Author: Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

Update on our bare-rooted perennial garden

Two years ago I installed a pollinator garden in early July. This goes against my recommendation to install plants in the fall, when roots have longer to get established and less stress is felt on the rest of the plant. But I wanted to see what would happen if I was careful to mulch well and keep it irrigated. Oh, and did I mention I was going to root wash every one of them? (Be sure to look at that process in the link from 2018.)

I reported on progress last year, and this year shows even more vigorous growth by nearly all the plants. Two of the three ‘Bandera Purple’ lavender died over the first winter, as they were marginally hardy (USDA 7-10) for our area. One straggler remains in the lower right hand corner of the photo below. The Agastache ‘Acapulco Red’ and the Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ were planted near the front of the beds on both sides and while they survived the first year, they are now gone. My guess is that our cold snap in February 2019 wiped out those plants that were in less protected locations. Perhaps we’ll fill those spots in later with something more cold hardy, or just let the escaped Viola tricolor continue to colonize bare spots.

Overall, the garden is wildly successful in attracting hummingbirds and a variety of native bees and other insects.

The southwest garden is being colonized by violets that have hopped out of a nearby container. Wood chip mulch keeps the soil cool and moist.

The southeast garden with its invading strawberries (soon to be relocated). The tiny lavender in the back right corner is a rescue plant.

I still have a little work to do – I’m relocating the strawberry adjacent to the southeast garden so it stops invading the perennial bed. But after that I’m calling this garden finished.

Tools, tips, and terrible traditions for raised beds – Part 3

*Young vegetables thrive in mulched, weed-free raised bed.*

Over the last couple of months I started a series on raised bed gardens, focusing on materials and preparation. In this final installment, I’ll focus on maintenance activities to avoid in your raised bed systems and remind you of three things you should always do.

Terrible traditions

We’ll start with some practices that damage soil structure and function (GP John Porter discussed this in much detail a few years ago). Tilling, once the mainstay of soil preparation for crops, is increasingly found to cause more damage than good. Grinding the soil into a material with the texture of coffee grounds might look pretty, but it’s devoid of the ped structure that allows water and gas to move through easily. It also increases microbial activity by bringing up microbial spores, which release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as they digest whatever organic material is there. And tilling will increase the likelihood of erosion and compaction.

*Soil runoff from tilled, unprotected field. The same thing will happen in your garden. Photo from Wikimedia.*

This is the opposite of what gardeners should want: an optimal soil has natural structure which might look messy but allows for good drainage. It’s also more resistant to compaction and erosion, especially when it’s protected with mulch (more on this later).

Speaking of drainage, don’t be tempted to add gravel or some other coarse material at the bottom of the bed. The change in soil texture creates a perched water table, which makes for a soggy planting bed and optimal conditions for soil-borne diseases.

*Classic experiment that demonstrates water does not move easily through different soil textures.*

While we’re talking about unnecessary or harmful additions to your raised beds, let’s not forget the annual addition of compost or other rich organic material. This is a holdover from old agricultural practices and is not warranted unless you have an organic material deficiency. Without a soil test, you don’t have a clue about what your soil has or what it needs. The problems associated with routine amendments are discussed in this peer-reviewed fact sheet, and are exacerbated by the tillage that is often the means to incorporate compost. Likewise, don’t add fertilizers and pesticides unless you have conclusively identified nutrient deficiencies or pest issues.

*If your nutrients are off scale, don’t add any fertilizer!*

The last tradition I’d like to see shelved is growing cover crops. This practice originated in the management of agricultural fields, which were otherwise left bare after harvest. Outside of producing some kale or other winter vegetables, what’s the point of planting a cover crop in your garden, when you can protect the soil in other ways? Cover crops require water and nutrients, which eventually will need to be pulled or incorporated. You are forcing your soil system to continue to support plant growth and be subjected to disturbance with the planting and harvesting of the cover crop. Why not let the soil rest over the winter with a nice blanket of mulch? Give it a chance to regenerate its nutrient load while being protected from unnecessary disturbance.

*A great arborist chip mulch has leaves or needles as well as wood.*

Three tips

Two of these tips have been discussed many times in this forum, so I’ll direct you to longer discussions of soil testing and mulching. Mulching is not just important for protecting the soil bed after the growing season, but should be used on actively producing beds. A deep, coarse organic mulch will promote water and air movement, moderate soil temperatures, reduce weeds, and provide a slow feed of nutrients throughout the season. You’ll have to wait until your seeds are up to apply it, of course, but try to avoid bare soil as much as possible.

