The Home Front: Now's the time to start planning for spring planting
Credit to Author: rebeccakeillor| Date: Sat, 29 Feb 2020 14:02:11 +0000
We often hear about the therapeutic benefits of gardening. That it gets you outdoors, into the fresh air, is meditative in practice, physical in nature and rewarding when you reap what you sow. Master gardener Stephanie Rose, author of blog Garden Therapy and her just released book Garden Alchemy goes one step further. Gardening saved her life, she says.
In 2006, Rose says she was struck with a debilitative illness that left her bedridden for over a year, with paralysis in her arms and legs. When she regained some movement she began reading books on gardening, borrowed from her local library, and contemplating her East Vancouver backyard.
Herb planter
“I went outside and sat and looked at the plants, and looked at the soil and thought I’m going to recover out here,” she says.
Five minutes of gardening a week turned into five minutes a day and when she finally recovered from her illness — which took years — Rose says she realized she didn’t want to stop gardening or writing about it. She wanted to help others experience the same benefits she has.
“Even if someone is just feeling the winter blues, or having a bad day, or experiencing grief, loss or mental illness, it can be helped by playing with plants,” she says.
Rose is drawn to plants that have healing properties, she says, although she believes all plants are healing.
“Instead of planting ornamental perennial plants, trees and shrubs, I’m including plants that have either medicinal, culinary or skin care benefits, she says. So lots of different types of herbs, like four different types of calendulas, four different types of camomiles, and different types of stevia plants,” she says.
Hydrangeas in the garden of Stephanie Rose.
February and March are the best months to start planning for spring planting, whether you have an acreage or patio to work with, says Janis Matson, of Shoreline Landscape Design.
You have to be careful not to rip into the soil while it’s still cold or saturated (from rainfall) as you can do root damage, but preparing the soil, by adding fertilizers or manure, can be done at any time, she says. And though many people are tempted to pull everything dead looking out of their gardens, and start over, it is actually worth waiting to see what plants will come back to life given a bit of time.
About 50 to 75 per cent of plants will come back to life, says Matson. “A lot of people see black leaves and think the plant is dead. I don’t want them to think that yet. Wait until April and see if any of that green comes back. The roots will be established.”
March is also a good time to visit the nursery.”Most of the nurseries start getting in their fresh stock by the end of March, beginning of April, so let’s say for example you want to create an English cottage garden, it’s an ideal time for selection. Fruit trees and small fruits like strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apples, they start coming in late March and April, so for selection it’s a good time,” she says.
Potting soil tests
Though this is also the time people traditionally want to clean up their gardens, says Rose, by disposing of any fallen foliage, leaves or garden waste, it is actually better for your garden if you leave it; following a more “regenerative” model.
“Nature has intended these plants drop their leaves and compost in place to feed the soil so the next generation of plants can grow. If we learn to do it that way we’re going to garden with a lot less work and a lot more success and a lot less stress. It’ll cost less money, take less time and we’ll also have much more beautiful gardens,” she says.