It’s time to renovate the “June” strawberry beds.
If you are able, run the lawnmower over the top of the plants set high enough to just mow off the leaf tissue. Do this before late August or you may damage the next year’s crop. Next year’s buds will already be nestled down in the crown waiting for next spring. You can also use a scissors or a pruners if mowing won’t work in your strawberry patch.
If you have never heard of or done this before, it may sound crazy. But strawberry plants are susceptible to many foliar diseases, and mowing them and removing the trimmings from the garden can help prolong the life of the patch.
For clean-up on ever-bearing types, remove dead foliage in the spring. Renovating is not needed on beds planted this year, just let them continue to grow and work at keeping the baby off-shoots in the row. Keep it tidy or you won’t get through it next year … yes, they can take over quickly!
Thin out your rows if you have excess plants. Crowded plants have too competition for sun, water and nutrients and not enough room to grow properly. Correctly spaced plants produce larger, quality fruit, vs. small wimpy berries. Which do you prefer?
Flowers or foliage? That is the question. I think most people, myself included, purchase plants based on what size, shape, color or scent the flower will be.
But the flower is a fleeting beauty, and the foliage is there before and after. I love designing perennial beds with a variety of foliages. They add texture, stature, color and movement.
Foliage texture may be described as coarse, smooth, ribbed, ferny, airy, wispy, toothed edge. Foliage shape may be upright, cascading, prostate, arching, vase-like, rounded, mounded and so on.
Colors of foliage are limited to mostly greens. Several bronze, reddish, deep burgundy, variegated and yellow foliages have been around a while as well. I admit I have hard time embracing the yellow foliage … looks like it needs some nitrogen to me!
Using a variety of foliages throughout the garden adds interest and breaks up the boring. Some plants, like hosta, are grown mainly for their foliage, and the flowers are more insignificant. Bergenia has large rounded, glossy leaves that turn red in the fall. Their flower stalks bloom in early spring and only for a short time. Bergenia may be done blooming before some Minnesotans have emerged from hibernation!
When you want to create a more formal look, perhaps along a walkway, then stick with one type of plant great for edging, like daylily.
For those new to gardening, the first 1-3 years of a perennial bed are the most work with watering to establish them and weeding as you have all the open areas between plants. My established areas are so thick with perennials a weed doesn’t stand a chance … my kind of garden! (My non-established areas are a different story.) Occasionally a 4-foot ragweed pokes through even an established canopy of plants. Get the pruners. Plants like grasses can also add a graceful swish to the garden. A little garden reward.
Successful gardening in shady areas can be tricky. It’s often assumed if it’s shady, that the soil is moist and not dried out from the sun. But shaded areas, when created by trees verses a building, can have very dry soil. When it rains, where do we run when caught outdoors? Under the tree — where it’s dry! Much of the rain that falls on a tree can run right off the edge of the canopy. Mature trees are very aggressive competitors for water. Many of our popular shade plants like hosta, astilbes and heucheras prefer an average to moist soil.
This is the first time in four years that I didn’t have to spend endless hours watering my shrub gardens. Thank you, rainfall!
I did lose two Viburnum trilobum “Bailey Compact,” aka American cranberry bush, this year. Two years ago, I lost two as well. Different planting sites, from different plant nurseries, same sad results. The survivors from the first planting have minimal growth in the last four years and their shrub neighbors are thriving. I certainly could not recommend them and they will never be in my shopping cart again.
This is a good time of year to stop fertilizing any perennial plants including woody perennials — trees and shrubs. Plants will soon need to start preparing to shut down for the winter (did I say that out loud?). So, we don’t want to encourage lush new growth at this time.
Visit us at the Mankato Farmer’s Market! We are located at the Best Buy parking lot on Adams Street. Plants, honey, syrup, soaps, textiles, baked goods, crafts, woodworking, pies, coffee, jams, local raised meats and eggs. Our Saturday schedule is from 8:00 a.m. – noon. Tuesdays & Thursdays from 3-5:30 p.m.