Leaves of Life

Leaves of Life

My Coloring

Planning the Garden - Know Your Garden Site

Envision the property - as it is.  Make notes of the sunny portions of the yard. Where is the shade most of the day? Is the site level or hilly? Check the drainage path directions - does the yard puddle in one area for hours after a hard rain?   Where is the soil very dry? Planning the garden will help the process for a rewarding garden experience.

Check out elements that cannot be removed, such as a neighbors garage, large trees, utility boxes,and power lines. Planning the inclusion of these elements may be easier if screens, shrubs, and vertical structures are incorporated into the garden.

Are there community restrictions regarding fences and other structures? Does a fence need to be open, wood, metal, or if the fence can come to the front of the dwelling on the property.  These elements will have to be part of the new landscape, so planning the garden around them will be less stressful when the actual construction of the yard has begun.

Fence line 

This view of the fence line to the back of our property which extends over 200 feet.  At this photo time, the bed was fifteen feet deep from the fence to the edge.  I determined that this size was more than I could care for easily, so we moved the edge to approximately five feet deep -   more in line with my style and energy.

The fence will be a back drop of any landscape plan. The fence is on the west side of the house, and usually has shade fall in front of it by early afternoon.  The morning sun warms this area until that time.

Side yard - South exposure

This is a hot sunny area of our backyard. South exposures (In the Northern Hemisphere) will get sun morning, noon, and afternoon. Full sun plants will thrive here as well as drought tolerant plants. Consider these elements when planning the garden of your dreams.

Utility cables 

Be aware of the utilities and make access to them. Service techs will not be concerned at all to be careful around your lovely plants. I've set in a few stepping stones between my plants (hint- hint) for the meter readers to use.

Bed  created along walkway

Many hardscapes can be utilized into the landscape. Patios, drives, and pathways are considered to be 'hardscapes'.   Walkways to the front door should be open and visible for visitors to follow. If shrubs are too high, or they are encroaching the path, the design will not be appreciated.  It will be aggravating and high maintenance keeping the plant materials within their boundaries. 

Ravine divides property

Hills, ravines, creeks, and other natural features will make the plan for a garden challenging.   

Terraced walls steep incline to shed

Terracing and bridges are charming, but may break the budget. 

Steps to deck above

Stairs need to be built to code, and handrails and risers should be sturdy.  No homeowner wants an accident on the premises, or a potential lawsuit.  Local zoning departments will give the specification for your space.  

Cleared space 

So, when planning your space the gardener need to consider 1) the Size, 2) the Exposure - N, S, E, W.  3) The Style that appeals to the sensibilities of the gardener., and  4) The Budget - reality can be harsh, but sticking to a budget will relieve post-construction regrets.

Take the time to plan your space.  Note that we haven't even talked about plants.  That step is next, but often jumps the line.   Keep to this process of planning the garden for a successful, rewarding gardening experience.

New Gardener's Tip - Know Your Style

Getting out into the yard is an annual winter rite-of-passage.  But before taking a backhoe to the yard, take a few moments to consider these few aspects of building a successful garden.  Gardening is not supposed to be stressful, but many get discouraged because they skip these steps.  

                                        Envision  - Enrich  -  Enjoy 

My approach to gardening is simple.  Envision, what is desired in the garden.  How will the yard be used?  Do the children need room for practicing soccer?  Will vegetables be grown?  Is a shady sitting area in the plan?  Is outdoor cooking wanted?  These questions allow for a picture to form in this planning stage of the new garden. 

I know getting that Vision is difficult.  So I encourage a trip through landscape pictures, gardens, patios, and decks.  What you like will be evident when you select favorites and the 'likes' will most certainly fall into a style that expresses you and your life style.

There are fifty styles that  can be developed into your space.  Here are a few styles that may appeal to your tastes.

English Cottage

Relaxing nook

Front Yard Vegetable Garden

Formal Garden

Zen Meditation

Mulched Tree Garden

Mulched Borders

Contemporary 

Entertaining Garden

Urban Border

Each garden embraces the owner's requirements for their life style. This vision of what you will use the space for is key to deciding on a garden style. No direction of taste or style will get a confused mish-mash garden that may not work for the family.  There may be an area where you never go, or one area is too small or crowded for where everyone hangs out.

The over-all yard design may be too difficult to easily maintain.  Shrubs that need constant pruning may not be the relaxed space you want.

