Saturday, September 15, 2007
Get your plants ready for fall
Libba Wolfe
Libba Wolfe's column appears twice monthly in Extra.
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It seems as though every day we have a 30 percent chance of rain. Maybe your yard has gotten 100 percent of that 30 percent. Mine has gotten about 14 drops.
A few days ago after I watered the pots and repositioned the sprinkler, I went to talk to Bruce Feldberg, owner of Riverside Nursery in Salem. He’s been in the business a long time and I wanted to pick his brain about strategies — short term and long term — for dealing with bone-dry gardening conditions.
Moisture key to healthy roots
I still have quite a collection of potted plants I bought late last spring. I’ve kept them watered, but I’ve been too hot and lazy to get them in the ground.
Bruce shared a landscaper’s trick I can use right away.
After the past dry month, I notice when I dig a hole the dirt is like talcum powder down where the new roots will go. Bruce’s advice is to dig the hole, fill it with water and let it soak in. Do this 3 or 4 times. It may take the better part of a day to really saturate the soil.
Then put the plant in, water again and mulch. You’ll have a head start on establishing a healthy root system if you put the water where the plant needs it. Of course, new plants need a good soaking a few times a week for the next year or two.
I asked Bruce about the hydrogel soil additives that help retain moisture. He said he might use them in containers that dry out quickly but he’d be very reluctant to use them in the soil. A rainy stretch could turn the ground to mush. There are better, more natural, less expensive ways to deal with drought.
Go organic … for free
No matter where you stand scientifically, politically and morally on the climate change issues, there is one long-term strategy that pays off .
Constantly improving your garden soil with organic matter is crucial. It loosens our heavy clay soil and allows the water to soak in rather than run off. It encourages the growth and movement of ants, worms, sow bugs and millipedes that create the channels that move air and water to plant roots.
We can’t lose with rich organic soil. If we get lucky and have a wet spring, good drainage allows the rain to renew the deep reserves that have dried out over the past few years. If it continues to be dry, our plant’s roots can take advantage of every precious drop of water.
Adding organic matter doesn’t have to mean an expensive trip to a garden supply store. A free solution will literally fall out of the sky next month.Instead of dreading the annual chore of raking and bagging leaves, think of those fallen leaves as a no-delivery-charge soil amendment. All you have to do is figure out where to put them (anywhere but the curb).
I start the leaf season in high gear. Full of energy, I drag bags around back to the compost pile. By the end of October, I’m weary of hauling the bags so I rake the leaves into big piles and ask the lawn guys to run a mower through them. Then I use the chopped leaves to mulch the borders.
By December, I’m more than tired of leaf work, but my penny-pinching conscience won’t let me waste a single leaf. By then I’m just raking them as-is around my plants.
When I start planting next March, I’ll grab some of that leaf mulch that has already started to decay and add to all the holes I dig. You can certainly dig it or till it all in early next spring. I prefer to cover my laziness with a righteous, natural gardener’s face and leave it right where it is. Worms and insects will move it into the soil. Mother Nature may take a little longer but if it works in the forest, it’ll work in my yard.
Bruce’s second long-term strategy for dealing with drought involves putting the right plant in the right place.
More about that next time. Maybe by then we’ll be invigorated with cool weather and in the mood to get back to work. With all the cash we’ll save using our free leaves, we’ll be ready for some serious plant shopping.
TO DO: Plant Sale at the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech Sept. 27-28 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Shop for tough perennials — perennials that are deer resistant, and with fall/winter interest. The Pi Alpha Xi annual Bulb Sale is also going on at the same time and location. Go to www.hort.vt.edu/hhg for directions. While you’re there, check out the details on the Free Friday morning Garden Walk Series.
