Planting a Perennial
Garden
Expert tips about soil, fungi, and weeds for a beautiful garden
Spring is usually the best time to purchase and plant perennials
(although hardy perennials can be planted in the fall, much
like bulbs.
Growing perennials from seed is inexpensive, especially if
you want to cover a large area. However, most perennials are
now sold as plants; more mature plants make planning your
design a bit more accurate and in general makes planting easier.
Most plants bought in spring have been vernalized (gone through
a winter dormancy) and will establish easily. Plants bought
in late season have not, so get them started before frost
hits, but a large portion of fall energy goes to the roots,
so this is a good time to start perennials (nothing tender)
and get a jump on next year. Look for plants that have signs
of new growth and avoid plants with any sign of disease or
pests.
Although you can leave perennials in their pots for a short
period of time, plant them as soon as possible to avoid drying
out or getting root bound. There is a movement in the wholesale
trade to larger pot sizes for perennials and this seems to
have polarized the perennial world into the “It’ll
grow that size in a year or three” camp and the “
Time is money, and I want instant effect” faction. If
the plant is going to sit around in the pot at all, spend
the money for the more established plant in the bigger pot.
I fall somewhere in between the warring factions; there are
some plants I will always buy big (coneflowers, peonies, grasses)
and some I will always buy small (thymes, asarums, most any
groundcover types). A 1 gallon can is my middle of the road
container; I’ll go up for the former list and down in
size for the latter list.
Because perennials are a permanent fixture in the garden,
you should take some extra time and care in preparing the
soil as you won’t have this opportunity again. Sandy
soils can be improved by adding organic matter. Some of my
favorites for amendment are compost or mushroom soil as they
both have good organic fertilization assays. For those without
access to a good compost pile or mushroom soil, these can
now often be found bagged in garden centers, or may I recommend
cocoa mulch. I originally started using cocoa mulch as an
additive to my bonsai soil and noted the quick breakdown and
resulting deep, dark organic matter it contributed. I had
also tried it as mulch before and found it fungused up with
regular watering. While that may not sound like a good thing
to many gardeners (and it certainly makes cocoa unsuitable
as a mulch), it is an admirable trait if you are choosing
which fungi to introduce; more on that in a moment.
Manure is an old ally in the garden but it must be composted;
fresh manure has high fertilizer assays and breaks down at
such a high temperature that if it doesn’t burn it one
way, it’ll burn it the other. The ancient practice of
hot-bedding has fallen out of favor, but a deep layer of fresh
manure is covered with soil, the plants are set on that and
then filled in around with a good soil mixture. This allowed
gardeners to cheat a zone or two out of their gardens and
you cold-weather gardeners with access to a big pile of poop
should maybe think of reviving the practice (as my old granny
used to say, “Take deep breaths and the smell goes away
quicker.”). Besides to the true gardener, that is simply
the smell of success…
For clay soils, add compost with perlite or sand. Most perennials
need good drainage, so you may want to plant in raised beds.
For the kind of clay soil that we call “bathtub”
clay soil (when you water, the hole you dug for your perennial
turns into a bathtub), I feel the best course of action is
to use the plants that are time tested in clay conditions.
I turn instinctively to the prairie plants of North America
(echinacea, rudebeckias, filipendula, etc.) as the plants
I just listed not only tolerate that situation, but help alleviate
it by sending down a deep taproot that helps break up the
bottom of the “bathtub”. If you are using sodbuster
perennials like these and providing rich, organic mulch on
top, which attracts worms that will further break up the soil;
you will improve your soil structure with very little elbow
grease on your part. Remember, it’s
not hard work, its smart work that builds good gardens.
Clay or sand, it is imperative that you remove the weeds
and lawn from the bed before planting. I usually till a bed
when I first create it to encourage root development; it also
drags up ancient weed seed that has been lying in wait, sometimes
up to a century! (That is why this is the only time I roto-till).
Getting out the weeds that are there is fairly easy and,
for me, calming, meditative work. It is the weeds of the future
that are the big problem; how to stop those seeds from germinating?
There are products like Burnout
that work in six hours, and kills roots with a second application-
yet are safe for kids, pets, and the environement. For the
more organically inclined, seek out a good Flame
Weeder.
Many professional organic gardeners use them, they're earth-friendly,
and can be used on icy walkways in the winter.
Alternatively, you can seek out corn gluten. This product
is becoming more available, and it does a great job as long
as you keep up the applications, roughly once every three
months or so. It’s worth it to me to keep my garden
pollution to a minimum. Just be careful that you’re
not trying to raise ANYTHING from seed in that bed; the gluten
will knock it out of the picture…
Once your soil is prepared, dig a hole that is just deep
enough to accommodate the roots. Water the plant before removing
from the pot. To remove the plant from the pot, turn the pot
over and let it slide out onto your hand, tapping the base
of the pot if need be. Don’t try pulling the plant out
of its pot by the stem as you may damage the plant. If the
roots are tightly coiled, they may need to be gently loosened
to encourage outward growth. Place the plant in its hole so
that it is at the same level with the ground as it was in
its pot. Fill in around it with soil and water thoroughly.
Mulch the area with compost or pine needles in order to deter
weeds and prevent loss of moisture.
Did you know that fungi are good for your
garden?
I had mentioned about adding our own beneficial fungi to the
soil. You can do this either right after mulching or just
before; I normally do it before but if it happens later, no
big deal. More and more, beneficial organisms like mycorrhizal
fungi are becoming available to the home gardener.
Discovered in the late 1800’s and pretty well documented
by the 1930’s, these symbiotic fungi were lost in the
rush to “modernize” the garden (i.e., dump chemicals
all over it). Fungus was a bad guy that we could kill off
with the latest wonder product, not something to be promoted,
and the research went dead for years. But with the renewal
of organic practice to the garden scene, mycorhizii
have again started to gather attention.
Simply put, mycorhizii are different species of fungi that
help a plant with different tasks; some help with water uptake,
some with making fertilizer available, some with gas exchange,
etc. They require organic content in the soil, but in exchange
help your perennials to grow and flourish (Keep in mind that
some strains are better for flowers, some for shrubs, some
for evergreens, so make sure you get the right strains). The
other benefit to introducing beneficial fungi to the soil
is that it leaves no room for the bad guys like phytophtera
or botrytis (this is known as “biological counterculture”
in scientific circles). A fancy way to say, "no room
at the inn," but any way you say it, mycorhizal supplementation
is the way to really modernize your garden and take care of
the environment as well. You must feed and care for mycorhizii,
but they like the same things your plants do, so if you water
and fertilize regularly, your soil flora will stay as healthy
as your garden flora.
Soil is the most basic building block in the garden, and
half your plant spends its whole life down there. Make sure
it gets a happy home and you will be delighted with the half
you can see…
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