Category Archives: Gardening

A Gardener’s Work Is Never Done

Gardening, ,

Note: This article, excerpted from November 2019, originally appeared in the Frederick News-Post as a column for the Frederick County Master Gardeners. It is reprinted with permission of the Features Editor. Some details from the original column have been deleted here as they are no longer relevant.

You may be thinking that with the onset of winter, your garden work is done. Think again!

Did you prune trees and shrubs yet? Mulch perennials? Dig up tender plants and store them for next spring? To help you, the University of Maryland (UMD) lists several outdoor garden tasks for November on its extension web site (https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/november-tips-tasks).

Prune

While spring bloomers should have been pruned very soon after they finished blooming, fall is the time to prune summer-blooming shrubs, dormant shade trees, and do other trimming as needed. UMD recommends that you prune back to the branch collar (swollen area on the trunk or larger branch from which you are trimming other branches/twigs). To reduce the overall height of your tree, don’t give it a “crewcut”; rather, prune “entire branches at their point of origin,” says UMD.

If possible, pile pruned branches in a corner of your yard as a winter shelter for birds, insects, and other creatures. Chip up any branches destined for compost.

Protect

After the first hard frost, mulch tender perennials to protect them from heaving out of the soil because of the alternate freezing and thawing of soil. UMD notes that “mulch helps moderate temperature fluctuations, reducing” the heaving.

Shred the leaves from your trees with a mulching mower or a leaf shredder, then let them decompose naturally on the lawn, in your garden beds, or on your compost pile. Do NOT make a “volcano” of mulch around your trees, as that encourages insects and bacteria to invade the trees. UMD says covering the beds with “shredded leaves [can] minimize the risk of soil erosion and nutrient run-off. They can be tilled into the garden in spring or left in place as a mulch between rows of vegetables.”

If you have a pond, remove leaves and cover the pond with screening. Otherwise, the “decomposing leaves will produce gasses that can sicken or kill fish when trapped under a layer of ice.”

Along with traditional mulch and shredded leaves, you may want to layer organic matter, such as composted, aged horse, cow, sheep, or chicken manure, into your garden beds.

Some popular plants, such as azalea, rhododendrons, camellias, boxwood, cherry laurel, or magnolias, are at their northernmost limits in our region and need protection from our bitter winter winds, especially when these plants are young. Consider the plant’s placement in your garden—is it in a microclimate or a protected area? If not, UMD recommends a fence of staked burlap or plastic around the individual plant or along a row of plants. I’ve tried both burlap and plastic and found that burlap holds up better in winter winds.

Depending on where you live, you may also need to protect plants from deer damage with deer repellants, deer netting, or fencing.

Store

Many summer-blooming bulbs and tubers, including cannas, dahlias, gladioli, caladiums, and tuberous begonias, are too tender to survive our winters. Instead, dig them up and cut stems/leaves back almost to the bulb (but keep a 4-6″ stem on cannas and dahlias). Let the bulbs dry out for one to three weeks, according to UMD’s web site. Make sure you label plant types and colors. Store the dried plants in paper or mesh bags, cardboard boxes, or even in nylon stockings, layered with peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, or newspaper, in a cool, dry place (at 40-50°F), such as your basement, until spring. Check them periodically and discard any shriveled or decayed bulbs onto your compost pile.

Avoid Fertilizing or Seeding Now

Grass seed spread now is unlikely to survive the winter, as the seed does not have enough time to develop a good root system. Rather, sow seed in early spring. In addition, the Maryland Lawn Fertilizer Law requires that Maryland homeowners NOT apply fertilizer to their lawns between November 15th and March 1st.

