Cop hold of these gardeners tips designed for the upcoming Cop26 summit on the climate
21.07.2023 - 22:11 / awaytogarden.com
EACH MAY I ADVISE us all to remember, amid the frenzy, that there is nothing wrong that some good-quality mulch won’t improve visually (while helping build soil beneath as a bonus). I’m spreading it as fast as I can, but I have to say:Winters ain’t what they used to be (for better or worse). This last one featured a lot of wind (the new normal) and chaotic up-and-down patterns (also becoming more the thing), not unlike the previous ones in 2021-22 and 2020-21. In 2019, I feel like we froze and thawed more times than I could count, too, and “mud season” seems to be much longer lately. And so on. What will the next one be like?
Whatever it delivered, onward I always mulch, along with aggressive weeding—two top chores of the merry-and-not-so month of May…and trying to restore sanity with a lot of edging as well. But more creative-feeling to-do’s are on the list, too, I promise.
fallen behind?FIRST, A RECAP: In April, I offered 10 steps to get the cleanup started; if you’re behind (who isn’t?), refer to the April garden calendar for a fast review.
tick-disease preventionIT’S LYME DISEASE AWARENESS MONTH, though one prominent tick researcher I know says it should be moved up since they are virtually always active. How much (beyond general fear and loathing) do you know about ticks? For example: that a tick isn’t born infected with Lyme or other disease, and that we should thank fox, opossums and even raccoons for their roles in reducing tick populations? Learn more about ticks’ life cycle and tick-borne diseases, with a leading disease ecologist’s advice. Also: What avenues of tick control are researchers exploring for the areas right around our homes? This interview explains.
Most of all: Be extra-vigilant, with scrupulous body
Cop hold of these gardeners tips designed for the upcoming Cop26 summit on the climate
The Elizabethan Tower where Vita had her study. Credit: Shutterstock
Part of Tom Massey's
When I started this series of K.I.S.S. gardening advice, I hoped to inspire those who didn’t know where to begin gardening and those who may have lost joy in their gardening pursuits. After all, there are plenty of things to worry about these days, and gardening should not be one of them. Gardening should provide a respite and an escape from our screen technology culture. So let’s take the advice of Willie Nelson’s boy, Lukas, and “Turn off the news and build a garden.”
Yes, there are a lot of chores vying for attention: whether to deadhead the spring bulbs, or edge the beds they’re growing in; divide that overgrown drift of some perennial, or pot up the annuals for a summertime show ahead; mow or mulch and so on. But let’s not get crazy—let’s go area by area through the list:vegetable gardenMAKING NEW BEDS? A nature-inspired method for raised-bed building, using fallen branches and logs, is called hugelkultur—and it’s fascinating, and effective, if you’re expanding your growing area.TUBERS AND SLIPS: Are the white potatoes in the ground? Sweet potatoes can go in this month, too.MY NEW SEED-STARTING TOOL will tell you when to sow what, indoors and out. Also fo
VEGETABLE GARDENTUBERS AND SLIPS: Are the white potatoes in the ground? Sweet potatoes can go in this month, too.CONTINUE SOWING CARROTS, beets, radishes, salad greens, dill. With salad greens, select heat-resistant varieties now for best results as they’ll bump into warmer weather. A primer on when to start what seeds.DIRECT-SOW BEANS at mid-month and beyond; sow a short row e
VEGETABLE GARDENTUBERS AND SLIPS: Are the white potatoes in the ground? Sweet potatoes can go in this month, too.CONTINUE SOWING CARROTS, beets, radishes, salad greens, dill. With salad greens, select heat-resistant varieties now for best results as they’ll bump into warmer weather.DIR
LOST ANYTHING IN THE GARDEN LATELY (besides your mind)? That’s the question Forum member Boodely poses in the Urgent Garden Question Forum this week, and I’m confessing to eyeglasses, every manner of tool and more. (Usually my MIA items turn up when I turn the compost heap.) Lost anything in your garden? On the very practical side comes a twist on the groundcover question, which usually includes the words “for shade.” Not this time.
Ask yourself this: Where do you see your garden from most often, and at what time of year? Where does the magical light happen, and catch your eye? For me, it’s a few places:The best seat in the house is the dining-room table (above), where I often plunk my laptop and heaps of messiness when writing and just generally like to be. (So does Jack the Demon Cat, who adores the west view.)I can see a long way due west from that old Chinese wooden chair, and also pretty far south, with a short east snapshot as well…so those directions, starting at the point of my favorite chair and emanating outward, are the primary axes of my garden. Fr
BY AUGUST, BOTH GARDEN AND GARDENER can be looking a little tired. If only I can muster the stamina, both of us can be in much better shape before long. The primary tactics: watering, of course, and weeding, but I’m also looking to freshen things up visually by re-edging beds whose lines have grown fuzzy, and topping up the mulch. There’s nothing I can do to repair holes in leaves left behind by hailstorms, or other such woes—but I can trick the eye, at least, and make the overall picture a little cleaner and sharper.Yes, I sometimes think that August, not April, is the cruelest month (though T.S. Eliot famously thought otherwise, and spelled it cruellest for good measure). It is typically hazy, hot and humid…but that’s no excuse for stopping: Every weed pulled now is a hundred (a thousand?) you don’t have to deal with later. Don’t let them go to seed. Make a pass through each bed each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but
I’ve said in the past that I think of the August chores list as a form of spot cleaning—a headstart on fall cleanup, one blemish at a time. Thinking of it that way makes it more palatable, frankly: a leg up on work I’d have to do later, anyhow? OK; I can handle that.I can’t fix everything, turning brown leaves green again, or sewing up holes in the Astilboides or brassicas. But I can (and must!) try to trick the eye with some targeted trimming, mulching and edging—and lots of deadheading, of course.(I say “must,” because Garden Conservancy Open Day visitors are coming August 17—do join us!)Besides the visual relief, editing out the worst bits reduces hiding places for pests and disease, so again, it’s worth it. Let’s go:weeding and wateringWEED! Make a pass through e
Spring is coming; you can feel it, even here in Zone 5B where the intermediate witch-hazels were trying to bloom despite single-digit F temperatures that rolled the rhododendron leaves up tight as cigars as January wound down. Brrrr! But oh, the luxury of it: Fiat lux! (Let there be light!) Like this:On the last day of December where I live, the day was only 9 hours 16 minutes 18 seconds long; by January 31, it was 9 hours 57 minutes 20 seconds, and February 28 promises me an embarrassment of light: 11 hours 11 minutes 42 seconds. (Calculate your daylength for any day of any year here.)I’m stifling the urge to start ordering plants before I do some planning—reviewing the 2012 garden in my photo library and any notes, trying to match my purchases to what the garden really needs most–not sho