Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Change is gonna come, weather we like it or not
The only constant thing in life is change and that really follows us into the garden. Whether it’s change WE choose, the PLANT chooses, a hungry critter chooses or the weather!
And this Winter has been a doozy! Between record cold, record snowfall and the potential of flooding in the Spring, it’s going to be interesting to see how our landscapes come out of this.
Blizzard conditions rendered half our highways closed and stranded hundreds and hundreds of folks. Next time, if we ALL carry emergency kits, maybe we can guarantee this won’t happen!
With that said, if there’s a plant not performing to peak parameters you’ve set, well then, change it.
Learn your landscape!
- What are the sun/shade conditions required of the plant?
- Learn what your soil type is, clay sand or loam.
- What’s the pH of your soil?
- Check out your local County extension office for a soil test to get the most accurate results and recommendations of how to amend your soil. It’s well worth the dollars you’ll spend. University of MN Soil testing lab and University of Wisconsin soil testing
- Then apply the Master Gardener mantra: “Right Plant, Right Place”.
If you have no soil lab to send to, then purchase a kit at a local nursery or big box store. That will at least give you some basic numbers.
As long as we’re talking about the weather, the icicles on my home were really bad. I finally did get someone to rack the roof and knock down the icicles. The problem is, they encapsulated a couple of my shrubs (as you can see above and below) and damaged them. Since we’ve been so cold, my lilac won’t be coming out of dormancy any time soon, so I can prune it.
It was -12 degrees F. when I took this photo so I didn’t hang out to take any more or to prune it, along with other branches!
