Yesterday I was out to dinner when a sweet lady from one of the neighborhoods that I maintain came by my table to thank me for making her neighborhood so colorful and beautiful all year round. She then asked about my home - wondering if I had such beautiful containers and plantings at my own house. My husband almost snorted out his iced tea. Now I discussed this topic a couple of weeks ago in this blog - the shameful agony of my "cobbler's children" containers. I went to the greenhouse this week and with the pleasant weather gathered all the plants I needed to make my late winter containers look incredible so I wouldn't feel so negligent to my little planters (and in case this sweet little lady decided to drive by my house). But then I got an email from my publisher with the first deadline on my book, and the boys had activities they needed me to attend, it rained all day on Saturday, and on and on... so, my planters were still empty. Yea, I know. I just need to hire myself.
But every once in a while someone does something to help me keep a little beauty in my close up world to calm the anxious beast in me that works way to many hours doing what I love to do, just at other places than my own home. My husband brought me cyclamen for Valentine's Day. Costa Farms sent me this gorgeous orchid to bring life to my office full of planting schedules, community lot maps, plant catalogs, order forms, stacks for billing, and very outdated pictures of my children.
And last Saturday one of my sons said he would help me get our vegetable garden ready for planting. I think he was just hungry. But a few hours of teenage muscle made a big difference in our readiness to plant. I didn't even mind that he thought taking pictures of me sweating and dirty was a fun way to take a break.
So what exactly am I communicating in this post? That life sometimes seems out of focus - that I often concentrate on clean, crisp jobs well done in all that goes on in my working world, and that can leave the rest of life a blur. Sometimes the little things - the small flowering orchid in my office, the gift of time to help in the garden - can help bring the priorities of life back into focus.
“Sustainability.”“Water Restrictions.”“Shrunken reservoirs.”“Xeriscapes.”All these catch words drift in and out of summer conversations in the gardening world.With a growing consciousness to be water wise, many folks from large businesses to patio container gardeners are looking for ways to create the botanical beauty they desire without the constant concern of moisture control.Here are few ideas to help you maintain your garden throughout a simmering summer.
…And Not a Drop to Spare.
Water Wisely:
Evaluate when you water.The best time for watering is in the wee hours of the morning so the plants have a chance to drink deeply before the harsh sun wants to take its share.Whether you have an irrigation system or need to buy a timer for your hose, get your plants watered before daybreak if possible.
Evaluate how you water.Most established garden beds are healthier with a deep watering between days of no watering rather than frequent brief waterings.These brief sprinkles encourage the roots to grow upwards or stay closer to the surface.Plant roots need to be trained to sink deep where moisture lingers.Remember that a 10-15 minute heavy afternoon shower, while filling up your rain gauge, mostly likely did not sink down to soak your roots before being evaporated away.
If you’re inclined to spend money on irrigation, don’t irrigate your trees and shrubs.Use a soaker hose when establishing new plants and keep the soaker around for the random droughts that we experience. Spend your irrigation money on your lawn and garden beds.Several water wise irrigation systems to look into are www.netafim.com and www.dripworksusa.com.My irrigation expert says that drip irrigation is the most efficient.Some folks have found success with “Gator Bags” or “water rings” during droughts or new plant installments.My farm girl version is to fill up 3 plastic milk jugs with water, then poke 5-7 holes with a safety pin along the bottom curve of the jug.Place the jugs round the base of the tree, securing it to the tree with twine run through the jug handle.Refill jugs as needed.
Use native plants.Tennessee has a wealth of native flowering perennials, shrubs, and trees that already are acclimated to our wacky weather.Learn about Tennessee plants from www.tva.gov or Margie Hunter’s great book “Gardening with Native Plants of Tennessee”.Take a field trip to:
Pray for rain.And when it comes, collect it in a rain barrel.Lots of new products are coming on the market so when I find the best ones I’ll pass the info on, or let me know of your best user friendly rain barrels.
Watering smart is not just a suggestion; we all need to make it a way of life.
Coach Jeff Fisher, Football, and Your Winter Garden
Garden Compositions
I love football – the energy and excitement generated by battling mind, body, and skill for a few minutes of potential victory and glory.Hours and hours are spent training for those four 12-15 quarters - sweat spent, pain endured, plays and instruction memorized.And the coach leads the way with vision, motivation, strategy, and direction.Learning to listen to the coach, even in the midst of play, can determine the team’s destiny.A good coach will learn the art of capturing his players’ (and fans’!) imaginations of great things to come. My sons have had incredible coaches whose words have helped mold them as much into men as they have into athletes.And every time I hear Coach Jeff Fisher’s fatherly voice, “Here’s the thing about life.You get back what you put into it…,” on a St. Thomas Hospital TV commercial, I pay attention.Even ignoring the fact that I am an insanely passionate Titans fan, his coaching advice hits a chord of truth to my gardener’s heart.So my goal today is to emulate Coach Fisher, inspire a team of gardeners in your winter slump, and coach you to horticultural victory.