Decide you style. Then be honest about the maintenance you are willing to do. Formal gardens need periodic pruning to keep the crisp lines of this style.  Let's face it, an overgrown space will overwhelm most gardeners, and sets the gardener up for failure.  I want all gardeners to succeed.  Clean and simple may be just what is needed.

I personally have been so busy pruning, weeding, deadheading, watering, mowing, and mulching, that I never had time to just sit and enjoy my yard.  Learn from my mistakes - and be realistic in your new garden project. 

Enrich the lives of the homeowner.  Allow the pleasure of this outdoor space to bring friends together, provide a quiet spot to read, and gather veggies for the family.  Sun, shade, rain, and colorful flower beds will add an element of satisfaction, peace, and relaxation to enrich any life.

Enjoy the outdoor space you have.  Families and jobs certainly deserve our best efforts.  But even if the tablet is in your lap on the patio, that space can be yours to enjoy.  

Where to Use Compost in The Landscape

Previously, I explained how to make compost.  In that article I highlighted why compost is so good for the soil by feeding the microbes, improving the soil structure, and allowing moisture to move through the soil. So now I would like to show the many way to incorporate compost into the landscape.

Three yards of compost from landscape supplier

Add compost to a new garden bed.  The spring is a great time to add some gardening space to the landscape.  Many cool, rainy days will aid in the process.  Removing turf is the hardest part. Using a flat head spade will skim the sod from the soil. 

Test the shape and size of a new bed 

Several steps to visualize the new space in the landscape.  What will it be used for, and how is the plan moving forward to a landscape that is usable.  Creating the bed once size and shape are determined is next.

Using landscape paint, this homeowner outlined the desired garden bed.  This will give a visual of size and shape.  This exercise using paint or even a garden hose to outline an area can easily be changed.  The cutout is harder to change if it does not look acceptable. 

Create new garden

Add compost as a planting base for new garden

This raised bed will be a great vegetable garden and there are uses for compost here as well. 

Another way to build a garden bed on sod or other planted area, is to lay down cardboard or newsprint on top of the grass.  This layer needs to be thick - about 6-8 sheets of newspaper will successfully suffocate weeds and grass.  I have done this several places in my garden.  The digging is eliminated, and rolling up sod is unnecessary.

Use newspapers smother grass

Skip scraping sod to make new bed

At this time, I cover the paper with a 4" - 6" layer of compost.  The paper will decompose, and the area can be planted in as little as eight weeks.  The compost enhances the planting area, and plants will take off well.

Top dress planting bed with compost

Add compost to planting holes when installing new perennials, shrubs, and trees.  The nutrients will be available to the roots slowly and steadily.  And the compost will allow water and oxygen to move freely at the roots. 

Amend soil with compost

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Add compost to planting hole

Rake Compost through grass for rejuvenation of a lawn

  Compost raked into an established lawn can rejuvenate a tired area. Compost can help break up compacted soil, and allows water to be better absorbed.  The nutrition that compost offers is secondary only to the benefits it gives the soil and the microbes that are in it.



Compost is an additive I like to add to containers.  Potting soil can be supplemented with compost - or mixed with peat moss and perlite to make a homemade potting soil more economically.

Perlite particles in a soil mix allows air spaces to form where oxygen and water have free movement.

Perlite

Peat moss

Compost added to container as growing mix.

Whether making home compost or purchasing compost from a landscape supplier, compost is one of the best soil amendments.  By building the soil with compost, a new garden bed, or the lawn, or the containers sitting on patio will benefit from the organic material.

Soil Health - the Cornerstone of Life

Beginner Gardeners have come to my attention.  Many do not know where to begin, but they know they want to begin. A friend bought a few acres with the plans to 'garden'.  She also is raising chickens.  While I was reducing our garden beds, I potted up extra plants and gave them to her.  But the focus has been on the plants, and I'd be amiss if I do not give her some other information that will make a world of difference in her new garden.

That information is how, and why the soil is so critical to, not only her garden, but to the environment, and, as far as that goes, the planet. Here is why.

Millions, and billions of microorganisms reside in healthy soil.  The eat organic material, and the enzymes they excrete allow the roots of plants to take up nutrients as needed.  The problem I see as an organic gardener is the media blitzes proclaiming the praises of chemical fertilizers (Specifically, liquid fertilizers). Advertisers do not tell of the harmful effects on the soil.  Chemicals kill microbes and leaves the soil dead. Synthetic fertilizers will feed the roots of plants while it is liquid. However, the soil cannot retain nutrients, so more and more applications of synthetic fertilizers are needed to keep lawns or gardens growing. No amount of chemicals can make up for the benefits of good organic material re-introduced into the soil.

