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New Year's Resolutions for the Garden |
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With a new growing season upon us, now is the time to
set some garden resolutions. If you resolve to take
time early in the season to complete chores like staking,
mulching and edging, you'll save time later in the summer
– time that can be spent enjoying the results of
your hard work.
Staking
This is the one resolution I really must keep. The
trick is to do it before the plants fall down. It's
a seemingly simple theory, yet inevitably difficult
in practice.
The key benefit of keeping this resolution is that if
the chore is completed early in the season, the end
results can be virtually invisible – the plants
will grow, obscure the supports and look natural.
Contrast this to, say, Sarah Bernhardt peonies
hauled off the ground after the inevitable June thunderstorm,
braced with long, thick stakes and girded with binder
twine.
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One way to support bushy plants is to surround
them with twiggy branches pushed into the ground
in the spring. The growing plants will cover
the branches, but at the same time be supported
by them. A similar idea is to lay light metal
mesh on top of plants such as peonies before they
emerge. The stems will rise up through the mesh
and pull it up, providing support as the plant
continues to grow.
If the opportunity for discreet staking passes,
the opposite strategy might work – make the
support an element of the garden design. You
can prop up plants with garden ornaments or use
brightly painted stakes that complement or contrast
the plant. Another option for some plants is
to shear or pinch them back before bud set.
This will make them shorter, bushier and less
prone to flopping.
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Fig. 1 – Staking early in the season
allows growing plants to cover the support naturally. |
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Other
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