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Care of the Garden Routine care of the rock garden demands regular attention, but not arduous toil. Beginning in the late winter or early spring, the first task in regions of cold winters without an adequate blanket of snow is the removal of the winter covering. Do this before growth is well advanced and in two or three stages rather than all at one time, so that new shoots and foliage become gradually accustomed to full exposure.
Choose dull, humid,
quiet days rather than sunny, windy ones for taking off
the cover. Push back into place any plants that have been
heaved up by frost action and replace any labels that
have been disturbed. Do not be in too great haste to cut back what appears to be the lifeless tops of woody stemmed plants. Some may surprise you by leafing later. But if you are certain they are dead, do not hesitate, and at the same time clear away dead foliage and any weeds overlooked from the previous year.
Top dressing is next. Prepare a porous mix of topsoil, peat moss and grit or coarse sand as a base and modify it as needed for particular areas of the garden devoted to plants with special needs by adding additional peat moss for acid soil plants, crushed limestone or agricultural lime for lovers of alkaline soils, bonemeal for plants likely to benefit from some extra nutrients, and for kinds known to appreciate richer diets, such as primulas, some old rotted or dried commercial cow manure. But beware of using too much fertilizer. The vast majority of rock garden plants thrive in rather lean soils and become too lush and gross in those too fertile. Before spreading the top-dressing, stir the soil shallowly with a hand cultivator so that the new layer will integrate with the old.
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Summers consist of weeding, watering (do this only when clearly needed and then soak the ground to a depth of several inches), and taking off faded flowers, plus a certain amount of propagation. Weeding calls for special knowledge. In a garden containing many species and varieties it is not a job for a novice or an odd-job man. Not infrequently, choice plants that perhaps have defied the gardener's best efforts to propagate reproduce voluntarily and one or more precious seedlings will appear in some unlikely spot, in a crevice, on a little plateau, or perhaps among some spreading plant of another kind. Only the keen eye of an experienced rock gardener is likely to detect such dividends, with the result that instead of being ruthlessly rooted out they are nurtured to add yet further glory to the garden. Besides, weeding in a rock garden can be a delightful task, one that gives opportunity to know one's plants more intimately, to observe their manners of growth, and to note their individual idiosyncrasies, that is, if weeding is done when it should be, at the very earliest evidence of the weed growth and before it has begun to take over from the rightful occupants.
In the fall a general cleanup is needed. Cut back the dead tops of plants that are not evergreen and make comfortable for the winter all that are perennial. This is the time, too, to plant hardy spring flowering bulbs.
Winter protection in regions where hard freezing is experienced, but a continuous snow cover cannot be relied upon, is necessary, but it is easy to overdo this. Do not install the cover until the ground is frozen to a depth of 2 or 3 inches, otherwise mice and other rodents may establish winter quarters and harm plants. A covering of branches of evergreens (discarded Christmas trees are fine for this purpose) such as pines, spruces, or hemlocks, is ideal. Or salt hay can be used. It is important that air circulates freely through the covering. Common errors are to put in place too early and too thickly. |
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