*Though you’ll need to leave the soil bare during seed germination, you can still protect unplanted areas of the bed with mulch.*

Soil testing is really crucial for any garden, but perhaps most important in vegetable gardens where harvesting may decrease key nutrients over time. It will also guide you in identifying potential heavy metal problems. The money you will save in not buying unnecessary fertilizers and other amendments will pay for many soil tests.

*There is so much great information in a soil test that will help you make decisions about what to add – and what to avoid.*

Sometimes you will need to add material to your existing beds if you are not using a natural soil. Soilless media (deceptively marketed as “potting soil” though no soil is to be found) will decompose and settle over time, leaving you with a sunken soil system. You will need to add more of the same sort of media to the beds, making sure you mix it in thoroughly to prevent a perched water table. (This is why you might consider using a natural soil and avoiding this annual chore – because a natural soil will not subside over time.)

This recommended planting media will decompose down to the oyster shells and lime over time.

A tale of two weeders – lessons in managing aggressive, perennial weeds

Choose your weapon in your war against weeds!

Nearly every afternoon for the last two months, curious drivers have noticed two people meandering through a pasture, following a narrow pathway formed by two lengths of string tied to fenceposts. It’s us! Thanks to COVID 19, we are no longer able to go the gym for a workout so like many other gardeners we have put that unexpended energy into our gardens and landscapes. And in this case, cattle pasture.

The lettuce from hell

My family has raised free-range, grass-fed beef cattle for over 50 years, and with our move to the family farm in 2017 we now oversee much of that business concern. Managing pasture weeds is just one of the battles associated with providing quality browse for the cattle. Inedible plants like bull thistles (Cirsium vulgare) and tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) are taprooted species, easily removed with a single weeding. But not Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), colorfully and accurately described as the “lettuce from hell” thistle. Though it’s highly nutritious, the prickles are so unpleasant to sensitive muzzles that cattle avoid it.

Here are two small specimen lurking in the grass

This aggressive, herbaceous perennial (native to Eurasia, not Canada!) has an extensive underground root system, consisting of thick, propagative roots which give rise to more roots (which grow vertically and horizontally), and shoots which pop up seemingly everywhere. They do NOT have rhizomes, and they do NOT have stolons. Apparently, Canada thistle has a unique, hellish morphology allowing it to spread rapidly – 6 meters per year in the U.S. – if not managed (you can read more about this topic here).

Applying plant physiology in the field – literally

The area be;pw the black collar is all underground stem

But there is a weakness in this aggressive root system – and that weakness is the need for resources provided by the aboveground thistles. The perennial root system stores resources over the winter, then pumps them into new shoots in the spring. This is the chink in the armor – these shoots are USING resources, not providing them, until they slow their own expansion. So the trick is to remove the shoots as soon as they appear, forcing the roots to expend more resources to make more shoots, and so on.

So this is why we are in the field, every day, removing those shoots, systematically clearing areas and then repeating in another week or so as new stems appear. And it’s working. But here is the lesson we are learning that gardeners can apply to their own gardens and landscapes.

Dueling weeders

The uproot weeder removes a core of soil containing the roots

We have two weeding implements: the “winged weeder” and the “uproot weeder.” The first is my choice, though it is NOT a solely a “stand up tool” for this purpose. My husband prefers the uproot weeder, which twists and pulls out a core of soil along with the root. I don’t like this latter method, as it creates a hole through which sunlight can penetrate, activating both photodormant seeds and stem regrowth. But to each their own.

The presence of healthy leaves suggests this thistle fragment is far from dead

However, we found another reason that the coring method doesn’t work well: those cores can stay moist and guess what? The stems generate new roots, and left alone could easily re-establish if conditions were cool and moist. Just what we need.

Done properly, this is a quick and effective means of removing the entire root crown of new plantlets

My preferred method, using the winged weeder, is to break the underground stem off as deeply as possible and then work it out as seen int he video. For this you need protective gloves, but not thick ones. You need to be able to feel what you’ve got a hold of.

