Ways I'm Showing My Landscape the Love This Year

by Katie Walker, CCMGA Master Gardener

 

My husband is the love of my life. When I’m not cursing pests or summer heat, my landscape takes second place (slightly ahead of tacos and my mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies). Like any meaningful relationship, the one we share – my landscape and me – takes work. So, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve written the ensuing love letter to my landscape in the form of several ways I promise to do better this year, to be a better partner for our mutual benefit. And although my landscape can’t exactly write me back, a bountiful blackberry harvest, a bunch of bright red cherry tomatoes and a summer full of zinnia bouquets would suffice as tokens of love in return.

So, Dear Landscape, here’s how I’m showing you the love this year:

Putting Lessons Learned into Action

We arrived at our home – my first home with a yard – in the fall of 2021. Even before we closed on the sale, my Notes app was open. My ramblings about prospective plants and projects for the yard morphed into copious notes. I documented plants that thrived through this season, and likewise, plants that didn’t. In just over four years, the list of lessons learned is long. It’s about time I did something with all that wisdom by shopping more mindfully. As spring approaches, I’ll head to the nurseries with more refined shopping lists, selecting plants based on what’s lasted longest or required the least pampering from experience. This is especially the case for my many containers and window boxes. For example, I’ll take the vincas, pentas, dichondras and sweet potato vines as my bullet-proof, go-to summer annuals, and I’ll forego the plants on my “naughty” list that didn’t make the cut. This will save money, water, time and frustration. After all, sometimes love means letting go of plants that aren’t worth the cost (ahem, fuchsias). If you’re new to gardening – or new to gardening in North Texas – taking notes will empower future you. Your microclimate, style and budget are unique. Whether you ramble in your Notes app or hand-write in a garden journal, use your notes to create your own Old Farmer’s Almanac specific to your space.

Adding More Compost and Mulch

In addition to documenting my go-to and never-again plant choices, I tend to note the general timing of when I complete important landscape tasks. For example, if I know when I planted tulip bulbs last year, I can adjust the timing this year, if necessary. One task I can’t do too early or too late is add compost and mulch to my landscape. The only wrong I can do in this regard is to not add them at all. So, this year the mantra is “more, more, more.” Amending soil with compost improves its structure, drainage and fertility. It can reduce erosion and the need for fertilizer. Likewise, mulch will retain moisture and insulate plants’ roots from temperature extremes. I intend to “invest” in my landscape with an application around tax time and to “treat” my landscape to another application around Halloween. This way, my landscape is prepped for the heat of summer and the cold snaps of winter. New plantings will get extra servings to help them get growing. It’s safe to say that the money I save by plant shopping more mindfully will go into my compost and mulch fund. I rely on locally sourced compost and mulch products. Sometimes love is messy – like spreading soil amendments. But to my landscape, those stinky bags are garden gold.

Treating My Trees

Like soil, trees often get less love than they deserve. We all enjoy their beauty, their shade and their fruits, but we often wonder why they fall or lose limbs when it’s windy, icy or dry. We fail to see that these gentle giants have needs too – needs which often get overlooked. That’s why this year I’m treating my trees to the attention they deserve with certified arborist care. One of the first and most beneficial projects we undertook as new homeowners was to have our red oak and live oak cabled. Mature and lovely, the red oak especially has a sculptural form that I fell in love with at first sight. It was the singular reason I decided to open the real estate listing (thankfully, the house turned out to be quite lovable, too). That sculptural form also lent itself to the risk of splitting and falling limbs – right onto said house. Enlisting a certified arborist to add cables as counterbalances for those potentially precarious limbs gave us peace of mind, and the cables reduce seasonal stress on our beloved trees. Further, our certified arborist gently prunes both trees each fall. I set a reminder to schedule them each September (another way my notes come in handy). They taught me not to prune between Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day to reduce the risk of oak wilt transmission. Sadly, though, we recently learned that our live oak suffers from Ganoderma rot, an incurable fungal disease, which it likely contracted during our complete sewer line replacement, when excessive digging in its vicinity left roots vulnerable to trauma. While this ultimately means we’ll have to say goodbye to our sweet live oak if its structure becomes unsound, we know it’s in excellent hands in the meantime. Our certified arborist does regular inspections, deep root feedings and a Ganoderma rot treatment meant to slow disease progression and prolong healthy life. If you have trees, treat them to certified arborist services. They’re worth every penny.

