AMERICA'S ROYAL GARDENER - MARIA ROCK

This Saturday is March 20th and our calendars remind us spring is here. Rock Ranch had an early spring greeting with one of our Icelandic mares delivering an early filly. We named her Harpa which means harp. She plays a sweet tune while racing through our tall meadow grasses scattered with wildflowers. The swaths of yellow, white, pink and more can be seen from my office. Who says you have to leave home to find beauty?

Your garden surrounding your home can bring a wonderful sense of beauty any time of the year. The size is of no significance but the care the garden has been given plays a large part in how the garden rewards. Summer sun glistens on the petal of a rose as the early morning dew is sipped away. While fall winds blow some gardens overflow with wildly colored leaves to crunch beneath our feet. Winter gardens touched by a light snow fall can mimic a delicate lace as it graces a barren branch of a dogwood.

Just how do we find these wonderful gardens? Planting them is the most obvious answer. However, sometimes we are lucky enough to buy a home that has a beautiful garden. What if you have to start a new garden? What if you don’t know how to garden or find the existing garden daunting? Good garden advice is just an email away. The click of the keyboard, a telephone call, snail mail, a chat with a garden shop employee and of course hiring a garden expert all are ways to find out more about your garden. Today there are so many different plants on the market that it can make a new or even a seasoned gardener dizzy. How far apart, how tall or how short? Which ones go with what? When do they bloom? Sun or shade? Do I really want lots of fall leaves in my garden? There are many different questions we need to ask ourselves about our gardens. The one constant for any beautiful garden is care. A very important question you need to ask yourself is how often do you want to be caring for your garden?

Gardens need watering, feeding, pruning and of course weeding to make them lovely to look throughout the year. Last week I really get caught up in my garden weeding. I spent the first part of my weekend weeding and then we were off to Healdsburg to visit friends. My friend Paul reads my column and wanted to know if I really weeded prior to my arrival? You bet I did and showed him the weed stains on my bibs. We have a comfortable friendship that allows me to wear my garden clothes to their home which speeds my arrival since they live 4 hours away from our ranch.

Back to garden weeds. I promised to find some organic products to consider if you have juvenile weeds growing in your garden. Note I said juvenile as these products work well on top growth but don’t kill deep roots. Weed pulling is the only way to rid a plant filled garden with organic products as they are top kill only. Remember weed pulling is a mindless chore that can be good exercise for the person that pulls the weeds. The satisfaction of a weed cleared area is a wonderful feeling for any gardener.

Summerset has a product called Alldown. It kills broadleaf and grassy weeds because it dehydrates the leaves with a citric acid, garlic and vinegar base. This product is nonselective and does not know the difference if you use it on your pansies, petunias or zinnias. They can be considered broadleaf weeds and will melt away before your eyes along with unwanted weeds.

Quick is another product that is top kill only that is made from ammoniated fatty acid. These products will make your garden look as though someone torched the weeds if they are left to shrivel and die.

Corn Gluten is a slow release nitrogen fertilizer that acts as a pre-emergent which prevents seeds from germinating. It can be used in a flower bed, on a lawn and many other areas where weed seeds are a problem. However, if you plan on planting seeds or reseeding your lawn don’t use this product. Once again it is non-selective and kills any seeds that dare to dip their roots in the Corn Gluten based soil.