Denny's Soapbox

Some Green ‘Golden Rules’

Spring is near and soon it will be planting time. There are a few rules of gardening that, if followed, can make any home owner successful with their landscape. Not following these basic rules can give us some unintentional problems and another season of results not up to our expectations. Here are my rules.

Do Not Plant Shrubs Too Close To the House

Unfortunately, this practice is done all too often. When planting around the foundation of your home, determine how wide you want your new plants to grow regardless of how small they are at the time of planting. Let’s say you buy 1gallon Blue Maid spreading hollies. They are now 9 inches wide. You would like them to grow to 36 inches wide. You want to keep all plants 1 foot off the foundation. Let’s do the math. The radius of the mature holly is 18 inches. Add the 12 inches off the house and you want to install those new hollies 30 inches from the foundation regardless of how small they are when you plant.

Do Not Shop For Plants Over the Phone

Nobody would buy a couch over the phone. So why is it that many people make buying decisions for plants over the phone? You call the garden center and ask “How much are your 1 gallon azaleas?” Listen up; you’re buying the plant, not the container it’s growing in. Plants, like couches, should be viewed first before making a buying decision. The size of the actual plant growing in a certain size container can vary considerably. This is true from flats of annuals to large shade trees.

Get Lots of Plant Information When Buying

You can solve lots of unintended problems by shopping at a nursery store or garden center that has knowledgeable people on hand. Look for retailers that have Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association certified nursery technicians. These people have been trained by Ohio State University extension to answer all your questions and advise you on putting the right plant in the right place. Not having this information available greatly increases your chances of putting the wrong plant in the wrong place. You will find these O.S.U. trained individuals at most year round garden centers and nursery stores. Indiana and Kentucky have similar programs for employees in those states.

All Mulch and Top Soil Is Not the Same

There are too many home owners that believe all mulch and soil is of the same quality. It’s just that some retailers sell theirs for less than others. Nothing could be further than the truth. When buying wood mulch, all bark mulch is much better than so-called “hardwood”. This “hardwood” could be: processed hardwood of a tree, two by fours from old houses, ground up yard waste, sawdust, and/or used wood pallets. Good mulch is properly cured where cheap mulch is not. Cheap mulch is chemically treated to give it the appearance of cured mulch. Mulch that has been double or triple screened can blow away after being placed on planting beds. It’s the same story with top soil. Some top soil is so fine and sandy that, when dry, gets as hard and compacted as concrete. Some top soil for sale is not soil at all, but a mixture of sawdust, manure, and hardwood fines. Some of the 40 lb bags of peat moss and top soil are nothing more than Michigan lake muck in a bag and usually sells for less than two dollars with the only difference between what’s in the top soil and the peat is the printing on the bag.

Read the Instructions

When applying any product to the landscape, whether it be anything from lawn food to pesticides, please read the label. The label will have instructions on how much to use, minimum and maximum temperatures for weather sensitive products, clothing and overall health requirements for applying certain products, plants that should be avoided with certain uses, and proper disposal of any unused product. One final tip, more is not better. Please follow the instructions!