Practicing Patience

Is it spring yet? How about now? After the happy holiday season, I suffer from the wintertime woes, anxiously awaiting warmer temperatures and the sight of buds on early bloomers. In my impatience, I’ve been known to cut back and clean up winter waste prematurely. This quest for a pristine palette makes me overlook the possibility of late freezes, during which the extra insulation from last year’s foliage protects fresh foliage. Similarly, dead plant material often serves as a snug shelter for pollinators waiting out the winter. Disturbing or disposing of it too soon may mean killing or displacing beneficial insects. These are compelling reasons to wait to cut back and clean up. It may not look particularly pleasant in March, but it’s best for plant and pollinator survival. That’s why this year I’m less about perfection and more about patience. As I get older (and more tired), perhaps this wisdom is a gift for both my landscape and for me, allowing us both to use our energy where – and when – it matters most. So, until the time is right, you’ll see me sitting tight.

 

 

Being Better to the Birds

Speaking of energy, I can channel that wintertime restlessness into loving my backyard birds. According to the National Audubon Society, more than 100 bird species supplement their natural diets with food offered at feeders. This is especially true during the winter months when food sources, like insects, seeds and berries, are scarce. Providing nutritious seeds and fats helps birds use energy to keep warm rather than to hunt down food. While feeding the birds is certainly a worthwhile effort, folks often fail at one crucial component: bird feeder hygiene. I admit my own failure in this area. Feeding is the fun, easy part. Cleaning? Not so much. But regularly emptying and disinfecting bird feeders are “cardinal” tasks when it comes to preventing the spread of disease. Likening my bird feeder to a cruise ship buffet makes it easier to warrant regular cleaning – of course, I don’t want my guests to get sick on my watch! My backyard birds tend to empty their “buffet” every week or so this time of year. That’s a good time to dispose of excess feed in the trash and scrub the bird feeder with warm, soapy water before refilling it. Every other week, I’ll soak it in a solution of one-part white vinegar to one-part water in addition to the preceding practices. And when spring arrives? The same idea applies to my bird bath. I’ll empty and refill it every other day to keep things fresh and mosquitoes at bay. And when my nearby crape myrtles muck it up? I’ll scrub it with one-part white vinegar and nine-parts water. I’m hopeful that my added attention to their nutrition and safety will encourage more feathered friends to visit – more for me to love.

Cleaning and Caring for My Tools

The themes of the last two segments, patience and cleanliness, join forces in this one. This year, I plan to dedicate more patience to cleaning and caring for my tools. They work hard for my plants and for me. I owe them the same effort. Quality tools aren’t cheap. They’re meant to last – some for a lifetime – with a little TLC once a season (at least). When we became homeowners, I bought and received many tools as gifts. That’s been over four years. I’m exiting my era of shiny new tools and recognizing the value of maintaining them as well as the frustration of not (looking at you, dull pruners). So, this year I intend to assess what needs to be done and take the time to do it. That means opting for quality sharpening, rust removal and regular sanitation. As Master Gardeners, we often bring our tools from garden to garden when we volunteer. This gives pests and pathogens a vehicle to hitch a ride. Not only are clean tools efficient tools, but they’re also safe tools for our precious plants. Sanitizing between uses, even if your tools never leave your yard, can literally mean the difference between life and death in the landscape. Recall my live oak’s Ganoderma rot? It’s a case in point and a devastating reality: I’m told the infection likely came from dirty excavation equipment. So, for now, you can find me tending to my tools as I gear up to garden.

Taking Care of Me

What’s my most valuable tool? Well, it’s me! I’m no exception to the spirit of the last segment (though I refuse to believe I’m “rusty” yet). This year, I’m being more mindful of my well-being outdoors. I’m known to spend most of the daylight hours in the landscape on any given Sunday, April through October. Since I work full-time all week, being a weekend warrior is my only option. Although rewarding, those long, laboring days wear me out. Frankly, last year they burned me out, and the last thing I want is to resent the second love of my life. That’s why this year I’ll say it again: I’m less about perfection and more about patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither do all my pots need to be planted and coiffed as soon as spring has sprung. I’ll take it slow and take breaks – a formerly foreign concept – aside from when my husband would bribe me with an ice-cold beverage, encouraging me to sit for a few sips. I’ll hydrate with intention this year, and I’ll simply stop working when it’s scorching. I’ll wear my wide-brimmed hat and high UPF fishing shirts. And I’ll work underneath my lightweight, portable umbrella – bought specifically for that purpose. With a family history of melanoma and a few of my own suspicious spots removed at an early age, sun protection isn’t something to skimp on. You have to love yourself before you can love someone else, as they say, so here’s to more self-love, sanity and safety this year.

When things get tedious, I’ll remember: in loving my landscape, I’m loving myself and my family better, too. Exercise, time in nature and fresh produce do the body, mind and soul a lot of good. And although my landscape causes me heartache (and bug bites) at times, the joy and wonder it brings to my life keep me coming back – and always will.

With that, I wish you a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Roses are red, violets are blue; may you have an everlasting love with your landscape too!