These gloves are thick enough to protect against most thistle prickles, but thin enough so you can feel what you are holding

Hold onto the base of the thistle gently and as you work the weeder under it move your fingers down BELOW the crown. It feels like a tough bulge and you want to hold onto the smooth stem below it. Otherwise it is likely to break off, leaving the crown viable. You will hear, and possibly feel, a satisfying pop as you dislodge the stem from the underground system. Pull it up carefully. The remaining hole is tiny, and easily covered by pressing on it gently with one’s boot.

My chicken boots close the small holes left by the winged weeder

The advantages to physical removal of perennial weeds

I’m getting out into the fresh air and have lost more weight in the last month than I lost going to the gym in the past year.
I’m controlling a noxious weed population without the use of chemicals.
I’m developing a technique that can be applied to ANY herbaceous perennial in ANY garden or landscape. That’s the great thing about plant physiology – the pattern of resource allocation is not species dependent. Think horsetail and bindweed, for instance.

Our battleground – the enemies are well hidden

Do keep in mind that perennial weeds are perennial problems! We aren’t EVER going to have a thistle-free field, but it will become a more manageable problem as the infestation will have been dramatically reduced this year. I’ll try to do some updates over time.

Tools, tips, and terrible traditions for raised beds – Part 2

Last month I started a series on raised bed gardens, focusing on materials and designs. Today I’ll mention some of my favorite tools and materials for putting everything together and getting ready to plant.

Getting your soil ready for raised bed use

Tools and materials: shovel, wheelbarrow, tarp, soil screens

If you’ll recall from my previous post, I like using native soil for raised beds (assuming it is not contaminated with heavy metals or other undesirable chemicals). We have glacial till soil, which means it has a LOT of rocks of various sizes. The bigger ones are easy enough to lift out, but what about all the other ones?

First, realize that SOME rocks are no big deal. In fact, they are important in reducing soil compaction. Finely sieved soil, especially clay soils, will be more prone to compaction than a soil with small pebbles scattered throughout. But the larger rocks are a nuisance.

Small rocks in your raised beds won’t interfere with vegetables but help prevent compaction of heavy soils.

For the first pass through, I have found a plastic crate to work really well. It’s lightweight and the holes are large enough to let soil move through quickly, while retaining larger rocks. I like the milk crate size as it’s easiest to handle. Just set the crate in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp, fill it full of rocky soil, pick it up and shake.

These plastic crates are sturdy and easy enough to lift when filled with soil.

The rocks left in the soil for the most part are easy to work around, and you can always pick out the larger ones as you go (my personal choice). Or if you want to give it another screening, you can build wooden frames with different gauges of hardware cloth, or chicken wire, to remove more of the rocks.

This is a simple soil screen built with 2×4 boards and hardware cloth.

This is a time-consuming process, but the benefit is that you don’t have to top off your beds every year. Your native soil will not be subject to high levels of decomposition and subsidence as will many commercial topsoils with their high organic content.

When you’re ready to fill your beds, be sure to add more soil than you think you will need. It is going to settle, and you may need to add a little more the second year to bring it back to your desired level. But you shouldn’t have to add any more in the future.

Water and time will help soil settle to its final level.

Throughout the soil preparation process, be sure to work when the soil is dry, or no more than just damp. Working wet soil is difficult, and wet soil compacts.

But what about heavy clay soils?

Unless you’ve done a soil texture test, you really don’t know what you have. So before you take another route, make sure you really have a heavy clay soil. If it’s just compacted, then proper mulching will solve that problem too. If it’s truly a heavy clay – let’s say over 40% – then yes, this soil might not be best for a raised bed. In that case, I would suggest finding a different topsoil mix, where clay is no more than 30%. Lay down a membrane to keep this soil separate from your native clay soil. Your raised beds will now function more like giant containers, and you will have to make allowances for drainage along the sides of the beds.

You can estimate how much clay you have in any soil type using this chart.

Your beds are ready – how to keep them that way before planting

Tools and materials: coarse organic mulch, wheelbarrow, mulch fork or shovel, rake, soil temperature probe

A mulch fork will make your life so much easier!

Once your beds are filled, it’s important to get them planted as quickly as possible to prevent continued erosion of that bare, loose soil by wind and rain. If you aren’t immediately planting, then you need to cover the soil with a protective mulch. The only choice you have, if you wish to keep your soil environment hydrated and aerated, is to use a coarse organic mulch. Sheet mulches are not advised since they will interfere with water and air movement. Even if you don’t have plants in the soil, there are microbes and beneficial animals that need a constant influx of oxygen and water. A coarse organic mulch, installed to a depth of at least 4 inches, will facilitate water and air transfer and also keep weed seeds from germinating.

