Author: martwbuck

Originally posted – October 1, 2020

Mulching in the fall has a number of benefits. It provides insulation for the plant roots and supports the soil food web including worms and microbes. It will help to enrich the soil for the spring. Two other positive factors is that the weather is ideal for working outside and it reduces the need to get it done early in the spring. This last point was a factor over the past few years when rain and cold made spring mulching difficult. By mulching in the fall, it will provide more flexibility in the spring.
At this point, there are only a few areas that need a thick layer, most of the other areas will just be topped off. My goal is to have between 2 to 3 inches of mulch. Much of the garden has between 1 and 2 inches. Much of the preparation work has already been completed.
Ten yards of triple ground mulch arrived. I was hoping to get double ground, but the supplier was out and only had the triple ground natural…which was fine.

One additional task that was completed prior to applying the new mulch was removing some of the decretive bagged mulch that I had applied during the summer to fill a few spots around a few added plantings. This mulch is really more for decorative purposes in that it does not break down quickly and maintains it appearance. Good for use in areas where one is not looking to improve the soil, but not as much for the garden. In fact, this mulch had not integrated at all into the soil and was pretty easy to remove. However in hindsight, I would not have applied it at all. It did nothing to help the soil outside of prevent weed growth.

We were not able to get all of new mulch in place in one weekend, but did get about half of the load applied. The remaining mulch took a few weeks longer.

Originally Posted – September 15, 2020

Rocks are a nice landscape feature that can add contrast to your plants and the soil. I like the look of the garden with local rocks (rocks originating from the surrounding area) and have added them into the garden over the past year. And while rocks can be added any time you happen upon them, I think Fall is a great time for rock addition. For one, when it is cold, you can hunt for them with less risk of encountering snakes or spiders. Secondly, you can add them in the garden when your plants are still visible, allowing for better placement. Finally, it give you a project to work on during this time of year.

There really is no magic to placement.  I have placed them directly on the soil after sweeping back the mulch.

Digging them down into the soil gives the appearance that they were already there.

Rocks can also have functional purposes.  I have added these to provide a step when filling the bird bath.

And these were added to the hill area to allow for easier weeding (although it looks like I need to do some weeding). And here, these flat rocks serve as a place to put potted plants. You will note the fine gravel around the rocks. I found it is better to dig out the soil and use gravel fines for easier placement and weed control.

Adding large rocks can help to reduce the amount of weeding.  I added these rocks in a spot that was more of a hassle to work in terms of planting versus weeding (It is more stable than it looks.)

The rocks in our area are primarily sandstone, which can be pretty heavy.  I use a hand truck for moving them from the car to the placement location.  It is a good idea to wash them, or at least brush them off, before placement int the garden.  Soils on the rocks can carry seeds from weeds.

I get many of my rocks from a dry-fill site close to the house.  It is exciting to find that certain rock that not only fits the site or application, but also has some character.

September 21, 2020

I wanted to use this blog as a way to track bird sightings over time. Over the weekend, birds were tracked at various points over the course of the two days. I use a pair of Nikon Monarch 5 binoculars to spot and the Audubon bird app on my phone to track and help identify.
Bird Sightings
In addition to the House Sparrows, here are the birds I was able to identify in yard over the past two days.

• House Finch
• American Goldfinch
• Northern Cardinal
• Blue Jay – a pair were at the feeder….there are many in the local area, but do not get them coming to the feeders frequently.
• American Robin – first sighting in over a month now that the lawns have turned green again. With this area being unusually dry resulting in the grass turning brown, the Robins seemed to have moved onto better worm picking areas.
• Mourning Dove
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown headed Cowbird
• Black-capped Chickadee
• American Crows – we have 4 crows that are normally around. The beauty of them being around is they keep the Cooper’s Hawk away from the feeders. So we taken up to throwing out some bread or crackers from time to time.
  The bees were still active around the flowers, but no butterflies.

Weather

This weekend we experienced the first frost of the year, actually occurring each of the last three mornings. This is a bit unusual to have frost this early at the lower elevations in Central PA. From a historical perspective, this first frost is roughly two weeks early.

Day time temperature was in the low to mid 60s…also a bit cool for the last days of summer. But no complaints, the weather was beautiful with blue skies.

So what is the difference between a frost and a freeze. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, “A frost refers to the conditions that allow a layer of ice crystals to form when water vapor condenses and freezes without first becoming dew. Frost may happen when the “surface” air temperature (officially measured at 4 or so feet above ground) is below 36 degrees F.”

