by Christie Purifoy | Apr 1, 2020
Yesterday’s post described the differences between annuals and perennials. If annuals die after one season, and perennials come back again and again, why would we ever choose to grow annuals in our gardens?
There are many reasons why.
First of all, if you want to grow food, then most edible plants are annuals. Without annuals, we have no tomatoes or green beans or peppers. We do have blueberries and asparagus, but most of us want more than that on our dinner plates.
Second, annuals are often easy to grow, inexpensive, colorful, and abundant bloomers.
Perennials, in comparison, are reliable and dependable, but few perennials can compare with the splash that annuals like globe amaranth (pictured above), alyssum, pansies, violas, zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers can make in our flower beds.
Annuals are also a big help when planting new areas in our gardens. Annuals can fill in the spaces between new perennials for a season or two while we wait for those reliable perennials to spread and fill in their space.
by Christie Purifoy | Mar 31, 2020
Even those brand-new to gardening usually know the difference between annual and perennial plants:
Annual: a plant that lives and dies in one growing season
Perennial: a plant that regrows year after year
It’s a straightforward distinction, except when it’s not.
For instance, some annuals re-seed themselves. Meaning that, though they die, they leave seed behind that germinates the next year. They might move around, but they do come back in our gardens. Cosmos sometimes do this in my garden.
Second, some perennials are short-lived. They won’t return to our gardens forever but maybe only for a few years. If you love a short-lived perennial, it’s a good idea to save seed or take cuttings in order to keep these plants growing in your space. Verbascum (‘Southern Charm’ Verbascum is a favorite in my garden) is short-lived, but it is easy to start new plants from seed.
And finally, some plants are perennials in certain climates (the warm southern United States, for instance) but northern gardeners can still grow them as annuals. Meaning, the winter cold will keep them from re-growing the following year.
Here are a few other related concepts:
Biennial: These plants complete their lifecycle over two years.
Herbaceous Perennial: unlike woody shrubs and trees, these perennials die back completely to the ground before regrowing the following year (for example, roses are a shrub but peonies are an herbaceous perennial)
by Christie Purifoy | Mar 27, 2020
How much do I love this tool?
Let me count the ways:
It is easy to hold. Now my fingers no longer cramp from too much pinching and pulling of deeply-buried roots.
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It is sharp. I can scrape with the edge and make quick work of shallow-rooted weeds. I can dig and tug and cut with the point, pulling up dandelion taproots with (more or less) ease.
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It is fairly inexpensive, as far as garden tools go. When I (inevitably) leave it buried and lost in some bed or border, I order a new one online.
Maybe I should order them two at a time … I love this tool so much, I should always like a backup.
You can find variations on this tool. It’s sometimes called a Nejiri Game Hoe (from Japan), a Cape Cod Weeder, or simply a hand weeder. The one I use comes from A.M. Leonard tools.
by Christie Purifoy | Mar 17, 2020
For those new to gardening, composting is one of those mysterious subjects that can too-easily make us feel inadequate. It’s so scientific, and the instructions we find on the internet all seem so complicated.
However, this is one of those gardening activities where even a little bit of effort is so much better than no effort at all. We don’t have to do it perfectly in order to reap a great deal of benefit.
No compost heap is a failure if it at least keeps our yard waste out of a landfill.
There are precise recipes and instructions and even specially-made composting containers all over the internet. If you want to make excellent garden compost as quickly as possible, those instructions are for you.
If, however, you simply want to begin, here is all you need to know:
- Layer a mixture of “brown” and “green” materials, with more brown (about 3x as much)
- Brown materials are dry: chopped, dry leaves, pine needles, small twigs, wood shavings, shredded newspaper or cardboard
- Green materials are wet: fresh grass clippings, fresh garden debris, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells
If yours is a dry climate, an occasional sprinkle with a garden hose will help promote decomposition.
Turning a pile (perhaps with a garden fork) is supposed to help speed up decomposition, but isn’t strictly necessary.
What about containers? Feel free to forgo all together and simply make a heap. If you’d like to neaten up the look of your pile, any fence or screen that allows air circulation should do the job.
by Christie Purifoy | Mar 13, 2020
Weeds.
Just the word fills us with horror, doesn’t it?
One of my favorite methods of weed control is … drumroll, please! … ordinary, humble cardboard.
That’s right, the familiar brown corrugated cardboard that fills our lives–and our recycling bins–is an excellent resource for weed control. I use it in areas that are difficult to weed, for instance, underneath my thorny roses.
First, I choose plain brown (not glossy, or inky) cardboard. I flatten it out, taking time to remove any plastic packing tape. Then I lay a single layer in those spots where weeds like to grow (but are difficult to pull). Finish it off with a layer of compost or mulch.
The cardboard will slowly decompose, but it will smother weeds as it does. The cardboard could keep some water from your plant’s thirsty roots, but as long as there is enough water–and you take some care with your watering–it shouldn’t be a problem. Weeds are thirsty, too, so it isn’t a bad trade-off.