Keep unplanted beds protected with coarse organic mulch.

If you’ve been following my posts over the years, you already know I’m going to recommend using a wood chip mulch. Its benefits to soils and soil life is well established and it is easily moved once it’s time to plant. But you can use pine needles, straw (not hay!), and other coarse organic materials for this purpose. Fine textured organic materials like compost should never be used as a mulch, as thick layers of compost are more restrictive to gas and water movement and also facilitate weed growth. Save compost for a thin topdressing when your soil anywhere on your property is in need of organic matter, and be sure to cover it with woody mulch to keep those weeds out.

This thermometer will help you plant seeds at their optimum time.

While waiting for the right time to plant, consider purchasing a soil thermometer. They are inexpensive and easy to use. Good publications on growing vegetables will tell you what the soil temperature should be when you plant: planting too early can lead to reduced seedling survival. And while you are waiting you can install a rain gauge nearby, so you can monitor irrigation needs throughout the growing season.

What’s next?

Next time we’ll discuss the dos and don’ts of raised bed maintenance during the growing season and before planting the following year. Most of these practices are adaptable to traditional vegetable gardens, so be sure to check it out!

Tools, tips, and terrible traditions for raised beds – Part 1

Raised beds a month after planting. Adult beverage not harvested here.

Many of us are sheltering at home during the COVID19 outbreak, and that might mean you’re spending more time in the garden. It certainly seems to be true based on my Facebook feed. And given that even more people are showing interest in growing their own food, I thought some practical posts on raised beds dos and don’ts might be fun. John Porter did a nice review of some of the misperceptions about raised beds last year, and that’s worth reading as well. This week’s post will be on siting and materials needed for building a raised bed. At the end of the post is a list of online resources with more information.

Trees to the south will shade vegetable gardens throughout the growing season.

Location

To grow most vegetables, you need direct sunlight at least six hours per day, and more is better in terms of productivity. That means full, unfiltered sunlight, so that your seeds and plants get the entire light spectrum. You’ll need to take into account seasonal changes, like the sun’s angle and the appearance of deciduous canopies, before choosing your site. If part of your bed will unavoidably be in the shade, simply choose plants that will tolerate part- or full-shade conditions for that location.

Building materials

Construction of raised beds. Carpenter contracting not available.

We use pressure-treated hemlock and Douglas fir for our beds, which measure 8′ by 22′ (at the outside dimensions.). Modern pressure treatment uses alkaline copper quaternary, which is nothing like the toxic chromium-arsenic cocktail from earlier times. You don’t have to use wood, of course – other materials will work but do educate yourself on any potential leaching issue into the soil.

Underneath the beds is….nothing. If our underlying soil was contaminated with heavy metals or some other material, we would put down a membrane first to keep our raised bed soil separate from the contaminated soil. But we have no issues, so it’s soil next to soil, meaning we have great drainage.

Planting media

Native topsoil stockpiled from construction project.

The best material for your raised bed is actual native topsoil (if you can find it). If you don’t have enough of your own, see if anyone locally is giving away “free dirt.” People who put in decks, ponds, and other hardscape structures often don’t realize their discarded dirt is real topsoil. Do be cautious with this potential windfall. Ask about pesticides or other chemicals that may have been used in the original landscape. And you should do an initial soil test to see your baseline nutrient values. It’s easier to incorporate amendments BEFORE you fill your beds.

There are exceptions to the native topsoil recommendation – for instance, if your soil is contaminated with heavy metals from industry or agriculture, you shouldn’t use it for growing edibles. In this case, you need to use a commercial topsoil, and isolate it from the underlying soil as described earlier. Commercial topsoils can be heavily amended with compost and other organic material, meaning you have much less actual soil and will constantly need to refill your beds as the organic matter decomposes. Try to find a mix with the greatest possible percentage of topsoil.

Read the label! Is there actually soil in potting “soil”?

The worst choice of all are soilless media. This includes nearly all bagged potting “soils” at garden centers. Read the contents panel carefully – does it say the word “soil” anywhere? If it’s all organic material, you are going to have to fill your beds every year. This is both expensive and time consuming. Plus you could very well have excessive levels of some nutrients that will build every year as you add more.

