Springing Forward
Am I throwing in the trowel after last year's drought? No way. Here's why I'm not giving up, and how I'm gardening smarter this year.
by Mark G. Stith
Spring forward? No, I'm not talking about the time change that we all had to endure recently. I'm not sure how I feel about suddenly losing an hour of my life. I know the government says we'll get it back in fall, but I would like my hour back with interest. Compounded. But I digress into worlds that I know not.
Instead, I'm talking about springing forward this Spring in a gardening sense. Taking steps to recover from the record-breaking drought that much of the South- and in particular my home state of Alabama -suffered last year and into 2008.
My backyard still looks like a cemetery of dead or dying plants. If you add up the dollar amounts of the time, labor and effort I put in to this losing effort, we're talking serious money. And gardening is just my passion: I shudder to think what my situation would be like if gardening was my livelihood.
It would be easy- and perhaps a more sane thing to do - to give up and give in. Let the weeds, briers and invasive species such as kudzu just take over. Survival of the fittest, right?
But then I see the season's first daffodils, those yellow bursts of pure sunshine on elegant green stems. They made it through those tough times to live and bloom again. They'll do that next year, too, and the next. My grandchildren will see the blooms from those same clumps of daffodils that now give me hope and make me feel a little sheepish for even considering throwing in the trowel.
So yes, I'm gardening again. Gardening still. But let me share four quick tips that the drought reminded me to heed:
Mulch around plants. Sounds simple, saves lives. Spreading a 2- or 3-inch layer of pine bark, needles, aged wood chips or other organic material can make the difference between life and death for a prized plant. Caution: I've seen poorly-trained commercial gardening crews pile mulch right around the trunk.They're making a nice home for rodents and other pests that will nibble away at the bark of a tree or shrub and kill it.
Use drip irrigation. This water-wise gardening method puts the maximum amount of water right where it's needed: the roots. Less water is lost to evaporation or indiscriminate watering. In fact, using drip irrigation is becoming a requirement in many municipalities forced to conserve water.
Recycle. Know what I did with all the plants I lost? Put them in a big heap, shredded them up, and am planning on using them again to enrich the flint-laden, heavy native soil good for nothing but making arrowheads. Composting kitchen scraps and taking my neighbor's bagged leaves (thank you!) is resulting in rich organic matter that will make my garden grow greener and lusher than ever.
Garden smarter, not harder. Pay serious attention to a plant's growth requirements. Study that label before buying a plant. The large box discount stores and home improvement centers usually don't take into account local conditions when buying for their entire national stores (both my opinion and observation). They buy in mass quantities and go for good looks, but that doesn't always translate into what's good for your neck of the woods.
So I'm taking inspiration from the plants that made it. You know, if you listen hard enough, you can hear the natural world talking. And it makes good gardening sense.
