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Have You Reflected on Your Lawn and Landscape Yet?
Have You Reflected on Your Lawn and Landscape Yet?
It is at this time of year that I start to evaluate how well my plants grew this past summer. My tomatoes did not get enough sun to produce much fruit, so those will have to be moved to a new location next year. The Variegated Ribbon Grass that I planted several years ago is spreading out way too much as it has aggressive underground roots called rhizomes. If I don’t cut it back every couple of years, roots and all, it will overtake the garden in a couple of years.
Changing up your plants
I plant several hundred annuals every year and most of them do okay. With all the humidity and rain, we had to endure this past summer, Botrytis Blight ran rampant through the alyssum that I used as a border plant this year. I will probably switch to a different border plant next year. It is not that I don’t like alyssum, but part of keeping a disease in check is through sanitation. The spores of the disease will remain in the soil and can attack the plants again next year. A good practice is to change a plant the following year if it has been ravaged by a disease.
Taming overcrowding
Sometimes you decide that you planted too many plants into too small of a location for any of them to do well. I have a tendency to do this with some regularity. It does look nice for a time, but eventually the “survival of the fittest” kicks in and one plant often dominates.
Diagnosing diseases and damage
I also look for signs of disease and insect damage. The number one disease on the plants growing in my yard is Powdery Mildew. This will also develop in my lawns, but it is not as big of a problem as it used to be as I have been overseeding with shade-tolerant grass over the last 25 years. If I see an abundance of Powdery Mildew on some of my plants, I know not to plant the same ones in the same location next year.
Dealing with insect damage
Probably the largest pest in my gardens is not a disease or insect, it is the slug. I have used the Ortho product called Bug-Geta and it has done a fairly good job in areas where I have used it. The one thing that I do each fall is to remove as much of the spent green material on the plants at the end of the year. This is especially true on the hostas I have growing around my lawn.
Tracking changes
Keeping track of all the things I want to change the following year has always been a challenge, especially as I get older. This year, I am going to take pictures of everything I want to change. At least I will have a picture that may rattle loose a thought that I had when I look at the picture.
If you have any questions or concerns about your landscape, contact your local Spring-Green for more information.