![]() When I plant something new, I dig up the immediate area to the depth of the spade (about a foot, maybe 18 inches) and add compost and whatever of the other goodies I happen to have on hand. My practice is to apply an annual mulch of compost enriched with a variety of organic supplements such as alfalfa pellets, aged manure, kelp meal, bone meal, or soy meal, and inorganics like lime and all-purpose fertilizer. I would have to work around them, which would further complicate matters.Īnd yet, just reading the paragraph I quoted above, and imagining how the renewed beds would look, and how the plants would burgeon forth and bloom the following spring and summer–that brings on an intense bout of gardener’s guilt. Some include shrubs, which would be impossible to dig up and replace. I’d rather not deal with them.Īnother problem is my beds aren’t exclusively herbaceous. Yes, there are a lot of spades-for-hire in the form of landscaping and yard maintenance companies, but they seem to fall into two groups: the mow the grass and trim the edges crews, or the ones that install instant gardens around new houses built on lots where old gardens have been stripped away to make room for the new. In this non-grand garden of Canada, there’s just one gardener–me. The grand gardens of England had small armies of gardeners to do stuff like this. I can’t imagine working over an entire bed. I’ve done it in small areas when moving or dividing plants. Digging up tree roots–or more likely sawing and chopping them–is brutal work. ![]() So am I planning to dig up my beds any time soon? Not on your life.įor one thing, I’m not Superwoman (or Super-Gardener, for that matter). So much for any carefully worked out colour schemes. But what about those dormant bulbs? I can tell a daffodil bulb from a tulip or crocus, but unless there was a detailed and up to date map of the bed, or excellent labels (both unlikely at my place) it would be impossible to know which varieties they were. There would be enough good weather left for plants to re-establish before winter. Many perennials would be at the end of their blooming seasons, and all spring bulbs would be dormant. ![]() When should this operation be carried out? I suspect early autumn would be the best time. All the extra fertilizer would mean those roots would return, but a three year renewal cycle would ensure reasonably root-free soil for the perennials. Deep digging would remove the mat of feeding roots put out by the Norway maples that shade the beds. If I managed to do even an approximation of this, my perennial beds would no doubt be glorious. Herbaceous plants are those whose top growth dies down in the winter. At that point, new plants were put in, old ones in need of dividing were broken up and reset, and the whole elaborate complex reassembled. For a start, it was double-dug to a depth of several feet, then filled with well-rotted manure, ashes, sand, etc., and as if that weren’t enough for a lifetime, it was taken apart every third year, dug over, replenished with huge amounts of fertilizer and fresh soil.
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