April 8, 2008
garden no-no’s (part 1)
Filed Under tools & techniques
I CAN SEE this blog will soon become a list of rules and to-do’s (or not to-do’s), so here’s another thread we can start together. What are your garden no-no’s? Mine are many, including these two:
Dyed green bamboo stakes. If the local garden center doesn’t have good-quality, strong, natural-colored ones, try A.M. Leonard—I order by the bundle, and they last practically forever. A great value compared to tiny packets of quick-to-split, spindly stakes in no-green-nature-ever-imagined.
Dyed rust-colored mulch (do you sense a theme here?). Any dyed mulch, in fact, is a no-no. Mulch is not a decor item, like a throw rug or a bedspread; it needn’t (shouldn’t) match the siding, please. A medium-textured, natural-colored organic material like composted stable bedding is what you are seeking. Trust me, I worked for Martha. Paint the patio furniture, not the mulch.
So go ahead: tell me (in comments field) what you hate. Once we get going I think I’ll add “Complaint Dept.” to the list of categories where posts get archived and shovel all these not-to-do’s in there. After all, who doesn’t like to complain?
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Who's Gardening Here?
from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.” Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post was similarly kind. And so was Martha, on her TV show.
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Why Do You Garden?
One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
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December Garden Chores
All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.
THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Gardeners, like their gardens, benefit from a bit of dormancy, and the time is upon us. Enjoy it. Seed-catalog season gets going in earnest later in the month, so early December is prime time to inventory leftover seeds and store them in a cool, dry place. A friend stashes his in the fridge, first sealing in zipper bags with the air squeezed out, then placing the bags in a sealed plastic box rather than have strays get lost among the yogurt and mayonnaise.
Toss those more than a few years old and make a list of what you’ll need. Not that any act of self-control stops me from ordering yet another gourd or pumpkin variety, or some oddity I simply must have or perish. My list of favoirite sources is in the right-hand sidebar of every page here.
Position your seed-shopping easy chair to point out the window, where there are still riches: berries, bark, new birds. Did you join Project Feederwatch yet?
Mole patrol continues: I am still setting out mousetraps under boxes, buckets or cans in the gardens where I see any activity, to rid them from my beds and borders.
HOUSEPLANTS
KEEP AN EYE OUT for signs of houseplant pests like spider mites, mealybugs, and scale insects. If tackled before they get out of hand, nonchemical methods are usually successful: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray (as directed on label) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip. Overwatering is the biggest risk to houseplants in winter…go easy.
START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing of another batch every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.
WAKE UP WELL-RESTED amaryllis bulbs by watering once, placing in a bright spot, and waiting for them to respond. If no dice in a couple of weeks, water again…but don’t repeatedly water an unresponsive bulb or it may rot. It will tell you when it’s ready for action.
TREES & SHRUBS
CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.
BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.
ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.
VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS
FLOWER GARDEN
PROTECT ROSES FROM WINTER damage by mounding up their crowns with a 6- to 12-inch layer of soil before the ground freezes. After all is frozen, add a layer of leaf mulch to further insulate.
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Brief but Juicy
ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).
lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.
true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.
hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?
more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.
can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.
the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.
which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.
non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.
twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?
anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.
surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.
magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?
order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
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Buried Treasure
I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.
Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).
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Compost, Compost, Compost
I am as proud of my compost heap as I am of any part of my garden. It is the archaeological record of my garden past; it is the stuff from which future gardens will arise. Composting’s also a topic I read a lot about, and lately it's from sources like these: Garden Organic, a 50-year-old British charity; Journey to Forever (don’t worry, not some into-the-bunker survivalist cult); and the vast Cornell Composting web archive. Dig in.
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frost calculator
Global-warming black humor aside, gardeners need to know their frost dates—the first and the last in an “average” year—to be able to plan when to sow or transplant what. The frost-date calculator from Victory Seed Company’s website helps.
the mother list
Thanks to Tony Avent, plant hunter and proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery, for sharing the list of all lists—every horticultural link you’d need or want.
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I’m starting my day with a good cup of coffee in hand and a smile on my face… I couldn’t agree with you more!
For me, a garden no-no includes the small plastic (or other material) wildlife with cartoon like smiles and expressions people use in their gardens for decoration. I’m traumatized by gnomes, small resin children carrying baskets, or other such decor. I love structure in a garden…not characters!
When I was young and foolish, I used gravel as a mulch in a garden. Bad move. It’s quite time consuming to ’sift’ gravel out of a garden once you realize what a mistake you made! So, no-no number two: No decorative gravel (unless it’s in a container).
Lastly, No wire hangers! Okay, so I’m sounding like Joan Crawford here.. but no wire to tie plants to stakes or other supports. I use natural twine.
I’m glad I got this out of my system! :-)
—Kenn
Good morning! I’m also drinking my coffee and reading this morning. Zones. The misuse of zones drives me nuts. We give USDA zones far too much credit. They don’t tell us anything about growing - not frost dates, how much rain we’ll get or how it’s going to be. The only thing zones tell us is the average annual coldest temperature in a given area.
