May Week 1

Organic Gardening Calendar
25 Weeks to frost free date in zone 6

By: Kathi

Garden Structure

Things you will need:
Trees
Shovel
Tape measure



What to plant first? Look at your yard or garden. What in it is the “back bone” of the area? What about it attracts your eye? Of course if this is a new bed then you must decide, how you plan to structure the bed or yard to give your work the greatest impact visually.

If you are starting with a bare lot…or one of those precious “contractor” landscapes…you have a perfectly new pallet to begin your garden. Unless you just KNOW what species your contractor planted…I’d be leery. Better to rid yourself of a night mare earlier than later. Generally in the plant world, cheaper is what contractors buy, and cheaper plants are not going to have any “special” features as the hybrid varieties will exhibit.

Ask the questions? Is this for sun or shade? If you have established shade trees, and you cut them down, you are an idiot. Shade is the hardest thing to come by of all the garden pleasures and shade beds are by far the easiest to tend and maintain. Even if the tree(s) that give you the shade are crummy trees…they are better than the baking hot sun.

So the answer to the question is first, decide how much shade you want in 10 years. Select these trees carefully. Unfortunately the first big decision is the very one that will either make your garden sing, or make oh so ho hum.

After many massive mistakes, I think you should have at least 1 real good fast growing deciduous shade tree. Where I live, I love the October Glory Maples. You get the tiny red blooms in spring before anything else blooms, great growth rate and dense shade, and a most magnifiscent red leaf in autumn. I have a large yard, so I set out 4 different varieties of Maples that are known for their fall color, but I set them so that when they are full grown their outside tips might barely touch each other. The point of the spacing is to allow you to get the hade from the tree, but it allows sunlight to reach in and hit all those shady spots at low sun angle hours.

Most plants, except those that love the hottest part of the day heat, will appreciate being in shade during high sun angles and getting several hours of sunshine in the morning and before sunset.

Don’t plant your anchor trees in a little box square, or a straight row. Try to make it look random. These will be the biggest things in your yard and you don’t want your brain thinking about geometric patterns while you are enjoying your garden. Nature plants things in free flow…only you should space them…

The next plants to consider are the under story trees. Trees that do not reach beyond 20-25 feet,. Most of these trees; dogwoods; redbuds; crabapples; all like to be where they get a good bit of sun. Their tags will tell you shade. They lie. If you want blooms...plant then in the sun. Now consider where you planted your tallest anchor tree(s). Plant these trees where the shadow of the taller tree will pass over it for a short period, basically in the northern hemisphere…plant it to the north of your anchor tree. Again pay close attention to the spacing. When the tree is fully grown, how will it interact with the anchor? If you are lazy, like me always use the “will barely touch” rule. Add the widths of the trees at fully grown…remember to select fast growing trees…and then add 10% more distance between them.

That’s enough structural planting this week. Give them a chance to get growing before you move to the shade loving shrubs like Rhododenrons.