Planning for some landscape changes this year?
Balance is one of the main principles of landscaping design if not the most important one! This one key principle is often why the professionally installed landscape looks so great. Landscapers know!
There are different areas within your landscape to consider and nearest the house should get your primary attention. Calculate the size of trees when they are mature. Ask yourself: Do they have the potential to balance out the visual weight and size with your house? Are the trees not only in balance with the height of the house, but the amount of volume they take up verses the remaining open space? And be sure to plant a mix of deciduous and evergreens.
Assuming the house is somewhat centered in your yard area, are there somewhat equal amounts of shrubs and trees on each side of the house? That’s your big picture to consider. Then look at your home and the foundation plantings, or lack thereof. This is a smaller perspective, but are they in balance? Is there visual weight on both sides? (I have no foundation plantings and it works perfect for my setting.)
In a formal design, which is less common these days, you would have an exact match on either side of the sidewalk or center of the house, AKA symmetrical. Visual balance can be created with items other than plants such as pergolas, arches, fences, gates and other structures.
On the ground level, you should also apply the principle of balance to where your garden space is located. Having the correct balance even applies to an individual garden bed. Balance the size of the garden(s) with your overall space or yard. Beds should be at least six feet wide to have an impact (unless they are up against a wall or fence). Choose the correct plants for your sun, wind, soil and climate conditions. Taller plants should be to the backside of your usual visual perspective. If you would normally view it from all sides, such as an island bed, then the taller plants should be in the middle of the bed.
Choose spring, summer and fall bloomers for continuous interest. Naturally, your flower beds should also have a balance of textures, leaf shapes and plant structure. Think more about the foliage and less about the flowers as the foliage is there all season and the flowers are fleeting! Avoid the hodge podge garden — one of everything. The worst.
Your best visual impact comes from repetition and large color masses to create the “Wow!” effect. Rule of thumb is to plant in odd number groups of 3,5, or 7. Large or unique plants referred to as specimen plants are often used by themselves. Use your color closer to the house; don’t let those beauties fade away at the back of the yard. Fifteen feet from your sidewalk, driveways, roadways and your house perimeter are the area’s most often seen by you and your visitors. It’s too muddy to start any work yet, but we can plan!
Indoor Farmers’ Market
Have you shopped the indoor Mankato Farmer’s Market this winter at Bomgaars? Have you ever wondered how Dan and Lara Zimmerli of Cedar Crate Farm can have fresh spinach packaged for you all winter long? Dan has kindly provided the secrets to how this is possible during the winter.
From Dan: “The spinach is planted in October. Getting the timing right is tricky because the daylight decrease during winter has a huge impact on how quickly the spinach grows. Each bed is usually harvested twice each winter. Spinach can survive temperatures as low as -11 F, and our experience backs this up. The temperatures underneath the row cover are usually around 20-30 degrees warmer than outdoor temps overnight. On a sunny day tunnel, temperatures can get into the 60s even if it’s below zero out. Spinach picks up extra complex flavor in winter. It’s slightly sweet, earthy-nutty, and fresh-green flavored. Our spinach is harvested at the adult leaf stage. Still tender enough for fresh eating and salads but also robust enough to handle some cooking.
“Spinach has an interesting cold defense mechanism where its leaves wilt down during extreme cold temperatures (usually as we get close to below zero temps). This is the spinach plant storing its water in the soil which allows it to avoid freezing. Freezing would cause the cells in the spinach plants to burst, killing the plant. Then, when temps warm up again it reabsorbs that water and looks fresh as ever.”
Another Farmers’ Market grower is Caitlyn Wiederhoeft, who grows beautiful bouquets for the market. Caitlyn will be featured in an upcoming article. Both Catilyn, whose business is Stone Hearth Farm and Garden, and Cedar Crate Farm offer CSA programs as well as selling at the Mankato indoor and outdoor markets. Information on their programs can be found at stonehearthfarm.com/shop for florals, or cedarcratefarm.com for produce.
Shop local when you can and support your community growers/producers/crafter and the like.