down in spring and overseeding with black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida). The black-eyed Susan rebounds quickly from any mowing and outcompetes the goutweed.
Speaking of editing, our neighbors and we removed problem trees and revealed interesting plants patiently awaiting sunshine. We saved some young ash trees, ferns, and herb Robert. I also identified a double-file Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum tomentosum) struggling along the former tree base. It consisted of a main trunk and two horizontal branches. With some appropriate pruning, the shrub has come into brilliant flower this spring. A tiny bit of editing from the Lazy Berkshire Gardener results in a lazy win!
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 am willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
