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Your Garden Coach
Tame Your Garden Jungle
Novice gardeners don’t despair — there is hope for that wild backyard
By Cindy Bickerton
If your property comes up short on pleasing you or
matching your lifestyle, read on! Aligning that space to
match your vision is not only possible, it’s also fun and
will improve your fitness.
Spruce up what you have
Before deciding on changes, make the most of what
you have.List existing plants including their location,needs
and growth habits and how much you like or dislike each.
If you have a journal from last year, maybe your notes
describe plants hit by bugs or mildew, or simply didn’t
bloom at all.These may be plants to discard or relocate.
Next comes the tidying-up stage. Prune damaged
branches, those that rub against other branches and
branches that detract from the pleasing shape of the plant.
Many good how-to books exist.Whether your bush needs
spring or fall pruning, restrict your clipping to a maximum
of 25 per cent of its overall size in any one year.
If your gardens have been neglected,you will undoubtedly
have old undergrowth to remove. When tackling
decades-old gardens for clients, this task is the one that
allows us to say “aha — now we know what we’ve got.”
July/August 2008 • 32 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
Invariably green gems await beneath the overgrowth.
Weeding is unavoidable unless you opt for artificial
plants (don’t laugh,these are in vogue in the southern U.S.)
so the sooner you begin, the sooner it will be done.Years
ago I offered my children a penny for pulling out a small
weed and a dime for bigger ones — they judged which was
which.This math lesson was a well-spent $20 while I weeded
the lawn and pruned bushes.And their fortunes seem to
have outweighed any aches they acquired.
A word about pesticides: weeds are merely plants in
the wrong place. If your lawn is completely overrun by
them, you are probably better off removing the sod and
top six inches of soil, and beginning again. If the soil is so
poor or the previous owners were so negligent that
weeds rule your yard, chances are it’ll take time and a
good load of toxins to kill the weeds and you will harm
so much by doing that. To hand-weed your lawn, try a
handy tool called a weed hog to save your back and
speed your progress. If you must, a judicious use of spot
chemicals can get you ahead of the weed game.
Dethatch, aerate and then apply one to two inches of
compost or horse manure to the lawn. Trail Road off
continues on page 34