Soil structure that is less than optimal can prohibit roots from taking up moisture and nutrients. Also,sandy soil is so porous that water runs through it rapidly.  So fast that roots have minimal time to take advantage of the moisture.  Clay soils, on the other hand, are so dense, that air and water cannot get down into the roots, thereby suffocating them.

By adding compost to sandy soil, moisture is slowly moved through enabling roots to stay moist longer.  Compost added to clay soil open up the pores and allows air and water to move through the soil.  The diagram above indicates that air and water are vital to good soil, and as little as 5% organic matter can make a weak soil into a healthy base.

The term 'friable' may be used in this instance.  Making the soil crumble-able.  Good organic soil will do this easily.

Nature has a way of building rich organic soil.  The forest is a good example of allowing debris such as leaves, bark, and microbes to return to the earth as organic matter.  This decomposing is Nature at her best. Mimicking Nature is the best way to return to a way of living that many have forsaken.

Adding compost to the lawn and garden will go a long way to reestablishing the balance that nature intended.

Healthy soil improves water-holding capacity reducing runoff of surface water and drawing moisture down. 

These roots indicate that air and water are deep into the soil making for a more robust plant.

Organic soil can maximize plant growth by giving the microorganisms in the soil food.  They decompose the organic matter and return available nutrients to the plants.  Plants thrive and provide food, lodging, and oxygen to the world above.

The message I've tried to convey today is that we need to feed the soil, not the plant.  Healthy soil will take care of the plant's needs IF we take care of the soil. 

Organic Lawns Start with the Right Seed

Nature has a way of giving us help as we try to reduce use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides in the home landscape.  All we have to do is pay attention.  The past two seasons my hubby and I have made a point to seed in several areas for additional lawn.

As we shopped for seed, we came across a term that was new to me, Endophyte-enhanced turf grass. This is what I'm talking about.

Endophytes are a  fungi that naturally infect the blades of grass.  Not a harmful fungi, a beneficial fungi that makes the grass resistant to insects and diseases. Studies have shown that  Endophyte infected grasses are less likely to be damaged by insects such as billbugs, cinchbugs, and sod webworms.  The chemical that lives withing the plant does not harm the grass plant, but the insects don't fair as well.  Some bugs are repelled by the plant, where other bugs eat the blades and are poisoned.  The natural compound in the plant works on surface feeding insect. 

Billbug

Cut worm

Sod web worm

Endophyte-enhanced grass also has been shown to resist stresses of heat and drought, and recovers better in the fall.

Excessive usage of Water on Lawns

 Endophyte-enhanced seed blends have also shown resistance to diseases like dollar spot, and red thread. 

Dollar Spot

Red Thread

Why does this fungi seem so important?  In our efforts to reduce chemicals in the landscape, Endophyte-enhanced grass is environmentally friendly and are not genetically modified (GMO).  The time saved and money spent on chemical treatments is a great eco-friendly choice in the landscape.

The seed producers have gone to great lengths to show the benefits in their products.  Many Fescue, Ryegrass, and Bluegrass blends are available.  Local seed formulated in your area are probably best to deal with insects, diseases, and the climate. Landscapes that are sunny, shady, dry, or high traffic areas have specific blends. Local garden centers that sell seed can usually advise you on what seed will meed your requirements. A list of grass varieties can be accessed at The National Turfgrass Evaluation Program at www.ntep.org/.



Endophyte-enhanced grasses are not to be used in pastures where grazing animals feed.  Cattle and horses get very sick and have died eating Endophyte-enhanced pastures.  But what if you have a cat or dog that munches on grass occasionally.  An Assistant Professor from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign College of Veterinary Medicine, Sandra Yi, states that there is no danger for our domestic pets. There has never been a toxic reaction that has been reported for these animals.

 Over seeding the lawn with these Endophyte-enhanced seed can go a long way to get your grass more organic.  I wrote a post earlier this week about dormant seeding the lawn during winter. So, getting more and more Endophyte-enriched seed integrated into the lawn will reduce the need for pesticides, minimal fertilizers, and water.

Over seeding in the fall will also benefit the lawn.  Just make sure that the seed is Endophyte-enhanced, makes contact with the soil, and is kept moist until it germinates. Annual over seeding will enhance weak, thin grass, and will fill in bare spots.