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Preparing for a garden
 Preparation
is probably the most important ingredient in gardening, as it is
in other endeavors. By Tony P. Wrenn
THOUGH THERE IS no such thing as an effortless garden, preparation
is the first step toward that goal. There are any number of garden
plants that can be expected to increase on their own if the gardener
has provided the right environment for that increase. Gardens, after
all, do not make themselves.
Plants will, however, respond with vigor when the gardener gives
them reasons to do so. Basic among those reasons is freedom from
competition. Amazingly, desirable plants do not seem to mind the
presence of other desirable plants, while they will react with displeasure
to competition from undesirables.
For "undesirables," read "weeds," which do not
provide pleasant companions, either for the gardener or for plants
one wants in the garden. Weeds are survivors and, by their very
nature, not fair competitors. They will take what they need, with
no idea of fairness. We may think of them as interlopers that the
garden looks better without, but the basic reason for eliminating
them is that they take far more than their fair share of nutrients,
light and moisture. Weeds are garden gluttons that will take any
advantage offered them. I have railed in this column before about
preparation, about ridding any site one wants to plant of weeds
prior to planting. It is particularly important that perennial weeds
be banished, for they cannot be easily handled with the hoe and
mulch once a garden is established.
Poke may be an attractive plant in the right environment, but that
environment is not the ornamental garden. Poke's fibrous root must
be dug out and relegated to the trash as part of the making of a
garden. The same is true of dandelions, and of wire grass. Anything
that has a root which will regenerate itself needs to be eliminated.
Violets, as handsome as these may be in the right place, are among
the most noxious of weeds if left to run at will in the garden.
I have no objection to them in the lawn, but in the garden their
roots must be dug out. Some of the perennials, such as plantain,
are surface growers and can be controlled without much effort, but
deep-rooted weeds are best removed in garden-making or, if spotted
later, removed as soon as they are seen.
Wire grass, which runs underground and renews itself at will, is
one of the most difficult to deal with, but, with the right tools,
one can come close to controlling it. In preparation, soil can be
sifted to be certain all weeds are removed, often turning up treasures
the gardener would not otherwise discover. The kind of screen an
archaeologist might use is easily constructed from two-by-fours
and hardware cloth, and never outlives its usefulness in the garden.
It will allow one to not only remove noxious weeds while at the
same time aerating and mixing garden soil, but, in our area will
turn up enough minie balls, pipestems and other treasures to make
the process of soil sifting interesting.
Once a garden is established, the garden fork is a necessity, easily
the most useful tool for removing deep-rooted weeds. This is particularly
true of wire grass, which will run for many feet beneath plastic
and emerge healthy and vigorous either through even the tiniest
slit or outside the area that's covered. Digging wire grass with
a spading fork is the only safe way to lift it. Using a spade, shovel,
hoe or any other garden tool may invigorate it by dividing it into
multiple root sources that will vie with one another for garden
space. The spading fork allows one to dig underneath the roots,
tug gently and remove only when they come out of the ground with
ease. Until that point, one continues loosening soil with the spading
fork. One wants to leave nothing to chance, but to get all the roots.
Weeds will grow happily almost anywhere, even through cracks in
a concrete driveway, but desirable plants need good soil. Giving
your garden the right soil amendments is the only way to ensure
healthy growth of the plants one wants to grow. Shredded leaves,
composted manure and compost are obvious choices for amendments.
Worked into the soil when one is making a garden, they will ensure
what seems to be miraculous growth, but they may be worked into
the soil at any time or used as mulch. Compost can always be used
as a top dressing around plants already growing, or as mulch.
In selecting a mulch, one wants materials that will not mat. Matting
seals the soil, cutting access to air, nutrients and moisture. One
wants a mulch that water will always penetrate, not one that mats,
causing water to run off. It doesn't hurt any that a non-matting
mulch is also a friendly environment for earthworms, making it easy
for them to begin their work of changing organic amendments into
healthy soil. I test mulches occasionally with a rake or spading
fork to discover any matting, and use the same tools to break up
matting when discovered, but only the use of non-matting mulch will
solve the problem. What one wants is a mulch that will break down
slowly, but is fine enough to discourage the growth of annual weeds.
Any such combination will normally contain pine bark, which not
only looks good in the garden but is good for it.
Attention and continuous care are always needed, but it should come
as no great secret to anyone that preparation is probably the most
important ingredient in gardening, as it is in other endeavors.
Any amount of time so spent will be more than compensated for in
time saved later.
TONY P. WRENN of Fredericksburg is a lifelong gardener. He welcomes
questions from readers and will try to answer them in his column.
Contact him by mail at The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg,
Va. 22401; by fax at 373-8455; or by e-mail to his attention at
Email: gwoolf@freelancestar.com.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/072006/07012006/202431
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