As you make your decision about what to fill your raised beds with, consider what you will be growing, If you are only growing summer crops, it will be easier to amend the bed every year. If you have a winter crop, or perennial herbs, you can’t incorporate more material without destroying the existing rhizosphere and your plants. Perhaps that means you need two raised beds, or at least have a divided system.

Design

This part is really up to you! Raised beds should be high enough to work comfortably, big enough to hold what you want to grow, and narrow enough to be able to reach all the way across (for one-sided access) or halfway across (two-sided access).

We wanted a design where we could include a critter fence. Once in a while a deer might wander through our property, and rabbits certainly do. The hardware cloth fence keeps larger animals out and also provides a great trellis for beans and other climbers.

We opted for a U-shaped system, with a gate on one end. The inside edges of the beds are topped with 2×6 boards that can be used as a bench. We did run stabilizing boards between interior and exterior posts. They are buried and don’t really interfere with the plants. (Note to self – next time put those stabilizing boards in BEFORE filling with soil.)

What’s next?

Next time I’ll discuss some of my favorite tools for using in raised beds and possibly other places. And we’ll touch on the importance of soil testing before you add organic matter or other fertilizer to your beds. In the meantime, be sure to check out these resources:

Are raised beds for you? This comprehensive fact sheet goes into more detail. https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/raised-beds-deciding-if-they-benefit-your-vegetable-garden-home-garden-series

Home vegetable gardens – an overview. https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/home-vegetable-gardening-in-washington-home-garden-series

How much organic material is too much? Don’t overdo – read this first! https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/organic-soil-amendments-in-yards-and-gardens-how-much-is-enough-home-garden-series

Standing up for (and lying down on) the environmentally sustainable lawn

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that I got rid of our lawn (getting rid of your lawn post) at our Seattle house . It took too much water to keep it green in the summer, and the resulting ornamental landscape was more ecologically diverse and aesthetically pleasing for such a small site.

On the way to replacing the lawn with landscape

And the same landscape a few years later.

But that was then, and this is now. In 2017 we moved back to the family farm, which has a full acre of landscape – including lawn. Although we are slowly reducing the vast expanse of lawn, we will keep part of it because (1) we are on well water and there is an irrigation system and (2) because we are allowing the lawn to become a diverse tapestry of different plant species – an ecolawn, if you will.

Farmhouse landscape with an acre of lawn!

When I was growing up, my father fought unsuccessfully to keep the moss and weeds out. I happen to LOVE the moss and the fact that it grows here has nothing to do with poor drainage or anything else. It grows here because the environmental conditions support its growth. I love the spongy feel of the underlying moss, and it reduces the amount of mowing necessary because it’s limited in height. And no fertilizers or pesticides are needed.

Mossy lawns are lovely for walking…and laying down on.

Speaking of mowing…I hate gas powered mowers. They’re smelly and noisy, they contribute to air pollution, and when something goes wrong you have to take it to small engine repair. These excursions are infrequently successful but always expensive. So imagine my delight is discovering newer battery-powered mowers! All you have to do is swap battery packs. They are quieter, there are no emissions, they don’t smell, and they have an electric engine! No small engine repairs, and they are also lighter for this reason.

A newer technology, battery-operated mower with rechargeable battery

I was even more excited to find compatible leaf blowers. We have tons of Oregon white oak leaves, and we blow them into the beds. We do NOT leave them on the lawn, because they interfere with some of our non-grass lawn inhabitants. They are perfect on the beds because their curly, rigid structure prevents compaction and they keep weeds out while allowing water and oxygen to penetrate.

Keep the leaves off the lawn and over the beds.

Our container violets have escaped into the lawn; covering them with leaves could kill them.

Finally, our ecolawn allows me to see and appreciate the reproductive structures of our mycorrhizal fungi. I don’t even pretend to know the species and whether they are edible. I just love the fact that they appear every fall after we’ve stopped mowing.

Sometimes lawns aren’t appropriate, as we found in Seattle. But sometimes they are – and as long as they are cared for in an environmentally sustainable manner, they shouldn’t have to be something we apologize for.

Woodpeckers: Friends or Foes?

[This blog post has been provided by Bec Wolfe-Thomas, an administrator for the Garden Professors blog group on Facebook.]