Even with all those tasks out of the way, you’ll no doubt find more things that need your attention in the coming months. After all, a gardener’s work is never done. But perhaps you can take time to sit down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine, gaze out the window at your winter landscape, and imagine spring projects, a place for just one more tree, a new vegetable or flower bed…

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Have Your Cake and…Enjoy the Garden

Gardening

Note: This article originally appeared in the Frederick News-Post in May 2019 as a column for the Frederick County Master Gardeners. It is reprinted with permission of the Features Editor. Some details from the original column have been deleted here as they are no longer relevant or have been edited slightly.

Now that it’s nearly June, deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their spring show and donned their summer leaves, helping to create an oasis of green around our homes. Along with those trees, flowers, shrubs, and other plants, come the birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, providing our own “Animal Planet” show.

Numerous health experts agree that gardening is not only a place of peace and mental calm, but is physically healthy for us, helping us remain mobile and flexible for much later in our lives than we might otherwise be. WebMD.com points out that gardening promotes your body’s endurance, flexibility, and strength. On WebMD.com, author Jeff Restuccio says to alternate the gardening activities—light and heavy chores—over a 30- to 60-minute span, then rest a while. Yardshare.com also notes that gardening improves “our endurance and strength…reduces stress and promotes relaxation…provides a sense of a job well done…”

Sounds encouraging, but I have to admit that my mobility and flexibility are still not what I’d like. These days it’s hard to kneel down and even harder to get up from my little bench; gardening chores take a lot longer now than when I was in my thirties; and allergies and heat intolerances are having their way with me. So how do I find time to relax in the garden with a glass of wine or cup of tea when I have never-ending weeding, trimming, pruning, and other chores to do?

One answer my husband and I have found is to adapt our gardens to our abilities. So our 20 or so gardens surrounding the house and yard perimeters are gradually becoming smaller, more narrow, or have been eliminated altogether.

You may also be contemplating changes to your own yard, whether it’s because the needs of the garden have changed, or because your needs and your endurance have changed. Consider cutting back, cutting out, and refreshing this summer—and give yourself more time to enjoy your garden.

One of the things I love about a garden is that it is ever-changing—plants die or grow too big for their spot, once-small trees loom over sun-loving plants. You begin to think of changes—what should replace the dead plant? Where should we move that too-big perennial or shrub? Should we change out the sun-loving plants for shade-loving ones under that big tree, or should we cut down the tree?

Are you putting a new garden in once barren land, or replacing plants? Look for low-maintenance (minimal pruning or trimming) natives. Keep in mind the eventual mature size of any trees or shrubs you want to plant.

Have you been learning about the importance of pollinators in the life cycle of plants and insects? Attract pollinators with perennials and annuals. Use shrubs and plants that bloom at different times of the season and that don’t require a lot of dead-heading.

Looking for something different, something to have an impact? Plant vegetables and herbs, such as cabbages, rosemary, and lavender, in places you usually reserve for annuals. Or go for tropicals, such as banana plants or canna lilies—just remember, you will need to dig up tropicals in the fall.

If you’re cutting back on garden beds, could you place raised beds or containers for vegetables or flowers on a patio, deck, or porch for easier access? Would weaving irrigation hoses through the garden or installing a water-conservation system help ease your work in the garden?

Finally, please don’t make mulch “volcanoes” around the trunks of trees—the mulch piled high around trunks and then flattening out beyond the trunks prevents rain water from soaking into the roots and is an open invitation to damaging insects and diseases to invade your trees. Instead, keep the mulch a couple inches away from the tree trunk; spread it evenly out to the dripline of the branches, then mound a ring of mulch along the edge, which helps to keep water in the root area, where it needs to be.

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The Dead of Winter

Gardening,

Note: This article, excerpted from February 2019, originally appeared in the Frederick News-Post as a column for the Frederick County Master Gardeners. It is reprinted with permission of the Features Editor. Some details from the original column have been deleted here as they are no longer relevant.

Is February the “dead of winter”? Maybe. According to several web sites, the “dead of” anything doesn’t mean lack of life, as I had always thought, but rather, being in the middle of whatever it is—winter, night, etc. 

