An Official Publication of Property Services. Volume 1,No. 4
Over the past few years we have become your resident landscaper to help you with your individual garden questions and education. We have shown you gardening from roses to evaluating what a tree is worth to your yard. We hope these contributions have been helpful.
The most frequently asked question for us lately has been what if I just want to plant around my patio or deck and not fool around with the rest of the yard? What could I do?" Our suggestions are to create what we call a cottage garden. The term cottage garden does not actually refer to a distinct garden style but rather to an attitude. A cottage garden is free wheeling to whatever you would like to make of an area. More and more mail order magazines are advertising garden ornaments of the past. The old items such as a trellis, arbor gate, light weight pots, figurines, water features, sundials and benches are the exact features needed for a cottage garden. The average residential lot has grown smaller and there is a need to now maximize the use of available space. Small spaces do not have to limit the enjoyment of gardening. Many cottage gardens are patterned after gardens planted by the early American colonist and their English ancestors.
Cottage gardens can be door yard gardens or gardens of English style, what they really amount to is a lot of garden in whatever space the owner wants to plant. The few rules are taller plants to the back or center and shade plants to the shade area and sun plants to the sunny area. The pattern or design is not important because you are creating an area of plantings that you like. The planting should be well prepared so in the future it will be easier to just "stick" something there. The spring time will also be an excellent time to push a few cuttings in the soil. The cuttings will take root in an area that is well prepared with topsoil, peat humus and a rotor tiller. The trick to a cottage garden is to grow as many things as possible in whatever space you have designated in a tight grouping.
A cottage garden can be as delightful and interesting as a whole arboretum in itsintricate textures and fragrant surprises. The perennial flower along with herbs trading off with bulbs and annuals in various seasons enclosed with an evergreen border with stepping stones and a bench or statuary gives an area of your yard back door, or patio that informal look of comfort and tranquility. Start small and cheap. The seed money goes into preparation. Hire a kid to dig the bed up. If you can not do that, order a load of topsoil, dump it or place it where you want and start with a mound. Most flowers require only 12 inches of good soil. Make sure your mound drains away from your house or patio and go for your look. Let your children pick where they want to plant their seeds, take in orphan plants, "clearance" plants and plants that catch your eye at the check out counter. Keep it fertilized, watered and sprayed and see how many friends think how you could afford a professional landscape company planting your yard or patio. Some secrets are made to keep.
Spring Clean Up
Mulch - This is the best time to get a layer of mulch down. Remember that mulch is only effective in controlling weeds if it is applied at least 3" in thickness. Also, it is not wise to use green type mulch that has not had time to decompose. Green mulch has a tendency to take the nitrogen out of the soil, thus turning your plants a somewhat pale yellow. When you purchase loose mulch by the pickup load and pay for it by the cubic yard, a regular pickup can only hold 3 cubic yards piled high on the truck. Never buy mulch by its weight. Also a regular pickup load can mulch the front yard foundation bed.
Pruning - If you are planning to prune this spring you are late and need to quickly get motivated to accomplish this task. Remember, the reasons why you prune. People prune plants and trees to make them grown the way they want. Nature only prunes the weak, sick and the old to make way for new. In flowering plants, pruning is necessary to stimulate new growth since blooming only occurs on new wood. This is why you see so much pruning of Crape Myrtles this time of year. (Although, I wish I could give some of these "professional" people a lesson on pruning Crape Myrtles.) A good rule of thumb in pruning is to do your best pruning after it has finished blooming but immediately after is has finished blooming. This is also a good time to give it a good balance feeding. Use a good plant food if you can.
Planting - This is a great time to do any planting of landscape materials such as flowers, trees and foundation plants. This is also the best time to buy nursery stock since the majority of plant stock arrives in the spring. Unfortunately it is also the time when plant materials are the highest price. If you are buying a large quantity of plants to do a major planting, do not be afraid to ask for a quantity discount or a free delivery. The professional nurseries want your business and want you to come back. Use common sense when shopping for plants, if the plant needs shade and the plant is on display in a shady portion of the nursery, do not believe that you can plant it in the full sun. Remember plants are a science and plant design is an art.
See you on the parkway......................
| Hints, Tips and To Do's List: 1) Prune now; you will see a lot of winter brown on the leaves of your shrubs. Prune them, they will not turn back green; stimulate new growth. 2) If you did not fertilize much this fall, do it now. Aren't you hungry when you wake up? 3) A loaded wheelbarrow of mulch or topsoil has no monthly gym fee or waiting lines! 4) A hair dryer is your best bet for removing window stickers, labels on new appliances, stubborn masking tape and bumper stickers. 5) When you have to caulk around the bath tub where the bath tub meets the wall, run masking tape along both sides. Wet your fingers, drag it over the caulk plowing the excess onto the tape. Carefully remove the tape and you have got a neat uniform caulk bead. 6) For small job concrete mixing, use a large zippered freezer bag. Mix a few handfuls of concrete on mortar with water. Knead the bag, cut off a corner and squeeze out the concrete. No tools, mess or cleanup. |