Pileated woodpecker. Photo by Josh Laymon

Woodpeckers (Picidae) frequently get a bad rap from gardeners. It’s often their impression that the birds irreparably damage trees, but this is untrue. Most woodpeckers are insect eaters; they can hear insects under the bark and in the wood of trees. They then target their drilling with uncanny precision to get their meal. This removal of insect pests, such as emerald ash borer, benefits the tree.

Emerald ash borer larva. Photo by Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

And what about the feeding holes left in the tree? This is an exciting bit of tree physiology! Trees are able to compartmentalize or isolate the wounds. After the woodpecker has made a hole to retrieve the insects within, the tree starts compartmentalizing the wound. How long it takes for a tree to compartmentalize a wound and close it depends on species and climate factors.

Compartmentalization of decay in trees (CODIT). Photo from Wikimedia.

Below are photos of woodpecker holes in various states of compartmentalization, from freshly drilled to completely compartmentalized and closed holes. Woodpeckers help keep trees healthy by preventing large pest infestations. And while the small feeding holes might be an aesthetic concern to gardeners, they’re only temporary. They will eventually be compartmentalized and closed, and the tree will be healthier in the long run by having fewer pests.

This woodpecker hole is partially compartmentalized; you can see the edges are rounded, no longer rough. Photo by Bec Wolfe-Thomas.

These wounds are almost completely compartmentalized with very little gap between the edges. Photos by Bec Wolfe-Thomas.

This wound has fully compartmentalized and all that is left is a pucker on the trunk. Photo by Bec Wolfe-Thomas.

[Please note the larger holes excavated for nesting will compartmentalize but will not close over time.]

Soil or dirt? It’s really up to you

Dig up dirt. Treat like dirt. Dirt poor. Replace the word “dirt” with “soil” and you get phrases that make no sense. This is a roundabout way of explaining that “dirt” and “soil” are not the same things, either in idioms or in the garden. Yet many of us effectively turn our soils into dirt through poor garden practices.

For the purposes of this post, we’re going to use a single criterion to distinguish between soil and dirt: one is a living ecosystem and the other is not. A thriving soil ecosystem contains sufficient water, oxygen, and nutrients to support bacterial, fungal, plant, and animal life. Regardless of soil type, about half of the volume in a living soil should be pore space and the other half soil particles. Half of the pore space should be filled with water and the other half with air. When we make choices about activities that affect garden and landscape soils, we need to be proactive in preserving both the particle-pore balance as well as connectivity between the soil and the atmosphere.

All soils have pore spaces regardless of their texture.

The only way pore space can be reduced is through soil compaction. So don’t do it.

No driving. If equipment must be brought in, put down a thick layer of wood chips to protect the soil, or at least plywood.

Not really the way to do park renovations.

These amenity trees quickly became liabilities, thanks to soil compaction during construction. {Photo courtesy of Jim Flott)

No naked soil. Bare soils are compacted soils. Mulch!

No rototilling. It grinds your living soil into dirt. Disrupt the soil as little as possible when you plant.

No stomping, pressing, or otherwise compacting the soil during planting. Let water and gravity do that work for you.

Let’s just press that pore space out of existence.

Mud it in! Let water and gravity settle new transplants.

The only way soil and atmosphere connectivity can be disrupted is by covering the soil with low permeability materials. So don’t do it.

No soil layering. Don’t create abrupt layers of soils with different textures. It interferes with water and gas exchange.

Soil horizons change gradually in natural soils.

Poor surface drainage indicates a perched water table caused by abrupt changes in soil texture (photo courtesy of Rich Guggenheim).

No sheet mulches. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing me say that and I am tired of saying it. Sheet mulches have less permeability than chunky mulches. That means oxygen and water have more difficulty getting through. Period.

The less porous the material, the more slowly gas diffuses through it. Read more about it in our recent article

Chips are great. Why ruin them with cardboard underneath?

Landscape fabric is even worse than cardboard, but the weeds love it.

Do use lots of groundcovers, chunky mulches, and hardscape in areas where there’s considerable foot traffic. They all protect the soil and are important parts of a well-designed, sustainable landscape.

If you just can’t get enough about soil science for gardens and landscapes, do check out this new publication by Dr. Jim Downer and myself.

