{"id":3707,"date":"2022-06-06T06:58:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T14:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3707"},"modified":"2022-06-06T06:58:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T14:58:58","slug":"spring-beauty-spring-chores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/spring-beauty-spring-chores\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Beauty, Spring Chores"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Echinacea\"<\/a>If a garden does not look good in May and June, it will never look good.<\/p>\n

I have heard that phrase, read it, and even said it many times over the years.\u00a0 It stays current because it\u2019s true-at least most of the time.\u00a0 If your landscape is like mine, full of a lot of spring-flowering divas\u2014roses, peonies, iris and the like\u2014it can\u2019t help but shine when they are all singing at once.\u00a0 In fact, their great big fluffy heads, bright colors and alluring scents are enough to make garden visitors overlook the chickweed that may be romping at their feet.<\/p>\n

For many of us, spring is about more than flowers.\u00a0 As the end of May passes into June, the business of life competes with the business of gardening, and there are times when even the strongest desire to get out in the garden can\u2019t compete with the daily grind of personal, professional and even social responsibilities.\u00a0 In the meantime, the peonies flaunt their colors and the foxgloves rise to new heights.\u00a0 Not to be outdone, the weeds respond by flaunting their ability to grow faster than anything else.<\/p>\n

In fact, I think the fastest growing plant in my garden right now is common pokeweed\u2014Phytolaca americana\u2014a large-leafed weed that, if left to its own devices, will grow to be a bushy specimen that tops out at four or more feet tall.\u00a0 Without proper attention, it will sink deep roots and eventually produce a crop of very attractive, glossy black berries.\u00a0 Pokeweed berries are beloved by the birds, and those birds will share the love by distributing the seeds far and wide.\u00a0 I don\u2019t share the love, so no matter how busy I am or where I am going, I pluck out pokeweed whenever I see it.\u00a0 It is always a worthwhile time investment.<\/p>\n

Last week I went on a charity garden tour and noticed that just about every garden featured at least a few weeds in out-of-the-way corners.\u00a0 It was a great relief to see that even in expensive gardens tended at least partly by hired help, some things are overlooked in the midst of this season of rapid growth.<\/p>\n

That little bit of comfort helps me stave off the guilt that pops up as I see the spring onion grass give way to the summer crabgrass.\u00a0 I also plot tricks and hacks that make the garden look better by making efficient use of the available time.<\/p>\n

Every gardener can list chores that he or she absolutely hates.\u00a0 Mine is hedge trimming.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it is one of those activities that make the entire property look civilized even when the weeding and mulching schedule is almost non-existent.\u00a0 One year I decided that since I hated hedge trimming so much, I would cut back on other expenditures and hire a landscaper to take care of the privet that bounds my front yard on three sides. Unfortunately, all the area landscapers were busy and no one could touch the hedge for at least three weeks.\u00a0 In that time, the vigorous privet would have grown into something that resembled a leafy green mastodon.<\/p>\n

The only choice was to do the job in small time increments, a strategy I have pursued ever since.\u00a0 With the aid of my trusty electric hedge clipper, I can take care of at least ten linear feet of privet in about fifteen minutes, counting the time it takes to bag up the debris.\u00a0 I try to remember to wear long sleeves and apply insect repellent in advance of these outings.\u00a0 Otherwise it takes an additional five or six minutes to treat all the bites and scratches.<\/p>\n

Of course, while you apply yourself to your least favorite task, the rest of the garden begins to look overgrown and untidy.\u00a0 Now that the daffodil and tulip foliage has started to turn yellow-brown, it is time to remove it, for horticultural as well as aesthetic reasons.\u00a0 Doing so will make the garden look fresher and better-managed.\u00a0 But foliage removal can be a big job if you are like me and have lots of daffodils.\u00a0 Tame the foliage beast by keeping clippers and a waste container by whatever exterior door you use most often.\u00a0 You can trim a reasonable amount of spent foliage in as little as five minutes.\u00a0 By taking twenty seconds to don garden gloves when you start, you will also save yourself the necessity of a lengthy hand washing session afterwards.<\/p>\n

Mulch small areas in the same way.\u00a0 Keeping a two-gallon container, trowel and open bag of mulch handy, lets you spread a two-inch layer of mulch over small areas of beds and borders quickly, without making a mess.\u00a0 Every square inch of mulch goes to work immediately suppressing weeds and keeping the ground underneath cool and moist.\u00a0 Taken another way, five minutes spent spreading mulch is five minutes that you won\u2019t have to spend weeding in a few weeks\u2019 time.\u00a0 There are plenty of stocks and bonds that cannot come close to providing that kind of \u00a0return on investment.<\/p>\n

While pursuing garden chores in small time increments and cursing the lack of available hours, remember that perfection in gardens is very much overrated.\u00a0 Magazine TV and Instagram landscapes have been cosseted, artfully photographed and, in some cases, digitally altered into a state of perfection.\u00a0 Like fashion models, those gardens are not gorgeous first thing in the morning.\u00a0 As you gaze, googly-eyed at those statuesque delphiniums or perfect poppies, you won\u2019t see the pokeweed lurking just outside the photo frame or the broken-down string trimmer in the garage, but I guarantee that they are there.\u00a0 And, no matter what those artfully arranged gardens look like, I can also say with certainty that the gardeners in charge of them will invariably tell you that the delphiniums were even taller last year.<\/p>\n

So plant your guilt somewhere where the sun doesn\u2019t shine and enjoy whatever garden time you can steal.\u00a0 When all else fails, remember that even the most pernicious weeds have a beauty all their own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a garden does not look good in May and June, it will never look good. I have heard that phrase, read it, and even said it many times over the years.\u00a0 It stays current because it\u2019s true-at least most of the time.\u00a0 If your landscape is like mine, full of a lot of spring-flowering … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3],"tags":[2719,476,823,2718,2717,112],"class_list":["post-3707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-daffodil-foliage","tag-garden-chores","tag-mulching","tag-phytolaca-american","tag-pokeweek","tag-weeds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3708,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707\/revisions\/3708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}