Winter Garden Preparation

Now that winter is about upon us, what is there to do in the garden?  If your garden looks anything like mine, I would say plenty.

Most perennials have run their course, trees have dropped their leaves, and temperatures are consistently dropping below the freezing point.

Most perennials can be cut back now, removing all the ratty, blackened foliage.  I usually cut them back to an inch or two above the ground level.  This was you can remember where they are come mulching time.  For perennials that have seed heads still attached, consider leaving them be.  Purple coneflowers, black eyed susans, and other aster family members come to mind here.  These plants are a valuable source of food for birds in the winter.  Also, I love to watch the goldfinches fly around on a cold day from the comfort of my sunroom.

If you usually bag up your leaves, I would encourage you to take a new approach.  While I agree that raw leaf cover is not really visually appealing in a typical landscape, there is really no reason why they still cannot be utilized.  I rake or blow the leaves out of the bed areas, and then run over them several times with the mower with a bagger.  Then simply apply the shredded leaves as mulch around the shrubs and trees.  The shredded leaves will decompose rapidly, and provide a nice soil amendment to our often times heavy clay soil.  The finely shredded leaves will also act as a compost addition to the lawn areas as well.  When mulching time arrives in late winter, simply cover up the shredded leaves and there you go!  A nicely manicured bed with all the natural benefits of preserving the leaves on your property.

Don't neglect your tools this time of year.  While they have a few months of down time, now is a good time to get everything cleaned, organized, and sharpened for next season.  First, clean off all the dirt and grime from everything.  Now it is time to sharpen.  Pruners, loppers and saws are the obvious choice here.  Your local hardware store will be able to sharpen most things you bring them, for a pretty inexpensive price (think Pleasant's, not Lowes here....).  Consider sharpening other things that can benefit from having a nice sharp edge as well.  Hoes, scuffle hoes, and bed edgers come to mind here.  They really do not need a razor edge (and are significantly safer without....), but your jobs will be much easier if they are not completely rounded over.  Unless you do a lot of transplanting, shovels and spades do not need to be sharpened.  I have a transplanting spade that I use to slice through roots cleanly, so I like to keep it fairly sharp to help.  After everything is cleaned and sharpened, put a light coat of some kind of oil to keep them rust free.

These tips should help you get the garden together for a few months of down time while the winter sets in.  It won't be long, however, before it is time to start planning for things to start waking up.  Early spring will be here before you know it!

If you need help with these or any other gardening jobs,  give us a shout!

http://www.get-rvascapes.com

Thanks!

Jay

Sanitize those Pruners!!!!

Do you sanitize your pruners while you are pruning something?  Have you ever?  Do you need to?

My answer would be a resounding yes.

When you cut through a stem that is infected with any type of disease, whether it is a virus, bacterial, or fungal infection, it is likely that your pruners will now be carrying an infectious organism or two.

When you take those pruners to a different part of the shrub, or a different tree altogether, you may introduce said organisms to a new victim.

You may not see evidence of an infection or disease on the plant every time.  Healthy plants will not always succumb to disease pressure.  It takes a triangle of suitable host, correct pathogen, and environmental conditions conducive to the pathogen to create trouble (an upcoming blog topic).  If you have the right plant in the right place, you may never have pest or disease problems.

That being said, as I stated above you may not know that there are pathogens present.  You may take a few spores off a healthy, resistant plant and move them somewhere where they can be more successful in causing trouble.

And if you are pruning roses you had better be sure to disinfect at least between every rose plant.  Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) is a vicious virus-like disease that is quickly wreaking havoc among rose plantings.  This disease is typically transmitted by a microscopic mite invisible to the naked eye.  Wingless, this mite floats around on currents of air, drifting along aimlessly.  If this mite lands on a rose infected with RRD, and then happens to jump off and land on another rose, chances are that rose will be infected.  Seem unlikely?  Not really.  Just look around at any major planting of roses at a commercial establishment or subdivision entrance, and you may very well see it.

I will be posting more on RRD in a later post with a detailed description and pictures. Suffice to say for now that it can be spread through infected pruners, and there is no cure.  The only thing you can do is dig out and throw the plant out.

I use rubbing alcohol every time to sanitize my pruners.  It does the trick, is inexpensive, and harmless to the plant in the amount you will use.   Lysol works as well, but is more expensive and I really don't care for the smell of it.  And whenever I get a cut from a thorn, I just spray it with the rubbing alcohol also!

Never use bleach on your pruners.  While bleach will certainly disinfect, it is also very hard on the metal of your pruners.  Pitting of the metal and rust will be sure to follow an application of bleach to metal.

So just remember to sanitize your pruners at least in between each plant, whether it is a perennial, shrub, tree, whatever.  If you are very concerned, or know you are dealing with an infected plant, it does not hurt to sanitize between each cut.  Rubbing alcohol is cheap, much cheaper than replacing a prized plant.

Thanks for reading,

Jay

Introduction

Hello,

This is the companion blog to my business site www.get-rvascapes.com

I began this company with a few goals in mind.  The first is to design and install beautiful landscapes using proper techniques sometimes missing in the industry.

I also wanted to educate people on the correct way to perform landscape related tasks.  For the do-it-yourselfer, this is a great way to get hands on experience in anything from proper tree planting techniques to turf maintenance.

I also want to bring a sense of ecological stewardship to the industry.  By incorporating plantings that model naturally occurring plant communities in the region, landscapes can be created that benefit the natural world as well as the homeowner.  Native plants figure prominently in my designs.  The advantage of native plants are well worth their inclusion.  Bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators rely heavily on the plants that are indigenous to the region.  With increased development, these native plants communities are being destroyed, only to be replaced with more "sterile" plants, ecologically speaking, that have nothing to offer these important species.  By incorporating native plantings in your landscape, you can help preserve these species.

We can also offer more traditional designs.  Rose gardens are a specialty of mine.  I have spent the last 3 years as the Rose Garden Horticulturist at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, in Richmond, VA.  Plant selection is critical to the success of a rose garden.  Roses can be very problematic plants to have, with a number of diseases and insects that prey upon them.  Proper plant selection and maintenance techniques can greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the chemical controls that are traditionally employed in rose care.

Take a look around, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Jay