Island spring is around the corner — near, but not yet quite a fact. On Good Friday afternoon, I stepped outside to take down the wreaths. The sun came out, and out of nowhere, pollinators appeared, scrambling over every open umbel of the nearby edgeworthia. What a circus of bees, wasps, and flies!
Now is the time when we are all looking for ideas and inspiration, waiting for warmer, drier days for actual down-and-dirty gardening. It is one of the best times to take a walk at Polly Hill Arboretum.
The North Field daffodil plantings are coming into bloom, and there is much else that excites and inspires further gardening inquiry. Whatever captures your interest is tagged and IDed. The arboretum demonstrates the wide variety of plants, trees, and shrubs that can enrich Island landscapes and gardens, and how to manage them.
The PHA staff and volunteers also demonstrate best practices in the arboretum’s plantings. This is a crucial contribution to understanding the kinds of culture needed to sustain successful Island gardens and landscapes.
In the garden: Getting ready
An outdoor condenser unit here is being encroached upon by a nearby Viburnum carlesii. It will be pruned to clear the unit — after flowering, so we can enjoy its powerful scent.
Plants are primed for growth in spring. It is the season when lots of pruning is performed because good recovery (UV light, rainfall) can be assumed. Walk around to assess how trees and shrubs are growing, and what pruning would be appropriate.
First, though, if the plants in question are flowering ones, take into account bloom times. The pruning rule of thumb: if it blooms in spring before June 21, prune right after flowering. These plants will have formed flower buds the previous season; pruning in spring will cut off the flowers. An example is forsythia.
If the plant blooms in summer, prune anytime in spring before June 21. These plants form their flower buds on new wood. Examples are clethra, rose of Sharon, and panicle hydrangeas.
Prune clematis vines: Sweet autumn clematis (C. paniculata) can be entirely cut down to the ground. Prune large-flowered hybrids (class II) to one or two pairs of strong buds, or about 18 inches. Prune C. montana, if it needs trimming at all, after bloom later in June.
Do you have comfrey or nettles? We may be better off making compost and liquid feeds at home this year, per Iran war, etc. Cut and prepare comfrey or nettle liquid feeds. Preparation time is six to eight weeks.
Charles Dowding (charlesdowding.co.uk) of composting and no-dig gardening fame has a method that does not create a stink, and produces a nutrient-rich, odor-free liquid comfrey feed: “Pack wilted comfrey leaves into a container with holes, such as a large terracotta flowerpot, and place onto another container to catch the drips. Place a weight on top to press out the black liquid. Let it drip into the bottom bucket. This concentrate is diluted at roughly 20:1 to 50:1, and is excellent for flowering and fruiting plants like tomatoes and peppers.”
Feed diluted liquid seaweed to seedlings until planted outside.
Trimming back lavenders and santolinas now produces neat mounds of foliage going into summer. Cleaning up stalks and debris from around perennials such as Montauk daisies, phlox, and other perennials provides good airflow. It may have protected the arthropods that overwintered in those habitats, but is no longer needed.
Prune and tidy roses; remove stems thinner than a pencil. Place peony supports, and trim old stalks. Once soils are warm and dry, crowns of perennials may be side-dressed with low-number, organic soil food, but refrain from working soil if it is wet.
Check and recheck evergreens for splitting from wind and snow damage; trim up. Now is the best time to hard-prune inkberry, a native holly (Ilex glabra) with tendencies to legginess. Cut back to one or 1½ feet; then mulch (bit.ly/PMG_Inkberry).
Gardeners can produce some of their own fertilizer needs: “site-generated fertility.” Hoard poultry and livestock manure. Composting, leaf mould, and liquid feeds, mentioned above, are methods to investigate.
Compost kitchen and garden waste. Or bury food waste and coffee grounds in the soil. Food waste is nourishment for soil biota, and composting keeps organic materials out of landfills.
Reports indicate that fertilizer manufacture and cost (along with many other aspects of fossil-fuel-based life) may be affected by events in the Middle East. This link is to a long article that reviews the many unintended consequences of the Middle East war: bit.ly/SS_NitrogenTrap.
Regenerative gardening
Carbon sequestration is an important part of regenerative gardening. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the air. Carbon that is retained in the soil helps to give it its water-retention capacity, its structure, and its fertility.
When plants die, the organic matter creates food for microbes. Without sequestration, these microbes release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Excessive removal of organic matter means tidied gardens, lawns, and land are deprived of this asset. Sequestering the carbon within the soil helps our gardens, our landscapes, and our planet.
Ants Indoors?
Island spring may be near (though not quite a fact), but the ants always know. It is “ant spring” when they come into the kitchen looking for sweets, fats or oils, or water, to support colonies as they come out of dormancy. They may be teeny-tiny or large, brown or black “carpenter” ants, or several species all at once.
Ants are amazing, but indoor incursions are unappreciated. Boric acid is the substance that controls unwanted visits. Mix a small amount of boric acid powder, about ¼ teaspoon, to make a paste with about 2 tablespoons of water and honey or sugar. (Or use an oil, if the ants are searching for fats.)
Place the mixture where you find the ants: sink area, counter, etc., in a manner that they can reach. They carry the bait back to the nest, and disappear.