May Week 2

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

By: Kathi

Spacing was the hardest thing for me to learn. First of all don’t space your plants based upon the spacing dimensions listed on the plant tag.

Things you will need: A little bit of math
Tape measure

You must remember that plant tags are written up by growers and growers want to sell product. Second, until a local nursery has proven time and again (this takes years) that they are knowledgeable about the plants they sell, don’t go by what they say either. My biggest spacing mistakes were from listening to the horticulturist at my local nursery. In his case, I’m not sure if he just took the initial growers word for eventual plant size or if he intentionally misled me. Either way, spacing mistakes are costly and end up causing you more work. Something we lazy gardeners (or efficient gardeners) tend to want to avoid.

In this day and age, there is no reason you cannot look up and species and variety of plant you are considering purchasing. When you look them up, of course the sun/shade aspect; water requirements, etc. are all there and certainly pay attention. However, the big thing to look at is ultimate size, and length of time it takes to reach that size. If it is 50 years to maturity…unless you plan on living where you are for more than 50 years, you can decide to plant closer than I am about to suggest.

For lazy gardeners trees and shrubbery need to go in place first as discussed last week. It is essential once these are planted that you keep in mind – particularly with shrubs- their eventual height and girth. The temptation is great to stick your new perennials within 3 feet of that new shrub, because it all looks so empty…been there done that. The next thing you know, you lovely perennial is covered up by the shrub and will die unless you crawl under there and dig it up. Not fun at all.

For instance, a Burning Bush (Euonymus alata "Compactus") says that the bush will get 6-10 feet tall. But how wide? The site does not say. So what to do? First of all look at the photo of the plant. Is it tall and thin – vase shaped- or is it a mounded shape? Certainly from the photo you can tell it is a mounded shape. In order to appear “mounded” or “dome” shaped a plant must be wider than it is tall. The text said 6-10 feet tall. This means the bush will probably have a diameter of at least the 10 feet and most likely; at least by my experience, given the space, shrubs, not just the Euonymus, will get almost twice as wide as they are tall. With a 10 foot tall shrub – yes use the larger number – figure 10 feet plus 60% or 6 feet, to get the diameter of a “No Planting Zone”. Sixteen feet!!!! Yep. Diameter…not radius…still doesn’t plant anything within that area, unless it is an annual or other short lived plant. Now we have a Burning Bush, and a no plant zone anywhere in an 8 foot radius. So you can plant your expensive new perennial or smaller shrub at 8 feet out? No…you must do the same math for every plant. If the perennial you are planting is say, a peony that gets about 4-5 feet in diameter you must add the distance to the 8 foot radius. OK, so we are at 8’ + 2 ½’ = 10 ½ feet out. Is that where you want to plant the peony? Nope…more space…I have found that especially when dealing with trees, shrubs, and perennials, that open space between the plants gives the garden a manicured rather than wild look. Add ½ the width of the perennial again. 10 ½’ + (call it) 2’ = 12-13 feet out from the base of the center shrub. This gives them both room to grow and space for you to tend them.

Learning to have space between plants is hard. You are thinking, this is crazy…at these distances maybe you can only plant 3-4 plants…yes, exactly...but your eye and your heart want to buy 20 to go in that slot. Save your money. Select the finest varieties of what it is you want to plant then give them room to grow without being cramped and malformed due to over crowding. With most plants you will reach your ultimate size in just a few years…time that passes quickly in a garden.

Fill in those empty voids with annuals and each year you will need fewer and fewer of them. Less cost, less work, healthier plants due to better air circulation and less competition, and a neater cleaner looking garden will be your reward.