Here’s the thing about gardening.You get back what you put into it.
Literally. Winter is a great time to add a layer of Royal Soil® compost, shredded leaves, pine fines, Erth™ Food, mushroom compost, or any number of soil conditioners to your garden beds.The more organic material that you can enrich your soil with, the less you’ll spend on fertilizers and products for disease issues.If you’re planning on re-designing a bed or starting a new one, you can begin your process with lasagna gardening – a no-till organic garden prep that you can start this winter.“Lasagna Gardening” by Patricia Lanza is an easy to follow guide book to coach you through this task.
A garden rewards those who work harder…
Winter gardening is pre-season training.This is the time to get your tools in shape: clean off dried on dirt and sap with Krud Kutter and fine steel wool (find both at Home Depot, Lowes, or your local hardware store), sharpen blades, and sanitize pruners.This is the time to work on your game plan:meet with a landscape architect or designer to come up with an overall design, and develop a strategy to implement this plan.This is the time to shape up and tone up excess weight:cut back perennials and dead limbs, remove old plant material from under shrubs and containers. (While I am referring to excess weight on the plants, doing this process after the holidays does seem to help with that excess weight of too many Christmas cookies!)
Who care more…
Winter gardening is learning time – how to take care of what you have, how to deal with your garden opponents.My football playing sons will spend hours looking at game films to learn both how they can improve their own playing, and also how they can deal with their opponents.These first few months of the year find grocery shelves lined with garden magazines.Mailboxes of anyone remotely mentioning an interest in gardening in some marketing survey will be filled with plant catalogs. Great gardening books are sitting on shelves waiting to be read. Take time this winter to learn more about caring for your garden with these great resources:“Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew; “Armitage’s Manual of Annuals,Biennials, and Half-Hardy Perennials”by Allan M. Armitage, “The Pruning Book” by Lee Reich, Fine Gardening Magazine, Tennessee Gardener Magazine, Garden Gate Magazine, Horticulture Magazine, or taking Master Gardener Classes from your county extension service - www.ahs.org/master_gardeners.There also some online gardening resources like www.gardenweb.com, www.mywebgarden.com, www.onlinegardener.com, www.gardening-resources.suite101.com, http://plantwebsite.com, and my favorite http://edenmakersblog.com. Also check out the many garden bloggers listed on the right.
Who give it their best…
What team would ever plan on going into the game without their best players, their best equipment, or their best effort?Do you know the best plants for your region or the best area for certain plants?What are the best tools to have in your garden shed and the best products to treat your plants with?Winter is a slower time in most local garden centers so take some time to get to know the folks who work there, ask lots of questions about plants you may be wanting to put in your yard, look at the different products that they offer and learn the benefits of each one.Some my favorite resources for knowing what is best in my yard is Lois Trigg Chaplin’s “The Southern Gardener's Book of Lists: The Best Plants for All Your Needs, Wants, and Whims”, CheekwoodBotanical Garden, and the UT Trial gardens in Knoxville and Jackson, Tennessee.
Then give a little more.
A garden gives us so much – beautiful flowers, a bounty of fresh produce, a shady spot for quiet moments.What I am seeing more and more is the way that local gardeners pass on that giving to others.My friend, Jean Myrick, uses the floriferous beauty from her garden to decorate her church’s pulpit each week.The Garden Writer’s Association has a program called Plant a Row for the Hungry - “The purpose of PAR is to create and sustain a grassroots program whereby garden writers … encourage their readers/listeners to donate their surplus garden produce to local food banks, soup kitchens, and service organizations to help feed America's hungry.”I met a lady in Raleigh, NC who retired from her university professor job and now plants a quarter acre garden every summer to use at a local homeless shelter.When you are planning your garden this winter, plan how you can share what you grow.One of the joys of gardening is that you always have something to give!
A note from the sidelines:I enjoy seeing how our profession teams give back to our community. Maybe there is place for well-honed muscle to assist in developing community gardens. Maybe some of them secretly enjoy planting tomatoes in the ground as much as they enjoy planting quarterbacks. Let me know, Coach Fisher, if any of your players need a gardening game plan!
"Gardening is not some sort of game by which one proves his superiority over others, nor is it a marketplace for the display of elegant things that others cannot afford. It is, on the contrary, a growing work of creation, endless in its changing elements. It is not a monument or an achievement, but a sort of traveling, a kind of pilgrimage you might say, often a bit grubby and sweaty though true pilgrims do not mind that. A garden is not a picture, but a language, which is of course the major art of life." Henry Mitchell "The Essential Earthman"
I work as the Floriculture Director for Landscape Services, Inc. My job includes designing and planting semi-annually hundreds of annual beds containers and garden beds for commercial development, neighborhoods, and residents requesting our horticulture services. I love my job and the opportunity to bring beauty to our local communities. Most of all, I love introducing new plant material to the average gardener, and to helping them find success in their own gardens.
One down, 17 more to go.
