Prune roses when Forsythia are blooming

Forsythia in bloom now

The rule of green thumbs is to prune your roses when the Forsythia are in bloom.  This climate specific advice is much more useful than stating a particular week or month to prune or plant something.  We need to look for signals in our own gardens for when to care for our plants.

Throughout Metro Vancouver we have many climate variances.  For instance, one of our garden sites is at the top of Mountain Hwy in North Vancouver.  This garden is usually a full month behind our Vancouver gardens in spring.

Even within Vancouver there are many different climates.  Oceans moderate temperatures.  Both of us Cultivated Gardeners live by the ocean.  Sometimes we set off for an autumn garden clean in Kerrisdale or South Cambie, only to discover those gardens are covered in a new snowfall;  yet where we live, there wasn't even frost.

Leaving the leaves in spring

Every autumn, we cover the garden beds with leaves to protect the soil.  Keeping the leaves on site has many advantages.  

1.  Plants take up nutrients, and when the plants die back for the year, if left on site, the nutrients will go back into the soil.

2.  The average rainfall in Vancouver between October 1st and April 30th is 1150 mm or 3.75 feet for the seven months.  The average raindrop hits the ground at 24 kph or 15 mph.  This amount of water hitting the soil creates a tremendous amount of compaction.  An inch of mulch on top of the soil absorbs the impact of this much water on the soil.

3.  If the soil is protected from rain, and does not get compacted, all the useful little critters and microbes stay alive to do their good work for another season.

Often, we are asked when we will be removing the leaves in the spring.  The answer is usually, we won't remove the leaves.  An ecologically designed garden has many tiers of plants covering the soil.  In the spring, as the deciduous plants rise from the soil, they cover the decomposing leaves.  By summer, the leaves have decomposed back into the soil to provide nutrients for the earth again.

The only time we remove leaves is if they are so filled with tannins (i.e. oak, beech), that they will blow all over before they ever decompose.  These leaves go into the compost where their decomposition is accelerated.  These leaves can stay at the back of beds behind or beneath plants, but we do remove them from front entrance or feature beds.

Whenever we can, the autumn leaves get mowed up before being applied to garden beds.  Mowing the leaves speeds up decomposition, and makes the leaves small enough to provide a mulch and allows moisture to penetrate to the soil.

Chaefer Beetle = Redesign

Truthfully, we Cultivated Gardeners love the Chaefer Beetle.  We find homeowners are tired of fighting the Chaefer Beetle and call us for help.  We turn the problem into the solution.

What do you do if your lawn is decimated by the effects of Chaefer Beetle larvae?  Here are two options:

1)  If you really need a lawn, then renovate your lawn and learn how to care for the grass so it grows deep roots and is no longer victim to Chaefer Beetle Buffett.

2)  If you don't need a lawn, remove the lawn and plant a beautiful garden.  This is what we like to do.  We have posted some of our garden designs on Houzz.com houzz.com/pro/ecolisa/.   

Many of these designs are a direct result of Chaefer Beetle related damage.  Once their lawn has been decimated, people reassess why they have a lawn, and if a garden would be more suitable.

From the view of maintenance, a properly designed and installed garden is less maintenance than lawn.  If the garden is not properly designed and/or installed, it will be more maintenance than a lawn.

If you are not sure how to design and install successfully, feel free to call us for help.  It is what we do.  www.thecultivatedgardeners.com.

Time to Design

For anyone thinking this is the year to give the garden an overhaul:  now is the time to begin.  

Good garden design begins with a thorough analysis of the garden.  This includes soil analyses, sun/shade audits, privacy/screening issues, wind and microclimate analyses. The designer should also take inventory of the existing garden for healthy plants to retain.

The owner of the garden needs to be collecting ideas for her/his new garden. You can look around your neighbourhood for plants, arbours, fences, and other attractive features that might complement the architecture of your residence.  Alternately, gather some beautiful garden picture books and spend some quiet time reading and dreaming.

Think about how you would like to use your garden:  entertaining, playing, reading, maybe gardening.  How many people will gather in your garden?  How much time do you spend in your garden?  How much time do you want to spend in your garden?

And, of course, the owner of the garden needs to consider a budget for renovations.  A good  designer can create a design to be installed at once, or over a few seasons.  The important part is to have a cohesive design to follow.

Naturally, this is what we do at The Cultivated Gardeners, so feel free to contact us info@thecultivatedgardeners.com.