IN THE GARDEN : It’s Time to Tackle Spring Chores Again
Some people consider it the downside of gardening, others the very soul. At the least, the care of a garden--the pruning, staking, weeding, watering and feeding--is the craft.
And at this time of the year, mid-spring, this craft is much needed. Bulbs that have finished up must be tidied up or removed. Flowers that are fading should be “deadheaded,” a rather gruesome bit of garden jargon for removing the spent flowers.
Plants that are still shooting up--delphiniums for instance, or foxgloves or gladioluses--must be staked.
And everything needs water, weeding and feeding.
Bulbs were perhaps the first things to bloom and most are finished by now. Except in rare instances, tulips will not flower next year if left in the ground. They will, however, send up foliage next spring, so to prevent them popping up in unexpected places, it is a good idea to get them out of the ground while they can still be found, before they shrivel and go dormant for the summer.
Ranunculus and anemones may or may not reappear and flower next spring. If they should return, and do not rot during the summer, they will probably flower, so you must flip a coin before deciding to leave them in or not.
Other bulbs, including many daffodils, and certainly most of the South African bulbs, such as freesias, ixias, and sparaxis, definitely return to flower again next spring, even multiplying in the meantime.
It is important not to cut back their foliage, no matter how untidy, until it turns completely brown. To keep it from being an eyesore just at that time when the rest of the garden comes into full flower, you must figure out how to disguise it.
Some tie bulb foliage in a simple overhand knot, which makes it lower and neater. Done with a little care, this knotted bulb foliage is actually quite interesting, a sign that the gardener is good at his craft. Others simply bend down the fading foliage, hiding it under the leaves of another nearby plant.
Temporary Replantings
You can also dig up the bulbs and temporarily plant them somewhere else until the foliage fades, but this is a major job.
When the foliage fades, you can leave the bulbs in the ground or dig them up and store them in a cool, dry, airy place--a corner of the garage for instance. Most gardeners in California just leave them in the ground.
Deadheading helps keep a plant flowering by preventing energy from being wasted on seed production.
Those in charge of the best-looking gardens in town spend an inordinate amount of time removing spent flowers because it also keeps the garden looking like it just came into flower, rather than looking like it is on its way out.
And there is another pressing reason to deadhead: Many of the perennials and annuals we grow can become significant weeds if they are allowed to set seed. Be especially wary of any new plant you are trying.
Deadheading, like weeding, can be a very pleasant pastime, fit into those short periods when bigger projects are impossible, just before sunset for instance.
Staking is important for any plant that might topple the next time you water.
Foxgloves, delphiniums, dahlias, gladioluses and others may come into flower without the benefit of stakes, but you are likely to lose a few just when they are at their best, when you turn on the sprinklers because of the weight of the water.
Garden stakes can be quite ugly, or with a little care and perhaps searching (for some that look a little better), they can be another sign of the gardener’s craft.
The ties that hold the plant to the stake are a little harder to make look good since the best must be flexible and soft and that usually means using that bright green plastic tape, though one of the mail-order garden suppliers, Smith & Hawken (25 Corte Madera Road, Mill Valley, Calif. 94941), offers a new kind of tie that looks promising. They are dark green and made of foam-covered wire. Smith & Hawken also offers some very sophisticated staking devices.
Weeding is important right now because many of winter’s weeds will be setting seed, which you want to prevent. This far into spring, I recommend not putting them on the compost pile. Send them to the dump, or you may spread the weeds all over the garden next time you dig into the pile. The same goes for those spent flowers.
Weeds will also be more and more tenacious as the soil dries out for the summer, and many summer weeds that are now small are going to grow quickly as the weather warms. Get at them now.
Making New Bulbs
Practically everything is growing right now and could use a little fertilizer. Even those bulbs that are done are busy making new bulbs for next year’s growth.
What I do at this time of the year is perhaps the simplest way to fertilize and does not involve much craft but it works: Simply scatter an inexpensive all-purpose fertilizer (something with numbers similar to 10-8-8 on the bag) all over the garden just before watering and let the water carry it into the soil.
As for watering, make sure that new plantings get plenty, but don’t overdo it on established things. As the weather warms, root rot organisms come to life, and they thrive in a too-moist, warm soil.
The only way to water established things is to check each time. Plunge a trowel into the ground and see if the soil is dry, wet, or somewhere in between, which is just right. Don’t worry about the top inch of soil, it can be dry as a bone. It’s down 2 or 3 inches that counts.
