This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Time to clean the Perennial bed?

I'd love to hear comments on fertilizing protocols, which was touched on
in the e-mail below.  I think I really underfertilize, and I'd like to
do more  -- but I don't know what fertilizer is best to use, and how
much I should use, and when I should apply it.  I'm in north zone 7.
Thanks.
 ----------
From: Alistair and Alison
To: perennials@mallorn.com
Subject: Re: Time to clean the Perennial bed?
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 1997 11:26AM

I am an organic gardener and must admit to having a somewhat wild garden
at
times! I actually do very little tidying and cleaning of my garden at
this
time of year. The perennial bed provides wonderful winter habitat for
beneficial insects (and larger animals and birds too) if you leave it
uncut
until spring. It also can look fabulous with seed heads and stems
providing
a framework for frosts. Another advantage,  I find, is that my light
sandy
soil is much better protected from the damaging frosts which tend to
destroy
the soil structure. However I do cut back some of my perennials in
summer
which will then resprout with lovely healthy foliage which holds up
better
through the winter. I think this might be the secret of public gardens -
they always tidy the plants after flowering, sometimes cutting back
quite
hard to get new healthy foliage, as well as feeding the plants really
well
so they can keep producing good foliage and cope with being cut back
several
times in a year. I think a lot of perennials look tired at this time of
year
because the soil is exhausted (and so are they!)

Alison in North Wales UK


 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index