THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com
42 | Saturday, April 12, 2014
GARDENING
With Sereba Agiobu-Kemmer
sereba.agiobu.kemmer@ngrguardiannews.com
For orderliness, formal garden design on 3-level raised bed.
A water-wise landscape with Italian cypress, lavender, other herbs, boldly colored plants to create a Mediterranean style garden.
For orderliness, formal garden design on 3-level raised bed.
Knowing soil texture determines which plants will grow and how much care they will need.
Contemporary, Minimalist landscape design.
Tropical garden with pool and low maintenance plants.
New border bed mulched with twice shredded bark.
Flower Border-brick bed edging for smart landscape and pleasure. About Soil OOD soil is the first step to a great garden. The loose, dark earth of the fabulous gardens seen in magazines doesn’t usually just happen however it is created by gardeners improving their native soils. The biggest mistake beginning gardeners make is using lousy or too thin soil. Its easy to take soil for granted. Many of us find a flower we want to plant, dig a hole, plop the flower in the hole, and assume it will grow. While this might work if you have excellent soil, most of us need to alter our dirt to create the most optimum growing environment. If you are planning to fill your garden bed with roses, you may need some special soil techniques in your arsenal to create the garden oasis you’ve always dreamed of. This prep work can save you untold disappointment and, perhaps more than any other factor, assure a flourishing garden. Luckily, following the tips will make you an expert on soil in no time. Soil techniques Preparing A Garden Bed To properly prepare a planting bed, mark the flower bed boundaries with pegs and string for straight edges and with a garden hose for curved lines. Cut throughout lines the sod
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Patio cottage garden
Preparing Garden Soil along laid out lines with a spade. Remove the sod from the entire bed. If the area is rocky, remove as many stones as possible as you dig. If the soil is sandy or loamy, you may be able to rototill the soil rather than handturning it. Clay and rocky soils require hand digging first. For a small planting area, did and break up the soil by hand or with a spade. After the soil is turned, rototilling will be possible. (Rototillers can be rented by the day, and its often possible to hire someone to come and till by the hour, if you don’t have a tiller of your own.) Next, spread the necessary fertilizer, soil conditioners, and
Underplanting of poppies and pansies as mulch in a mixed rose bed. pH-adjusting chemicals over the area. Tilling is easy once the soil is turned. You should be able to till more deeply the second time, ideally, you want to loosen and improve the soil to a depth of more than 6 inches. Turn and loosen soil by hand with a spade where the area is too small to require a tototiller. After this initial treatment, fertilizers, soil conditioners, and pH – adjusting chemicals will be added at different times of the year for best results for best results. Now is the perfect time to install some kind of mowing strip around the garden bed Patio squares or slate pieces laid end to end at ground level will keep grass and flowers from intermixing. Other options include landscape logs, poured concrete strips, or bricks laid side-by-side on a sand or concrete base. The mowing strip must be deep and wide enough so grassroots cannot tunnel underneath or travel across the top to reach the flower bed, and the top of the strip must not extend above the level of the adjacent lawn. If possible allow the soil to stand unplanted for a week or more. Stir the surface 1 or 2 inches every three to four days with a scuffle hoe or cultivator to eradicate fast germinating weeds. This will make your weeding chores lighter during the rest of the season.