ACCORDING TO JOHN: These ARE the Good Days!
ACCORDING TO JOHN: Tree Pruning
According to John: Can Onions grow in Poor Soil?
According to John: Gardens are for People
John and Bob are huge proponents of gardening and gardens to make our lives better. Historically, no one advocated that sentiment better than well known landscape architect Thomas Church. He is best known for his focus on residential gardens which earned him widespread credit for being the creator of the modern California garden. His influence is felt well beyond California and epitomized by the title of his classic book “Gardens are for People”, which was originally published in 1955 and then reprinted several times after that. His focus on the needs and comfort of people and useful living spaces has been a concept we find inspirational and practical. [caption id="attachment_647" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Stanford University Student Union, design by: Thomas Church"][/caption] In “Gardens are for People,” Church elegantly dedicated an entire chapter to “garden terraces where you will use them.” He explained that the nature of these outdoor rooms should be determined by their use. “If it’s for shelling the peas it should be sheltered from the wind, if it’s for sleeping it should be quiet and if it’s for drinking, it should be level.” Level for drinking, I have found that to be great advice. Gardens that have spaces for the morning paper or coffee, talking to neighbors, waiting for a ride, tasting your home grown fruits and vegetables, special meals, or just restful enjoyment can dramatically improve the scope and use of our gardens. Gardens are for people and we believe the initial focus of garden design should be on making sure our needs for shelter, activity, shade, comfort, beauty, resource and cost conservation, links with nature, and maintenance provisions should be addressed with careful consideration. In doing so, we elevate the value of our gardens, our property and the opportunity for life fulfilling moments.
According to John: Proper Shrub Pruning
According to John: The myth of gypsum to improve your soil
During my travels around the country, visiting retail nurseries, I have been surprised at the lack of products offered that genuinely improve soil. Many times, nursery personnel indicate to me that they recommend and sell gypsum to customers that want a solution for hard, terrible soil. Gypsum is a very soft mineral, composed of hydrated calcium sulfate, often used in drywall and plaster and has, historically, been used as a soil amendment. My friend, radio gardening host John Bagnasco, after being asked on the air about using gypsum to improve soil, asked the caller “Do you like popcorn?” After receiving an affirmative answer he said, “Using gypsum to change your soil is like using a match to pop your popcorn: it will work but it will take about a hundred years.” Actually, John was being charitable; gypsum is generally not appropriate for most urban soils around the country. The one exception is heavy, clay, salty soil and even then, the benefits, when gypsum is used alone, are frustratingly slow. The real miracle workers in changing every kind of problem soil are provided by nature; these are the beneficial soil microbes of all kinds. Favorable bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes can change soil more effectively, efficiently and permanently than any other system. However, nature’s miracle workers are sensitive to damage by synthetic fertilizers and most garden chemicals. That is why many of our soils never get better, year after year. They remain hard, sandy, alkaline or acidic and lifeless. Traditional gardening techniques damage soil life with salty fertilizer and destructive fungicides and other chemicals. Some amendments, like gypsum, are ineffective and take too long to have any positive impact. My best recommendation is to build your soil life with organic amendments that feed plants and the soil. Good quality compost is full of beneficial soil life along with food and attractants for microbes. Our John & Bob’s GrowGreen System mimics the ingredients and benefits of high quality compost with a lot less work. John & Bob’s OPTIMIZE, PENETRATE, MAXIMIZE and NOURISH work together in a simple, effective, economical and comprehensive way to fundamentally improve problem soil. If you don’t want to wait a hundred years for productive soil, focus on infusing your soil with beneficial microbes, food for microbes and attractants for microbes. High quality compost and compost-based additives work much better than gypsum and should begin to produce soil improvement within two months. Improvements will be ongoing and cumulative as long as lively amendments continue to be added. Life in our soil is a natural phenomenon and an incredible ally as we work to be productive, healthy gardeners.
According to John: Tough Love for Trees
TOUGH LOVE IS BEST FOR HEALTHY, WELL BEHAVED TREES There is a lot of confusion and misinformation, when planting trees, regarding backfilling the planting hole with compost or other loose, rich, wood based planting mediums. Be tough, don’t do it. Planting holes should be backfilled with the same soil taken from the hole, even if soil conditions are poor. We can change that poor soil with gradual, long-term plant growth and establishment of complex microbial soil life. The best-studied arborists, soil scientists and horticultural professionals agree that amended backfill creates weakly rooted trees and plants that don’t want to leave the limits of the enriched hole. Instead, focus on using microbes, food for microbes and attractants for microbes (John & Bob’s products or equal) that won’t immediately change soil consistency and then mulch the top of the root ball and soil out to the limits of the tree canopy. Interfaces are created when divergent soil types come in contact with each other. Backfilled soil, with organic matter added, creates an interface with the native soil that roots and water have difficulty penetrating. Failure to penetrate these interfaces is a common cause of circling roots and unsuccessful long term establishment. The one exception to this is if you are attempting to plant relatively shallow-rooted, shade plants into hot, sunny locations. Plants like azaleas and Japanese maples will sunburn in hot locations, if not coddled with a rich backfill that keeps the roots cool during hot, stressful conditions. In doing so, you are purposely creating a soil container with special conditions that your plants will not root beyond. Planting holes should be dug no deeper than the height of the root ball. The point is to set the root ball on undisturbed soil to prevent settling. Nothing is worse for long term, healthy tree and plant establishment than subsidence of the root ball. So be tough, even if it appears you are planting on some type of hardpan layer, you should still plant on undisturbed soil. Make sure water will drain through, however; if it will not, then a deeper excavation or drilling through the hardpan layer is appropriate. The drilled holes should be thoroughly settled by using water and the passage of time. If the soil appears hard as concrete, but water will drain through, it is best to leave it undisturbed and plant right on top. It might hurt you, but it is the right thing to do. The soil hole should be dug 2-5 times the diameter of the root ball—the wider the better. Roots grow more quickly into loosened soil, thus speeding up the tree’s establishment period. Focus your well intentioned plant kindness of over excavation around the root ball, not under it. Be smart, be tough, don’t listen to your neighbors and your garden will eventually be healthy and successful.
April Newsletter