Garden potions and notions to avoid

It’s Halloween and terrifying things abound – particularly at garden centers. Below you’ll find a pictorial approach to four frightful follies. Enjoy – and keep your garden safe!

Scary soaps. No. Not on your soil to aerate it. Not on your plants as part of some homemade devil’s brew. Soap stays in your house.

SOAP is not an acronym for Super Organic Agricultural Product

Petrifying phosphate. Not for flowers. Definitely not for transplanting. No matter how friendly and natural they look on the shelf, they are death to mycorrhizae and any aquatic system they wash into.

“Bone meal” can be anagrammed to make “le bemoan.”

Murderous mulches. No cardboard. No plastic. And definitely no astroturf. The word “smother” does not conjure up a pretty picture for living soils.

The chips are great. The cardboard….not so much.

Cardboard’s so resistant to water you can make ponds out of it!

Artificial lawn should only be used for indoor minigolf.

Zany zombies. These useless products live on in their science-free environments. Just…go…away.

Business is good even if efficacy isn’t.

Yes, because plants love stag’s bladders and cow mesenteries.

You can find posts on these products by using the “search” box on the left hand menu. Or you can consult your Ouija board using this handy mulch planchette.

Will my tree survive? Ouija board says “Goodbye.”

Late summer pruning: what happens, what won’t, and why

In the fall a gardener’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of pruning (with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson). In particular, people worry that pruning too late in the summer or early fall will stimulate plants to send out new growth, which is then damaged by freezing temperatures. Let’s dissect what actually happens when woody plants are pruned during this time.

First, we need to separate temperate trees and shrubs from tropical and subtropical species. For the most part, the latter don’t become winter dormant: pruning them at any time means you will have regrowth as long as there are sufficient resources. If planted in more temperate zones, they will continue to grow until they are killed by freeze damage. Instead, we’ll look at temperate species and how they are adapted to surviving winter conditions.

Tropical woody plants like this jade are not winter dormant species. Don’t leave them outside even if you think they are protected (lesson learned).

I wrote a couple of posts last year on cold hardiness (here and here), so I won’t repeat those discussions on how plants survive freezing. Instead, we’ll focus on the process of HOW plants enter winter dormancy and become cold hardy. It’s a two-step process that depends on two different environmental factors: one that never changes from year to year, and one that certainly can.

The first step to dormancy is initiated right after the summer solstice. Plants are exquisitely adapted to changes in the light-to-dark ratio, and days begin shortening after the summer solstice. The changes that occur are largely biochemical, but you can also see some changes in plants themselves. Many trees and shrubs slow their growth during this time so that fewer young leaves and shoots are produced. Instead, resources are put into the existing foliage, or flowers for summer bloomers. Excess resources are routed to woody parts of the plant for storage.

Light and dark ratios vary with latitude, but the seasonal changes are always the same time of year.

From a practical standpoint, this means that when you prune trees and shrubs where growth has stopped, you will NOT get regrowth. The vegetative buds below the pruning cut are dormant. The tricky thing is that the exact time when the switch is thrown varies by species and is affected by environmental conditions. Careful observation will allow you to estimate when the plants will no longer produce new growth.

Some temperate species naturally put on a spurt of late summer growth. The leaves on these new Japanese maple shoots generally die from cold damage, but the branches themselves survive.

The second step begins when night temperatures cool to near freezing, which is not a predictable date. Because many of the biochemical and physiological processes have already begun or are finished, the response to cold night temperatures is rapid and visible. Leaf colors change as the plant begins breaking down leaf materials for mobilization and storage elsewhere in preparation for winter dormancy.

This katsura has started the process of autumn leaf senescence.

This process, honed over millions of years, is unfortunately not infallible especially under abnormal environmental conditions. Two examples spring to mind:

High intensity street lights. If the normal light-to-dark ratio change is interrupted by significant levels of night light, the first step of dormancy is hijacked. You can see what happens in these previous blog posts here and here.

That street light in the middle has kept the nearby leaves green while those farther away are senescing.

Unseasonably cold weather. With climate change, we are seeing wild shifts in all sorts of weather patterns, including the date of the first hard freeze. Hard, early freezes are not the same as a light evening frost. You can see what happens here:

A hard freeze in early November fried the leaves on this hydrangea.

Given normal conditions, however, temperate trees and shrubs are well on their way to full winter dormancy by late summer and early fall. Pruning them is not going to induce new growth.