Tag: Mulch

Is my Garden Done? Learn about these necessary garden activities for December.

Calendar, December, Irrigation, Perennials , , , , 0

Well folks, we’ve had our first frost of the season. Hopefully any tender plants that you’ve not already brought inside were in a well protected micro-climate or were covered with frost cloth. With night-time temperatures regularly reaching into the 40s right now all of your true tropicals such as plumeria, bananas, and bougainvillea should be brought inside for the winter. But is your gardening season really done?

Winter is the perfect time to plant a tree or shrub like this Japanese maple.Planting Trees and Woody Shrubs
When your woody perennial shrubs and trees are dormant is the best time to plant them. That time of year is starting right now! During the summer, trees spend their time gathering energy from the sun and combine it with water and carbon dioxide to create sugars and starches that they store and use to live on later when they are dormant. It is during this time when they have the best store of energy and are primed and ready for further root growth in their new location. Whether you’re looking at moving some boxwoods, or planting a huge oak, this is the time to give them every chance of success.

Irrigation and Sprinkler Systems
After a long hot summer, it should be pretty obvious if certain areas of your garden are getting the correct amount of water. Some areas may have been too dry, while others turned into a swampy mess. Or maybe you just noticed all of the water being wasted on your driveway and sidewalk. Now is the perfect time for an irrigation audit to see how it is performing. It’s also a good time to get any digging done and out of the way while the majority of your garden is dormant. Whether you need to add a zone, have some sprinkler heads relocated, maybe add some drip, or just flush and clean your system, now is the time to do it. Even if you don’t need any of the above, most systems should be adjusted to change the watering duration and frequency to the fall and winter season when water demand is at its lowest.

Hardscapes and Water Features
In addition to irrigation, if you’re looking toward adding a water feature or hardscaping such as a retaining wall, outdoor kitchen, concrete work, etc. it is best to do so now when plants are dormant in order to avoid any possible damage. Pavers, garden paths, pondless waterfalls, or full blown koi ponds are all on the menu. If you have teak, cedar, or other outdoor wood decor you might consider sanding, restaining, or resealing those boards after having been exposed to the drying heat and harsh UV rays from the past few months. Now is the perfect time to get started on these projects so that you’ll be ready for the coming spring.

Winter garden statuaryBirds and Other Critters
A beautiful garden is not just about the plants. Many gardeners love having bird feeders, bird baths, squirrel feeders, or other items to attract local wildlife and help them overwinter. Objects like bird baths can attract multiple species, including our precious pollinators like the humble honey bee, which need access to water year round. Leaving leaf litter or deep mulch to compost on your garden beds over the winter can also attract and provide a habitat for many beneficial insects and critters such as toads, spiders, lizards, snakes, and even newts and salamanders in some areas. Some of these critters may seem icky but they provide a huge benefit to your garden through their predation on harmful insects. It’s also the perfect time to place bird houses, nesting boxes, or bee hotels so that all of our garden buddies have warm places to cuddle up during the cold winter months.

Need help with your irrigation or sprinkler system? Does your garden need an overhaul or just a general checkup? Maybe you just need a helping hand to protect sensitive plants from freeze and frost. Give us a call at 817-202-4808, or drop us a line and contact us here, to find out how Desiree can help you create a wonderful garden with a budget you can afford.

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All About Mulch

Natural Gardens 0

Healthy plants surrounded by a hardwood mulch.Garden mulch is simple topic that is often misunderstood by so many people. Mulch is far more than just a decorative finish for a garden bed. Used properly, mulch is one of the key ingredients for maintaining a healthy landscape. Used improperly and mulch can actually kill plants and drive off precious moisture.

Let’s start by discussing dyed mulches. Mulch that has been dyed red or black is some of the most popular mulch out there, and one doesn’t have to look twice to realize why. It looks fantastic and can really make a boring garden bed pop. It used to be the case that dyed mulches used toxic and unnatural dyes. On occasion, especially with the cheapest mulch from the big box stores, this is still the case. By and large however, most dyed mulches use iron oxide for red and carbon for black and darker brown mulch. The toxicity of the coloring is no longer the issue: The quality and composition of the shredded wood is our main area of concern. With low quality dyed mulch manufacturers of the cheap stuff often use wood that has been stained, treated, or otherwise contaminated with chemicals we’d rather keep out of the garden. Whether it has been treated with creosote, arsenic, or old varnish and stains, any scrap wood is fair game for these unscrupulous manufacturers. Old pallets are another popular source, but the unknown origin of the wood still presents a problem for gardeners.

When it comes to selecting a mulch, look for a seal from the Mulch and Soil Council that certifies that your mulch meets their standards. Here at Desiree Gardens we prefer a shredded hardwood mulch made from all natural wood such as fallen trees. The majority of our in-house mulch comes from arborists who have cut down or pruned trees and need us to recycle it into garden beds. Dyes, if they are used, consist solely of iron oxide (which can be great for your beds needing more iron) or just carbon for the black mulches. Keep in mind that if you are using a black mulch that is dyed with carbon, you will need to rebalance the soil by adding some all-nitrogen fertilizer such as a 15-0-0.

Another solution we use for dark and black mulches is to partially compost the mulch or mix it with an existing compost. At the end of the day mulch is not just decorative, it is designed to break down and amend the soil as freshly composted nutrients wash into and break down into a rich loam. Cheaper bagged mulch is often dried out and actually will repel moisture instead trapping it and keeping it in the soil.

Mulch over cardboard weed barrier.If weed control is one of your goals with mulch you might consider putting down a base layer of cardboard to act as a weed barrier. This all natural product (don’t use the glossy stuff) efficiently controls most weeds and is an excellent solution for helping the soil to retain moisture. Inks in all modern cardboard printing is vegetable based and will not harm your garden. Top your cardboard off with a nice hardwood mulch and the cardboard and mulch will slowly break down to provide nutrients for your soil as it does its job as decorative finish.

The biggest mistake we see with mulch is two-fold: Not raking out old mulch, and adding too much mulch. This phenomenon is most pronounced under trees that have been “mulched” by less scrupulous landscape companies. If you’ve seen mulch “volcanoes” underneath trees then you’ve seen what we’re talking about: 12″-24″ of mulch piled up against the a tree like a miniature mulch volcano with the tree trunk erupting from the middle. Do not do this! Not only is the mulch trapping moisture against the bark of the tree, which can lead to fungal infections, but this practice often results in roots rising up and eventually girdling the tree and killing it.

Properly applied, mulch should be 1″-2″ deep on the ground underneath the tree canopy and extending out to the drip edge. Depending on the size, age, and water requirements of the tree some gardeners make a small berm 4″-6″ tall around the outside of the canopy drip edge. This allows irrigation methods such as using a flood bubbler to deeply water the roots under the mulch circle.

If you’re refreshing mulch, rake out the old mulch first. Adding new mulch over old mulch that hasn’t properly broken down just compounds the problem. If you have old mulch like this, and you are sure it’s an all-natural mulch, simply remove it and add it to your compost bin where it can continue to break down slowly. Now you can replenish the mulch with a moist fresh batch of all natural wood and hopefully a little compost mix as well.

Need help with your irrigation or sprinkler system? Does your garden need an overhaul or just a general checkup? Give us a call at 877-558-1496, or drop us a line and contact us here, to find out how Desiree can help you create a wonderful garden with a budget you can afford.

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