I have a friend that advised me that if I did not know what I was talking about I should just say whatever I wanted with authority. That seems to work most of the time. Until something happens…or someone calls my bluff. Well…
I talk a good gardening game, but I struggle a lot of the time with the plants I am in charge of. We planted 6 summer sweet last year in hopes that they would be a great carefree foundational plant. They all died. We have six more (thank God for 3-year plant guarantees) and I have already planted three of them. The other three are still sitting in pots in the holes that were occupied by their three dead siblings. That is driving me crazy, but that is for another day. Needless to say I will be doing things a bit differently this year as I plant:
- Our soil is very wet in the front garden so I will be mixing a bunch of compost in with the soil to improve the drainage. I read somewhere that summer sweet can be prone to root rot which killed a boatload of azaleas in years past.
- I will also be digging the hole much wider when I plant and filing it in with the good soil mix.
- I bought some bone meal to work into the soil to stimulate the root growth before bad things begin to happen.
- I will be watering less frequently due to the nature of the soil.
- I will be building up the area a bit and looking to slope the grade away from the plant and toward the house a bit.
All of that to say that I will be much more methodical in the soil preparation this time around which will slow things down a bit. I also noticed, this morning, that there is a hosta that is covering a good third of the rightmost clethra with its big old leaves. Bad hosta – you need a haircut.
0 Responses to “Oh sure – I talk a good game”