Year Round Gardener

Beautiful gardens don’t have an off season. Sandy soil. Hungry deer. Unpredictable winters. Welcome to Zone 6B. What can we expect from land that used to be a swamp? Despite the odds, some gardens manage to look so lush and effortlessly beautiful, so very Martha Stewart, while others look more, well, Grey Gardens. The difference? The off season. For a really healthy garden, there is no “off season.” Before summer weeding and watering, there’s a whole year of carefully tending the garden.

Keeping your garden on terra firma all starts with soil; conditioning, protecting and aerating are essential. But before spending a lot of money on it, really know your soil. Send soil samples to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and they’ll test the structure and pH of soil for free.

“If it’s water logged, clayish, too sandy, too hard, etc…it needs to be amended,” says Dave Green of Ray Smith & Assoc. Ideally, soil should be crumbly, rich in organic matter, draining well and holding nutrients.

In the chemical vs. organic debate, chemical fertilizers seem like the obvious choice because they’re cheaper, work faster, and spend millions in advertising telling you so. While the quick shot approach of throwing down Miracle Grow is tempting, a healthy garden has more to do with knowledge and patience than miracles.

Organic methods such as composting, “build healthier soil slowly versus jackin’ them up on steroids,” says Ken Olson of The Laurel Group. Chemical fertilizers feed nutrients, but don’t improve the actual texture of the soil the way compost does. And even if one doesn’t take into account the pollution that seeps into our ponds and bay, chemical fertilizers expose children and pets to harmful toxins. Olson also points out that “Organic material may be more expensive to start with, but over time, they improve the quality of the soil and you spend less money on fertilizer”.

Manure, if carefully cut with compost so it won’t burn, is an especially good fertilizer for vegetables. “Cock-a-doodle-doo” (that would be chicken) fertilizes, works as a pre-emergent weed barrier and is less aromatic than cow manure. For more obscure but effective fertilizing methods, check out worm castings (worm poop), sea weed compost and fish emulsion. Dried blood fertilizes and also keeps deer away. Bone meal makes a good fertilizer for bulbs. To raise the pH of sandy soil, making it less acidic, use lime. To lower the pH, use aluminum sulphite. Again, testing soil first is crucial.

Because solid snow doesn’t insulate the ground throughout the winter out here, we need to compensate for the erratic freeze-and-thaw weather pattern. Phil Bucking of Sag Harbor Garden Center recommends “putting soil to bed nicely by covering it in a soft, thick blanket of mulch that keeps the temperature consistent and protects the roots all winter. Then add a second layer in the spring to keeps weeds from coming up.” An alternative to mulch is hay, which is cheaper but contains fewer nutrients. Pine needles also make good cover for acid loving plants. Left over Christmas tree branches can be laid over perennial beds for insulation.

While a thick cover of leaves left on the ground can “kill” soil by trapping oxygen and light, leaving some leaves on the ground helps protect soil as well. A light layer of leaves can provide insulation and nutrition whereas soil that’s blasted bare tends to erode.

When aerating a garden, “think like a farmer” says Sam Panton of Terra Design. “They till the soil, build trenches to trap water, which then freezes, expands and breaks up the soil.” This keeps soil loose and breathing all winter.

Plants, like soil, also need to be put to bed nicely for the winter. Wrapping perennials, shrubs, hedges and evergreens in burlap can help protect them from windburn and breakage from heavy snow. Another form of protection is to apply an anti-desiccant such as “Wiltpruf” whose liquid wax coating seals the leaves so they don’t dry out. Think of it as plant Chap Stick.

Pruning is also essential to a robust summer garden. While a garden can generally be cleaned up and cut back in the fall, prune only selectively until springtime. Almost all flowering plants should be pruned just after they flower. And with perennials, waiting until tender leaves appear makes it much easier to tell which branches are really dead.

Regarding deer, once you’ve ruled out an impromptu hunting spree, pick up Vincent Drzewucki, Jr.’s “Gardening in Deer Country” which is filled with advice that feels tailor-made for the East End. For bulb-loving squirrels, put hot pepper wax on the bulb (It’s not sadistic, they just avoid them.)

A nice shortcut to a productive garden? Start indoors. Herbs and decorative plant roots can be established in early spring and then transferred outdoors when warm enough.

Finally, the only thing as important as taking care of what you have, is selecting the right plants to begin with. It’s much easier to pick a plant that’s right for the terrain than make the terrain right for the plant. Pick plants that are not only native, but that will thrive in your backyard. One landscape designer emphasized that “a healthy garden should mimic nature.” Who knows? Maybe some day it’ll even be part of it.