Gardening Conventional Wisdom That Is Not Really Wise

Put rocks in the bottom of your pots to give your plants better drainage. Dig a bigger hole and back fill with amended soil when you are planting a tree. These are two bits of gardening advice that are not uncommon to hear but have been shown to be the wrong thing to do to help your potted plants stay healthy or to have newly planted trees thrive. I saw them again in the context of being debunked in a great article that I tripped across earlier today. I was familiar with the mythical nature of most of the advice being debunked but was actually quite happy to read one about using wood mulch that I had often wondered about.

I use a lot of wood mulch. I recommend that people use wood mulch to help their gardens thrive and make taking care of them less of a chore. However I do live in an area where it is not uncommon to find termites. What do termites like to eat? Wood of course! According to the article, wood chips are way down on the list of wood related things termites consider appealing because of its lack of nitrogen and phosphate.

Check out the other debunked garden myths. They will help you invest your time and money wisely in your garden. Happy gardening. And remember if you are in North Texas or similar areas, if you haven't already tucked in some winter annuals so they can start getting established before the first frost takes out your warm season color, get to it ASAP.

Must Have Mulch

With increasing water restrictions due to the worsening drought in many parts of the U.S., it is becoming even more important to conserve water. You can help you plants conserve water by adding a thick layer of mulch to your garden beds.

I prefer an organic mulch that adds nutrients to the soil as it breaks down, such as wood chips. You can often purchase wood chips or composted organic mulch at rock yards by the yard, home and garden centers by the bag and sometimes even free from local tree services.

If you beds contain no mulch, before putting any down, I recommend grubbing out any weeds that might be in there and giving the area a good watering, in accordance with whatever water conservation plan you find yourself under, if the soil is dry. Then apply approximately 4 inches of mulch (tapering off somewhat up against existing plants) to your bed. Once a bed has been mulched, you should periodically redress it by adding an inch or so on top of the old mulch as it decomposes.

When adding plants to mulched areas, pull back the mulch where you want to put in your new plant(s), transplant your new additions, water them in and spread the mulch back around them. Keeping your plants mulched will help them survive by retaining moisture in the soil and keeping it cooler than it would be without a good layer of mulch.

Winter Garden Clean Up

If a killing freeze has turned sections of your garden from vibrant to drab, you need to do a little “winter cleaning” for the look and health of your garden. Annuals that have turned brown need to be taken out and perennials that go dormant over the winter need to be clipped back. Not only will this maintenance make your garden look better, but it can improve the health of your garden by removing hiding places for pests to spend the winter in. This is especially true for beds of asparagus.

After pulling out the dead annuals and clipping back the dormant perennials, you may discover some winter weeds that need to be pulled. Once you have completed these tasks, it is a great time to freshen your mulch. It is easiest to do now, when there are no plants to mulch around. If you are in a part of the country with mild winters, you may even want to put in some pansies or snapdragons.

The photos accompanying this article are of a portion of one of my front beds. Annual cosmos predominates in shades of yellow and orange during the summer, right up to the first freeze. After the freeze, the now brown plants were taken out and the ripened seeds scattered back into the garden for next year. I added a layer of no float cypress mulch before putting out my polar bear holiday decoration. I will put in some cold hardy annuals along the edge of the walk after the holidays.

"Summerize" Your Garden

With portions of the U.S. having just experienced freeze warnings it probably seems premature to be worrying about getting your garden ready for summer. Many articles are written about getting your garden ready for the winter, however for those of us that live in areas with hot, predominantly dry summers, “summerizing” could be even more important than winterizing your garden. I recommend focusing on three tasks; weeding, planting and mulching.

While I will pull a weed anytime of the year, this is an especially good time to do so while there is still some natural moisture in the soil. Getting the entire weed out is easier and the disturbance this causes will be less traumatic to nearby plants. Many weeds have not gone to seed yet, so you will be reducing next season’s weed seed load as well.

If your late winter/early spring annuals are getting tired, you should replace them with summer color now. This will give the new plants some time to get established before the heat hits. If your spring annuals still look good, you can get some 4 inch summer color and sneak them in around your existing plants instead of ripping them out. This will give your summer color time to get established and still enjoy your early color until it gives out.

Most important in this list, mulch! Mulch does a lot for your garden. It helps keep the moisture that we have in our soils from evaporating, reducing the need for supplemental watering. It provides “air conditioning” for your plant’s roots by keeping the soil cooler. It helps control weeds and makes those that do come up easier to pull and it helps improve the texture and composition of your soils.

If you attend to these three tasks now, you should enjoy the benefits of a lovely and easily maintained garden all summer long.