GARDENER'S READING ROOM
The Art of Gardening

Grade Your Garden

Back to school time for kids is also "grading" time for gardeners. If winter is the time to dream of and plan your perfect garden, fall is the time to fill out the report card on the garden you have.

As you clean up this year, take the time to look at both what you did new this year and at beds that have been "finished" for a while. How are things working?

In the new beds, did you get the spacing right? Do you like the textures? Did everything survive? Can you see in front of you the picture you had in your head? Fall is a great time to answer these questions and jot down a few notes about things you may want to "tweak" or problems you may need to address. Another great fall task for your new planting areas is making a map and/or doing some tagging - before perennials go dormant for the winter and bulb foliage disappears. There is nothing more embarrassing than forgetting exactly where you planted something - and killing this year's treasure when you plant next year's find!

In your established beds, similar questions can be asked. Is the spacing still right or are things becoming crowded? Is the scale still right? Are some of the trees and shrubs beginning to get large enough to shade out plants requiring more sun? (A very common phenomenon as gardens mature is for sun gardens to turn into shadier ones....) Also, are trees growing to the point that you need to establish an interstory to keep everything connected? A baby coral bark maple may look great with groundcovers planted around it - the same tree at 15 tall might benefit from some shrubs tying it to the rest of the landscape. Has anything died? What things will require winter pruning? Do you still like the planting? Does it still "work"? Was there any season that was boring? What, if anything, would you change?

So as you're doing your fall cleanup this year, fill out your own garden report card and keep it handy. That way, when winter comes you'll have something to dream about!

By Charlie Shull
Skylights Autumn 2005 Vol. 19, No. 3

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