The coolness and lateness of spring this year reminds me of typical weather patterns from before 15 or 20 years ago, when we started to experience early, bizarrely warm spells. Older people I know use the forsythia bloom as their own phenological sign to start planting in their gardens; it usually happened mid-month, just as it has in 2009. Even sunny days retained a chilling bite to the air that could be felt, except in the most sheltered spots. All of which amounts to: things are later this year and we can expect a more compressed "March, March, March, June."
Hydrangea before cleanup. Photos by Susan Safford
Make successive plantings of Swiss chard, spinach, cilantro, and lettuce. Start green beans and sunflowers in cells indoors. Hardening off outdoors is tricky; seedlings sunburn easily. Check out COMSOG's plant sales.
In ornamental beds, the biggest job is cutting back and cleaning up. Gardens left in a tidy state late last fall, probably have had debris blown into them, especially fluffy matter like last year's flowerheads of hydrangea and ornamental grass. A note on deadheading hydrangeas: in our climate the flowerheads are left on all winter to provide some protection from winterkill to the buds, which contain flowers for the current season. The same applies to buddleia and other plants that fall midway between herbaceous perennials and woody shrubs, whose leafbuds would be destroyed over winter without the protection of the old wood.
Hydrangea after cleanup.
Reliable standbys in Island gardens include buddleia, caryopteris, potentilla, nepeta, and Montauk daisies (Chrysanthemum nipponicum.) All need cutting back and/or a cleanup in spring. It can be done safely now. Cut buddleia and Montauk daisies back pretty hard to achieve a stockier, more floriferous plant. We usually pinch the Montauks once or maybe twice more before we leave them alone sometime in June to develop their flowerbuds.
Stands of Rosa rugosa and its hybrids, like "Sir Thomas Lipton," can be cut back now. Look for outward facing buds 12 to 14 inches from the soil line and cut the prickly stems just above. New vigorous sprouts that are stockier and lean less will grow. Apply a dressing of compost, organic fertilizer, or well-rotted manure.
Hydrangea cleanup (removing dead leaves and debris from the crowns, dead canes, and pruning back winter-killed tips of canes to a pair of strong buds) is always fraught with some riskiness. Do it early, while buds are small and tight, and there is risk of frostburn blasting the pruned plants and their buds. Do it late, to avoid frosts, and the buds will have grown more prominent and vulnerable. Either way, some of the big buds containing current season blossoms are fated to be knocked off in the process.
This year it would be an understatement to say that many gardeners are looking to expand their plantings of fruits and vegetables. Recent garden industry surveys reflect surging increases in home food production. Some gardeners are looking to weave principles of the discipline known as permaculture into their gardens. The garden centers are daily springing to life with flowery stock. In early April, I had been sent to buy an apple tree and found one among a wide choice of fruit trees at Jardin Mahoney. As often happens in the presence of plants, one is distracted by something entirely different than the errand at hand. The selection of plum trees I saw there brought that faraway look to my eyes.
Adding an apple or three to one's garden is a no-brainer, but let me suggest that would-be fruit growers on Martha's Vineyard should really be thinking plums. There is a mouth-watering array of varieties available either locally or by mail order, they bear heavily, and are perhaps easier than apples. (Apples are susceptible to a number of problems that pose challenges - not insurmountable, of course - like cedar-apple rust. Although manuals on orcharding direct growers to eliminate all cedars within a three mile radius of the trees, that is not possible here.) Plums make a satisfactory backyard fruit tree here, yielding wonderful desserts and jams, even slivovitz (plum brandy) in the Eastern European tradition.
Several factors should influence choice of plum varieties: heritage or modern, planned culinary use, self-fertile or cross-pollinated, space available. For instance, plums for jam making may be quite tart, as we know from beachplum jelly making. For eating out of hand, choose entirely different, sweet-tasting dessert varieties, sometimes called gages. Use plums that are somewhere in between the two extremes for cooked desserts, like tarts and pies. I had my eyes opened to the pleasures of eating real, ripe plums out of hand years ago in Denmark when we happened to be there during plum season - such a divine difference from the superficially beauteous, mouth-puckering American supermarket plum.
European, Asian, and American plum hybrids provide a wide diversity of traits and attributes; homework beforehand rewards the gardener. Regardless of variety, today most plums, apples too, are grafted plants. Take pains to plant no deeper than originally and always plant with the graft union well above the soil line. Plant a strong stake at the same time and secure the tree to it at regular intervals with soft twine until it is well established.
Permaculture is a useful design system, originating with Australian agro-ecologists, that works toward establishing productive environments, providing for food, shelter, energy, waste recycling, material, and non-material need. It aims to create systems that will sustain the present as well as future generations. Its principles may apply to one's backyard or an entire society. Dick Pierce is returning to teach Introduction to Permaculture Basics at the Martha's Vineyard Youth Hostel May 2 and 3. For information and to enroll, contact Mr. Pierce at DickPierceDesigns@gmail.com, or call 512-992-8858.
