Fertilizers
Understanding your fertilizer label and what the various components do for your plants is very helpful when maintaining a perennial garden. Nitrogen promotes leaf and stem growth. Nitrogen causes rapid growth and a rich green color. Too much nitrogen causes weak stems and floppy leaves in perennials.
Phosphorous promotes root growth, as well as flower and seed production. Phosphorous cause flowering plants to bloom more. Phosphorous is the most important component of a fertilizer for perennials. It can be organically obtained from bone meal, which should be spread at a rate of 3-6 pounds per 100 square feet.
Potash or potassium helps plants to ward off disease, stabilizes growth and intensifies color. Potash also promotes root growth, general well-being and winter hardiness. Potash can be organically obtained by spreading a thin layer of wood ash on the surface of the soil and then tilling it in.
Once you have improved your soil, it is better to underfertilize your perennials than to overfertilize them. The organic material you enriched it with will supply a slow steady diet of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other trace elements. Just fertilize them once a year, in the spring, when they are beginning that year’s growth.
The Most Important Gardening Tools
It is completely unnecessary to stock your garage with every type of tool you can find in your local garden shop. In fact, all you really need is five tools, six if you have clay. That’s it! You don’t need a different tool for every job. However, when you purchase these tools, emphasize quality. In other words, don’t buy cheap tools, they break and you will waste your valuable time and money replacing them.
The Pitchfork:
I cannot tell you enough times to purchase a pitchfork when you are planning to do perennial gardening. Utilizing a pitchfork insures that you are using the fastest, deepest method of tilling the soil under. It is also very useful for breaking up the soil.
The Pickax:
The pickax is especially useful when you are trying to break up heavy clay or rooty soils. You will find that it will easily rip through the poorest of soils, allowing you to add the appropriate materials. Once you have chopped the soil up thoroughly with your pickax and added the appropriate additives, such as humus, you can use your pickax to till it all together.
The Shovel:
This is an obvious tool if you plan to use it to plant large perennials or anything large in your yard.
The Pruners:
Pruners are essential because you will use them to “deadhead” your perennial garden, cut flowers for display or to dry, and later you will use them to cut your garden back in the fall. Once again, spend the extra money to purchase a good pair of pruners that will stay sharp and cut easily. We recommend Corona Comfortgrip© pruners.
The Garden Trowel:
You will spend a lot of time with your garden trowel if you plan to be a perennial gardener. Once again, we recommend the Corona Comfortgrip© garden trowel. It is important to use a high-quality trowel so it won’t break when you are digging in clay soils and so you can use it to break up clods of dirt. A cheap trowel will bend and break and infuriate even the most patient of people.
The Hose:
In addition to its obvious purpose of watering, the hose is very helpful when utilized in the making of perennial island beds and pathways. When making a path, lay the curve of the path with a garden hose and then use a string to lay at the other side of the path.
The easiest way to give a perennial bed a graceful edge is to lay out the shape you want with a garden hose. Before you utilize the hose in this manner, we would recommend that you stretch it out in the sun for a day to get all the curves and kinks from storage out of it, and then use it to form your perennial beds or pathway while it is still warm and you will get the best curves.
These six tools, the pitchfork, pickax, shove, pruners, trowel, and hose are all that are required to easily maintain your perennial gardens. You can add a wheelbarrow if you have a compost pile etc.