Tied for second place - petro chemicals (like the common 10-10-10) and unsafe organic chemicals. Safety first.
Kenn, I picked out my baskets this morning. They have chains. Plastic is no no #3. And I agree with no gnomes, cutesy items and dyed mulches. I do have to admit to having a resin sign that looks like a stone. It says “grow dammit.” I have to keep as it was a gift from my daughter.
And one more no no that is completely beyond my control, 12″ of snow on the garden on April 9. No no! But it’s there. Apparently the Snow Fairy didn’t get the memo.
Hello! Hmmm…I have my coffee in hand as well, but it hasn’t kicked in yet. Off hand, I can think of a few. Those ‘wishing wells’ or other fountain features plopped in the middle of the yard with nothing to anchor them and with no thought of scale, style of house, etc. And cement lions that are too small, too large, and again don’t fit the style of the house. Flower beds that have plantings spaced way too far apart. Plants might find each other after 10 or 20 years. Lava rock ‘mulch’ seems to be a favorite in California. I am still picking it out of my beds!
I am sure I can think of more as I clear my groggy head…
My list of no-no’s:
Mulch should be used to reduce weed seed germination and retain moisture and should disappear as plants grow. It should not be seen all season unless it is in a new garden area which will need time to fill in. Mulch is not a design feature. Layered plantings are much preferred!
Mulch volcanoes!!! See above!
Rock mulch! Ugh! OK, I will amend that to the lush parts of the country.
Red salvia and yellow marigolds! Come on people, be creative!
Granny fannys! Need I even mention this one!
Masses and masses of bedded annuals with the exception of Butchart Gardens where this look is desired for mass appeal. That garden is just a spectacle.
1. White plastic anything: hanging baskets, patio tables, chairs. No. No. No. Don’t do it.
2. Garish colour combos in flower beds: bright red and bright yellow is just ugly. Sorry. We’re not at McDonald’s.
3. Underplanted beds: large swaths of bare earth with spotty planting. Fill it up!
4. Lawn, lawn, lawn and more lawn: plant some trees or varry the ground covers.
5. Random pruning: do some research and determine when it is safe, or recommended, to prune back a given plant/tree. Otherwise it’s just pointless (and harmful) amputation.
You and all of your rules. The beauty of a garden is that it is yours and you can do what you damn well please…with a few minor exceptions. You can use any combination of flowers you want just not in a tipped over milk can, whiskey barrel, old metal bucket. No crappy staking of any kind. Plain bamboo or wooden stakes and natural twine, period. If it is mass produced it is not a garden ornament it is trash. Plain and simple.
My number one garden no no at the moment? Inserting the little plastic tags next to each and every plant that you planted. Number one, rare is the tag that is informative enough to keep (especially with annuals!). Number two, if you must keep the tag, keep ONE and keep it INSIDE in your gardening note book. And when you plant woodies, definitely remove every last nursery flag, tag, and piece of rope. Please!
Stacey points out a really good no-no–plastic labels–and especially those gigantic labels we’ve seen the last few years that are often bigger than the plant in the pot is when you buy it. I am labeling my garden w/metal embossed strips now, to get away from all that. Posted about it a week or two or three ago:
http://awaytogarden.com/plant-labels-that-last/
Like Stacey says, the plastic ones belong indoors as a reference w/your journal.
Margaret
I had to join in on the mutual hatred of rust colored mulch. Why not get the brown that matched the DIRT! It’s a garden… it has DIRT!
I hate fancy topilary trees in front of McMansions and white rocks as well…or better when people PAINT the ROCKS! oi!
I will admit that I have a lawn gnome, but only for memories sake..it was the last one stolen from a LI lawn when I was a teen. His head fell off and my husband hates him, but he makes me smile.
White plastic lattice has a place in life…if you are the one that must get stuck painting the lattace.. then the plastic is your friend.
Welcome to A Way to Garden, Faux Claud. White rocks–yes, that’s a good one. Awful, just awful.
And p.s., I have a gnome, too (though not in a spot where anybody would notice). I found him about 15 years ago at curbside when I was passing through a town an hour away–someone had put him out for the garbage man, so I adopted him. Just couldn’t help myself.
M.
My least favorite thing besides colored mulch is bad art in a garden that does not enhance the plants or have the esthetics of the house grounds or gardens in mind.
Another problem is lack of maitained grounds in public spaces which are meant to entice visitation . I’m speaking mostly of highway areas, rest stops and malls especially in NJ where I’m from. Plants die and they are not replaced, weeds grow, mulch becomes the view, trees fall and are not taken away. As a girl growing up in this state, moving away and coming back after 28 years, it took alot of watching Martha and visiting gardens in the UK and here to realize that this is not how it has to be. I would love it if all landscaping companies could have something dropped into the morning coffee to some how change this approach.
Welcome, Linda, who says ‘no’ to some very good no-no’s. Thanks for visiting, and do come again soon.