A freeze occurs when the temperatures fall to 32 or below, and there are varying degrees of freeze.

• Light freeze – between 32F and 29F
• Moderate or Hard Freeze – 28F to 25F
• Severe Freeze – 24F or below

Plants can generally survive a frost because the temperature of the ground is still warm enough to protect the plants. The upper extremities of the plants can be damaged however, especially for more sensitive plants (those with higher zone ratings).

Originally posted – September 20, 2020

There are a number of benefits of mulching in the Fall including providing protection to the plant roots and reducing early weed development in the spring.   For me, I have time now and the weather seems to be pretty good.  In years past, I have been delayed in getting mulch in due to poor weather.  So I have decided to mulch this Fall.  Plus I have a few areas that need mulch anyway due to recent plantings.

Most advise of maintaining about 3 inches of mulch.   Most areas of this garden are currently between 1 and 2 inches, while other areas are bare, while other areas have more.  

One of the first tasks will be to break up the mulch mat that has developed over the summer.  This mat prevents water from getting to the soil.  For that, I purchased a a garden weasel cultivator (about $30).  In the past, I had used a cultivator rake, but after watching YouTube video of someone suggesting the use of the garden weasel,  I had to give it a shot.

I have to say, this tool works great for breaking-up and aerating the mulch.
I will also have to weed the garden prior to mulching.  Since I constantly weed the garden, this should be an easy task.  On another video I watched, a gardener shared that he patrols his garden and pulls the weeds at first sight, that way, he never has to have a day long weeding task.  By getting that weed as it starts, it never has a chance to solidly root itself.   So I have practiced this all summer long, and indeed, it is so much easier to manage weeds.

The other task will be to straighten up some of the garden boundaries.    For example, this boundary is too close to the plants, plus it requires an extra pass of the mower when cutting the lawn.  So this edge will be expanded to have more of a straight line.

Then the area around the spicebushes will have to be mulched.  I dug a trench around the two spicebush plants.  I put that dug-up material back in the area that will be mulched to increase the soil level.  I had to plant the bushes a little higher to start with due to the shallow depth of the top soil above the hard clay substrate.  I plan to cover this middle area with cardboard immediately prior to mulching in order to prevent the grass from growing into the mulch.

At this point, I am not exactly sure when I will mulch, but I have enough preparation work to do over the next few weekends.  Plus I may consider a few additional plantings.  Some experts have suggested waiting until the plants are all done for the season, but my thought is to do it before that so that I can keep the mulch lower in between the same plants to allow for better self seeding there, but hopefully reduce in areas between different plants.

 Originally posted – September 20, 2020

A few days away from the beginning of Fall, and the Maximillian sunflower is in full bloom.  Standing at 10 foot, its height is a bit disproportionate for the other plants in the new garden,.  However, it is great to have the amount of color it brings.  Standing close to it, it is like a buzz saw with bee activity.

Technically, this plant is native to the Great Plains States, but has been naturalized in the eastern part of the country.  It does well in clay soils, which is perfect for this garden.The plants spreads by seeds and by rhizomes, so it will need to be controlled do it does not take over the garden.

Maximilian sunflower – Helianthus maximilianiType: Herbaceous perennial

Family: Asteraceae

Native Range: Missouri and Texas to southern Canada

Zone: 4 to 9

Height: 3.00 to 10.00 feet

Spread: 2.00 to 4.00 feet

Bloom Time: August to September

Bloom Description: Yellow rays with darker yellow center disk

Sun: Full sun

Water: Dry to medium

Maintenance: Medium

Suggested Use: Naturalize

Flower: Showy

Attracts: Birds, Butterflies

Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Erosion, Clay Soil, Dry Soil, Shallow-Rocky Soil

Source – Missouri Botanical Garden http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=261947&isprofile=1&gen=Helianthus

Originally posted – September 17, 2020

From time to time a plant shows up in your garden that you did not plant. You have then to decide whether it is worth keeping or better to remove. Certainly with an invasive species, the decision to remove it easy.

