Daffodils are easy bulbs to naturalize in your garden.

New Tricks for Gardeners

by John Gillespie
Image © Christina Symons

Whether you're an armchair expert, a professional horticulturist or a hobby gardener it's a great time of year to learn about new trends and share tricks of the trade with your gardening buddies. Horticultural publications, nurseries, clubs and gardening festivals are excellent sources of information. Gardeners are rarely shy and if you ask for advice you can expect to get an earful. For example:

Did you know that while rototilling will create a fluffy, highly manicured bed, over time it may do damage by compacting the soil, resulting in an impenetrable zone at the depth of the blades? Soil structure will be destroyed and the natural cycle of beneficial organisms will be hindered. Try using compost and natural mulch on a regular basis instead. This practice will mimic nature and reduce the likelihood of unwanted weed seeds being brought to the surface by the mixing action of the rototiller.

Pruning tar was designed to help heal cuts during routine pruning. Although still available, its use is now known to be a short-term band-aid solution without much merit. Once tarred, the pruning cut remains moist which doesn't help in the healing process. Careful and skilled pruning is all that is necessary, as plants have natural barriers that will protect the cut as it heals.

Instead of rushing to tie back the greenery of spent bulbs, just let them grow on after flowering. The longer you leave the foliage the better, for it is during this time that energy is being stored while root development continues. If strong flowering bulbs are desired, wait until leaves and foliage have turned yellow before cutting back and removing the bulbs.

Storing bulbs is often an arduous process that worries and confuses many gardeners. The steps of carefully lifting, cleaning and storing bulbs is a difficult chore. All too often these bulbs are exposed to warm, cold or wet environments or chewed upon by rodents. As an alternative, consider naturalizing your spring bulbs. They'll flourish and multiply if left in the ground.

Wrapping trunks of newly planted trees to protect against sunscald, insects and temperature extremes is not very advisable. These wraps actually create greater temperature extremes and hold moisture around the trunk, which can lead to fungal problems. Further, insects tend to borrow between the bark and the wrap and can be worse with a wrap than without. Instead, mulch the surrounding soil and plant understory plants which will help to protect the tree.

This year, don't break your back raking leaves - use your lawn mower to mulch them. Collect the mulch in the lawnmower bag and add it to the backs of garden beds or the compost. Or, if you have a mulching mower you can cut the leaves and lawn and leave the debris on the ground where the small, shredded remnants will naturally disappear.

John Gillespie is Horticulturist and Arborist for the District of Sechelt. He writes regularly on gardening subjects for the Coast Reporter newspaper.