“In the middle of” winter makes much more sense to me than dead, as in lack of life, ever did. After all, if we look closely, we see signs of life all winter long, whether it’s December or February. Last fall’s leaves, slumped-over pampas grass, Russian sage, and flattened hostas all contribute to the life cycle of your garden—they provide shelter and food in the form of insects, larvae, seeds, for winter birds and other creatures, as well as the spring and summer guests on their way.

Look up at your garden’s vertical structures. On those bare, sculpted branches, in the evergreens whose tall, jagged silhouettes pierce the sky is life. Buds are breaking dormancy on branches. Pine cones are fattening in the high branches of pines, junipers, hemlocks.

Now look down. On your garden’s floor, you see dead, shriveled, collapsed stems and leaves. Yet, snow drops, crocuses and other early spring flowers are popping out of the soil. Scratch away a little bit of the surface detritus and you will see more itty-bitty tendrils peeping out of the soil and dead leaves.

But I know what you’re thinking—Looking at all that dead stuff, you’re getting itchy garden fingers. Go ahead—start pruning, spading, cleaning up (a little). However, a word of caution—know which plants will be happy with your grooming efforts and which ones want to hold onto their winter scruffiness just a little longer.

Prune: Master Gardeners recommend that you prune both to improve the shape of the plant and to open up the center of the plant for better air circulation. You can find lots of advice in gardening magazines and on websites. For example, the Garden Helper (http://www.thegardenhelper.com/) recommends that you first remove all dead, decayed, or broken branches. From there, the method of pruning depends on the type of plant.

Most important with pruning is that you know when the plant blooms. If it’s a springtime bloomer, such as rhododendron, azalea, forsythia, don’t prune until AFTER the blooming season. However, if it’s a summer bloomer, such as many crepe myrtles, it can be pruned now before buds form.

Make sure your pruners or clippers are sharp, and disinfect them between usage. Jessica Damiano of NewsDay.com recommends using “a 10-percent bleach/90 percent water solution, or disinfectant spray.”

Take a look at your hollies, roses, grapevines, and honeysuckle (plant native American honeysuckle, not the invasive Japanese varieties). Do they look a bit ragged and rough around the edges? February is a good time to make them happy with careful pruning, cutting out diseased canes and branches. 

Damiano also suggests that you prune deciduous trees (those that drop their leaves in the fall) now, except for those she calls “bleeders”: maple, beech, dogwood, elm, and sycamore. She notes that those trees should be in full leaf before you prune. Now would also be a good time to mark with bright paint the branches you want to prune later.

Replant, water, dig: As you make your garden rounds, you’ll find that Mother Nature has given the heave-ho to some bulbs, tubers and plant crowns. Gently press them back into the ground. We had so much rain and snow this past fall and in the early part of winter that you probably don’t need to water evergreens, but if the ground isn’t frozen, check to see how dry it is; water as needed. Turn the compost pile, Damiano commands.

Check trees and shrubs for damaging insects. You might see small, cottony masses on evergreens that could be woolly adelgid egg sacs. Make sure the wrappings on tree trunks are still secure to keep some larvae from inching their way up to burrow under tender bark. Treat woody plants with dormant oil spray to destroy overwintering aphids, mites, and scale.

If you’re unsure what kind of insect or disease is causing a problem, help is available by way of the University of Maryland Frederick Extension website http://extension.umd.edu/frederick-county/home-gardening/mg/happenings-seminars-plant-sale-wcwdfy. On the lower right portion of the page is a link to “Ask an Expert.” This will connect you to professionally trained horticulturists who will help identify the problem to the best of their ability.

Fertilize: You can also fertilize shrubs, trees, evergreens, and spring-flowering bulbs now. Use an acidic fertilizer for plants such as rhododendron, azaleas, conifers, evergreens, etc. For deciduous trees and shrubs, and roses, use an all-purpose fertilizer.

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