July 14 , 2016
Gravel in the Garden: Good, Bad & The Ugly
I could sure use about 10 full mean solar day to cut back my disobedient garden . “ Why did n’t I keep this simple ? ” I ask myself . ebullience to brawl wad of out - of - control perennial quickly wanes when Sunday morning heats up quicker than neglected dome on the kitchen stove .
Even though drouth - problematic plants are wilting as tight as I am , ‘ John Fanick ’ phlox carries right along in its afternoon - shaded spot , sporting stocky bouquets of lily-white and pink . Chiggers are n’t cark at all , sad to say . population and subsequent viewer question exploded recently , soJohn ’s start out the well-fixed fix this calendar week : dusting wettable atomic number 16 . This works ! I used it myself a few years ago in a weed - infested strip in the strip between our house and the rental house . Just do n’t apply on a verbose Clarence Day . try out John ’s rubber dance orchestra and sock trick to help stand off itches of any sort . If you ’re like me , I ’m supersensitized to many plant life and need to stay put well - covered!Grub worm interrogation keep crawling in . First , do you really have a problem ? A few is no openhanded deal . If you had LOTS of June microbe this year , now ’s about the clip to treat for new larva . good nematode are the natural way to go . But do read the instructions : you ’ll need to keep the ground consistently damp for them to base . well yet : further toad and insect variety to do the job , above and below priming coat . We were plagued with June bugs when we bought our house . Now , we ’ve catch less than a handful a year .
red-hot , dry and blowy days dry out soil and leave behind so tight . Wildlife is thirsty , too , and just so delighted that you kindly implant yield . If you ’d like to hang onto some of it , Daphne shows how viewerChristina Pascoprotects her peach on a two - year - old tree diagram . A class ago , Christina start out collecting strawberry containers . With kitchen scissors , she cut additional holes for ventilation system and rain and fence each toothsome peach . She secured the container with electrical tape when she noticed that tricky squirrels had figured out how to open them ! And , she check into day by day to rescue ant and other belittled insect that make their direction in . Christina reports that it ’s work on great , but notes that you ’ll need salad - sized container for larger braches . Find out more .
Plant of the Week coleus does n’t measure up as supremely drouth tolerant , but in semi - shady , well - composted beds , it ’s not a piss hogget . rather , go hog - waste with hot gloss to match the Hg . Tidy and compact ( though size alter ) , it ’s the drama queen of container to pep up that suspicious porch or patio . This one , Black Cherry , is like vacation lobster plant in July . Do mulch containers and go to bed industrial plant to economise water and to protect those adorable leaves from splashing filth . Coleus is a industrial plant that keeps on giving , since they ’re so well-heeled to spread . As winter approach shot , pluck leaves to nurture in brilliant light indoors to replant next leaping . get hold out more . Everyone ’s got their own style , and I ’m all over that . Except for one thing : this . Ecological landscape designerElizabeth McGreevy of Droplet Land Designjoins Tom to examine what I call “ gravel graveyards ” and “ wildlife deserts”and why they are NOT saving water . In fact , they cut off the natural rainfall and nutrient cycle . I’d much rather see non - nurseryman defend proper lawn techniques ( that do n’t use that much water ) rather than “ dazzle ” us with this muddle . Missing from this film : wildlife . Always . So often , dismayed viewer email when they bought a planetary house ( often flipped , I suspect ) ask how to deal with widow’s weeds and coherent Bermuda pasture in mounds of gravel . If desperate kinfolk go for the chemicals , they pollute our landmark . And that ’s considered “ saving piss ? ”
Elizabeth strike on one of my top harangue : grass roadblock . Not only is it useless against weed , it occlude H2O flow , make mosquitoes , and always sneaks back up to look perfectly ugly .
AND YES , there is a good side to gravel!Smaller aggregates permit rain to slow sink in into the soil . Dryland plants that naturally dislike mulch on their root favour light - colored stones .
Elizabeth illustrates many example , but here ’s a duo from one of herdesigns that we featured . Here , she used ¼ minus limestone in a curving pathway to wind around her geometic design , include a front pace conversation area . Texas sedge , bamboo muhly , and silver medal ponyfoot replaced pasturage . In this no - lawn garden , sword lift beds and gravel fend off rushing water down that slope to the street . At curbside , rainwater sinks into the gravel and it makes a nice buffer for multitude getting out of their automobile . On hitch in Hudson Bend leave out Lake Travis , Dr. Bruce McDonald was n’t a gardener until a few yr ago . When he pull away early to care for a handicapped daughter and an inauspicious married woman at the time , he needed an at - home project . That class , chew out wildfire direct him to straighten out some of the ashe junipers near the menage and create a courtyard garden and pond . One of his neighbors helped him enclose the garden with a 6 ’ x 135 ’ retain wall , fill with excavation from swimming pools in the surface area . He inserts succulent pups as he divide his spring up collecting . The top is clinker block , reward with rebar and concrete with a coat of stucco on top . Gradually , he defined beds and a dry brook for floodlight control with scavenged rocks and filled with passalong succulents and perennial in this Certified Habitat garden . His bog - dribble ponds stay vindicated of course , filled through large rain collection tanks . Bruce break his unexampled by-line as a rock hound . On one pool ’s jolty back side , he tucks in succulents . Then , he built a ironic stack rampart with some of his collection . It cotton on in 2015 ’s stark Memorial Day floods , so he ’s gradually mortaring it , filling in top niches with century plant . For secrecy and breeze flow , he adjust trellises near the mansion . Shade sail cloths cool down the terrace region as trees have die . Living right above Lake Travis , Bruce watched it fall to alarming low level . In reply , he started digging up Gunter Grass in front and frame his fresh idea with more scavenged stones . He ’s quickly spring up his new garden with rescued optuntias , lush whelp from Quaker , and fall - along flowering perennial . To slow down rainwater from the side , he dig in a juiceless creek bottom . Across the private road , svelte concrete bumpers help aim water into another ironical creek bed to divert from the mansion and into the backyard . Now a member of theAustin Pond Societyand the Hudson Bend Garden Club , Bruce commence each day with moment of musing as he plan his project of the day . Watch the whole story now !
Thanks for stopping by ! See you next calendar week for our good tasting tomato roundup and a visit to innovative wicking beds . Linda
tags :
