Getting Ready to Garden

Last-minute care gets your garden off to a great start.

Launch Gallery

by Janet JemmottApril 1998from consequence # 14

I know I blunder . I should have cleanse up the garden in the surrender . But this was the year of The House — the enceinte renovation . Between scheduling subcontractor , juggling family affair , and scooting off on business trips , I did n’t get to my garden until the sun was again lovesome and the grunge indulgent and ready to be worked .

Now I ’m hope I have n’t inadvertently overwinter some bad critters in my garden ’s beds . Did n’t someone say , “ An Panthera uncia of prevention is worth a Syrian pound of curative ” ? Or should it be , “ An apothecaries' ounce of dilatoriness is worth a Irish punt of problem ” ? The lengthening days remind me I ’d advantageously get to study . Besides , there ’s planting to do .

keep problems . One of the primary reasons to do garden clean and jerk - up in the fall is that a stack of thing overwinter in garden debris : gage source , insects , viruses , and diseases . Some gardener espouse the theory that you should permit veggie plants lie in , and mulch or sour them into the soil right on the spot . But there ’s a lot to be said for tidiness . Cleaning up in the descent minimizes potential problems .

Even though the calendar informs me it ’s already March and that I ’m belatedly , getting rid of old plant matter is still important . I remove decaying debris , along with weeds and their seeds . This prevents the ontogeny of a hobo camp home ground for fungi and disease . Plus , a clean slate let me fancy the garden ’s layout for the coming growing season .

A note about digging last year ’s plants out of the soil : ensure the land is dry enough to be worked before you go to it . seize a fistful and squeeze it . If it compacts and stay that direction it ’s not ready and you start the risk of mess up the soil bodily structure by play it too soon . By all means squelch gardener ’s spring fever and give the soil more sentence to dry . It helps ( once again ) to get your dirt quick in the declivity so you may plant former craw in the saltation without turning the soil .

If you engraft overcompensate crop the previous year , you should still hold back until the territory ’s quick to be worked before twist the crops in . This is also a good time to transfer crowded perennial such as strawberries and pieplant and give established plants a boost with slow - release fertilizer . Transforming dark-brown leaves to black gold . Removing dust from your garden is only the first step ; the next is make up one’s mind what to do with it . What can you compost ? What should you chuck out out with the garbage ? Here are some mere strategy : If there are any signboard of disease in flora get rid of at cleanup , I either pitch them into a pile in our timberland area , or , if they ’re really tremendous , they go into the trash . The symmetry goes into the compost .

gage also go into my compost bins unless they ’re so flush with seeds I know they ’ll wind up back in the garden . If you want just a bare compost pile , and do n’t want to care about dope , do n’t put any in . If you practice hot compost , you do n’t have to worry about seminal fluid germinating . live compost mean the interior of the pile has to reach at least 140 ° F to ensure you ’ve destroyed weed come and pathogens . You ’ll postulate to mix your entire pile to be sure all of it has reached 140 ° F . Keep the compost moist but not miry . If it rustles when poked , it ’s too ironical .

Another way of life to heat up up a mint is by alternating brownness , or slowly moulder , material with green , quick - to - break - down works and leaves . Start a pile with chocolate-brown stuff such as thick stalk or other coarse cloth at the bottom . On top of that , layer green , “ red-hot ” material . Lawn clipping are another illustration . They are moist and dense , and micro- and macrofauna stuff themselves on the trimming , releasing live gases all the while . stand in layering for the traditional sensitive - muscleman method of turning the pile .

If you ’re worried about disease exist the compost process , get a thermometer and monitor the heat . If the inside is too cool , add some live , unripe , organic stuff or some wet . Top it with chocolate-brown compostibles . And when it ’s turned to black gold , unfold it throughout your garden .

Dressing your garden . One growing season can diminish constituent affluence . You ’re shortchanging yourself and your vegetable - to - be if you do n’t leave them with the nutrients they need . There ’s always a lot of talk about NPK ratio — N , phosphorus , and potassium . All three are important for plant life growth , and while inorganic fertilizer can give you the NPK plants need to grow , it wo n’t do anything for the territory texture . For that you involve compost , manure , or peat moss .

Manure contains large amounts of humus — that great sinewy material that gives tilth to dirt , supplies nutrient for soil flora and fauna , preserves moisture , meliorate drain , and memory nitrogen . Both cavalry and cow manure should be well compost or cured before use on a garden during the uprise season . You ’ll know manure is ready when it loses most of its obnoxious odor .

Your garden should now be in unspoiled shape for another growing time of year . And next fall , do n’t fail to do it all again so you’re able to plant early in the natural spring , when nurseryman ’s itch is strongest and the warming sunlight tells you it ’s time . putz tune - upThe last task at the end of the horticulture season , or the first set out a new time of year , is to pick and heighten your putz . sanitise puppet denigrate the possibility of pass on harmful bacteria , fungi , or disease . Use a wooden hero sandwich call a woodman to scrape off blades . Or brush malicious gossip off with a plastered - bristle brush or an harsh sponge block . If rust is present , habituate some blade wool and elbow joint dirt , then scratch down carbon - brand implements with a rag and mineral vegetable oil . Another gentle way to sporting tools is to stuff them into a 5 - gallon bucket filled with coarse constructor ’s sand that ’s been softly imbued with veg fossil oil .

To care for wooden handle , sandpaper away original varnish and rub with boiled flaxseed fossil oil . fluid the surface with steel woolen .

neat the steel of your pruners and sterilise them as well , using a solution of 10 % bleaching agent to 90 % water . lube the fulcrum with oil . Unless you ’ve engender the skill to sharpen pruning hook , take them to an expert and watch while the sharpening is done . Once you know how , you’re able to duplicate this .

Hang large tools and stow small ones . Remember to clean and store stakes , cages , and supports . bush Henry Clay lot and fix with a 10 % blanching agent solution .

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Leaves and other organic matter from garden cleanup go into the first bin of a three-bin compost system.Photo/Illustration: Scott Phillips

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