This week, a nice looking flower unexpectedly popped up and I was on the fence on whether to yank it or let it go. Using my ‘Picture This’ app on my cellphone (overpriced app, but handy), I determined it was tickseed sunflower (aka bearded beggarticks, long-bracted beggarticks) or botanically Bidens aristosa. (Let’s just go with tickseed sunflower since that seems easier, and nicer, than calling it bearded beggarticks. That sounds more like something that crawls up in your gotchies.)
Interestingly enough, I just had a conversation with my sister, a Penn State Master Gardener and native plant guru, about this plant. She indicated that it can spread quickly in the garden through self-seeding, much like ox eye daisies. She indicated that these were much easy to remove if you don’t like their placement. But some do consider this an invasive species. (Why would we be having a conversation about this plant?)
I will let this plant stay and see where it takes us.
Tickseed sunflower (aka bearded beggarticks, long-bracted beggarticks) – Bidens aristosa.
Distribution – Eastern US
Plant height – 3 to 6 foot
Bloom – Summer through fall
Bloom color – yellow
Growth – Fast
Light – Full sun
Moisture – medium to wet
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=biar

 A great feature of a native garden is that plants bloom at different times of the growing season.  Coming into fall, the garden continues to produce some great sights.  Here are a few late summer / early fall blooms.

The fencing is used to keep the rabbits from eating the plant.

Originially posted September 11, 2020

This past week, two Northern Spicebush shrubs (Lindera benzoin) were added.  I was interested in these plants for a few reasons.  One, as a screen along on side of the house.  Secondly, they are the host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar.  The soil dept was a bit shallow in this part of the yard, so I had to build it up a bit using the turf and garden soil amendments.  I will also mulch around the plants, but will do it later as part of a broader mulching this Fall.

Northern Spicebush – Lindera benzoin

• Zones 4 to 9
• Sun to partial sun/shade
• Height –  6 to 12 feet high
• They grow in moist soil, and can tolerate drought conditions.
• Leaves have a spicy aroma when crushed.
• Spicebush is the host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars.

https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/spicebushhttps://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=libe3

Originally posted September 10, 2020

The last sighting of hummingbirds in our yard here in Central PA was Sunday, September 6, 2020.

Overall, we had a low, but continual visitation to one feed. In late spring and early summer, there was minimal activity, and it wasn’t until I changed from purchased sugar water to homemade sugar water that we saw more action at the feeder. While there was some additional work required, it paid off. I used a 4 parts water / 1 part sugar blend and it was made fresh every 3 days.

Bees were generally not an issue this year, at least not until the end of August. I did move the feeder around in the yard, and this seemed to prevent a mass gathering of bees as I’ve experienced in teh past. So next year, I will plan to go with making my own syrup blend. For now, I will clean out the feeder.

Originally posted Sept 10, 2020

• Water requirements are more manageable – The fall is not as hot and there is less worry for the new plants becoming heat stressed.   In addition, water requirements are shortened in that the plants will soon become dormant as the temperatures drop.
• Ready for Spring – Plants are already in the ground when Spring comes around, so they are ready to being the growing process.
• One can take advantage of discounted pricing – Many garden centers will have end-of-the-season sales and clearances.  While the types of plants available for sale may be limited, one should be able to find something they like in order to get their garden started.
• Start your foundation – Get plants that can serve as the foundation of your new garden.

Last fall, September of 2019, I decided to start a native garden in my yard.   There were some major benefits to beginning the process during this time of the year.  The garden space ended up being larger than initially planned. But in the end, the size will depend on the space you have available as well as the time you have for maintaining.  The key is getting it started.

I focused on getting shrubs in the fall that would serve as foundation plants for my garden.  At this time, I was not certain of the exact size of the garden, but knew the rough boundaries.  I ended up with 7 shrubs and a Dogwood tree.

• Winterberry
• Ninebark
• Summersweet (2)
• Blueberry
• Snowberry
• White Dogwood
• Arrowwood Viburnum

 A little later in the Fall, I added additional shrubs.  (Of course I had to expand my initial garden borders.)

• Black chokeberry
• Red chokeberry
• Serviceberry
• Viburnum Witherod
• Winterberry (male)

I am happy to say that all survived the summer and provided a nice springboard into the Spring plantings.
Notes:

• Ample space was made between the plants to allow for growth.
• This location get 6+ hrs of sun, and the soil has a high clay content, so plants were chosen with that in mind.
• The soil around the plant root ball was amended, but not the entire garden space.  Rather, after planting, the entire growing area was mulched using cardboard to cover and eliminate the grass (I did have to re-mulch the area in the spring where some grass did poke through.)