It’s Spring! We’ve got the planting bug and are more than
ready to start enjoying our too-short Wisconsin
growing season by stocking up on plants and gardening supplies. Your best,
first stop is at your local greenhouse where the gardening professionals really
know what they are doing and do it well. If, like me, your eyes are bigger than
your shopping cart and your gardening budget, the foray into the wonderland of
the garden center can be a challenge. Here are some ideas to help you make good
choices to stretch your shopping dollars:
Start plants from
seed. The process can be intimidating, but there are resources to guide you
through it. Your county extension office, YouTube, workshops, books, garden center
staff, and experienced gardeners in your circle of friends and family can
provide you with the knowhow and confidence to start at least a few of the
things you want to grow from seed.
Buy small plants.
Pick up your favorite ornamentals, herbs, and vegetables early and plan to
repot at least once before your plants go out to the yard or garden plot;
buying plants in four or six packs costs considerably less than buying the same
number of plants at a more mature size. You can repot the tiny plants at home
and nurture them indoors or in a sheltered place until they are big enough and
weather allows them to go all the way out to the garden.
Purchase plants that
are easily turned into more plants. Coleus and basil are just two examples
of plants that can easily be multiplied by rooting cuttings in
a vase of water and then potting the cutting after it has developed a good root
system. The parent plant will sprout new growth after you have cut some of the
main stems, and if done early in the season, you will be able to add the starts
to your garden by the time danger of frost is gone.
Divide perennials.
Not only can dividing increase the number of plants in your landscape, it can
also provide you with filler for your pots and window boxes. Hostas are great
for this. Other easy and attractive options are cranesbill geranium, golden
creeping Jenny, lamium, bergenia, sedums and even small shrubs. Perennials used
in this way can be dug back into a garden plot before the freeze to overwinter and
use again next year.
Send your houseplants
outdoors for the summer. When warm weather comes to stay, pair houseplants,
such as spider plant, tradescantia, and begonias, with flowering annuals for
beautiful container plantings. Then take them back indoors at the end of the
season.
Overwinter annuals
for a repeat performance. Geraniums are especially good at surviving the
winter indoors, either by going into dormancy or by being placed in a sunny
location and continually watering as a houseplant. More details for either
method can be found online. Coleus and begonias may also be good candidates for
overwintering. If you have the room and the patience, give those and others a
chance to hang in there until next year when they can go outside again.
Save seeds. Seeds
of many non-hybrid, heirloom plants can be saved and stored for sowing in
subsequent years. Or if plants seed themselves, let them grow where they fall
or transplant their volunteer seedlings to other locations in your garden where
they might thrive. Brown-eyed Susan, Grandpa Ott morning glory, and Husker Red
penstemon are a few garden plants that readily come back year to year from
seed. Selective deadheading can control reseeders if they are a little too
zealous at creating new plants. Heirloom vegetable seeds can also be saved for
next year’s crop. Some saving is as easy as popping open a pod to retrieve the
beans inside; others, like tomatoes, take a bit more effort, but with a minimum
of instruction from the above-listed resources, saving their seeds is
completely doable.
Go with the sure
things. It is very tempting to want to try every new and exotic plant that
appears for sale, but resist unless you know that it has a good chance of
surviving more than one season. If you haven’t seen a plant before, it might be
because it is not meant to be here. Local greenhouses are conscientious about
offering plants that are suitable for our growing zone. Big box pop up garden
centers, not so much. Their distributors are likely providing plants to stores
in a region that crosses a spectrum of climates. Read the plant’s tag, look up
its growing requirements, and then decide if you want to invest in a plant that
may or may not thrive in your garden.
Go native. Some
of the best bets for your garden are native plants. Most garden centers have
dedicated sections of native perennials, and the above-mentioned resources can help
you identify plants suited to our Wisconsin climate.
In addition to being hardy, native plants have the added value of attracting a
diverse variety of butterflies, bees, and birds to your backyard.
Avoid gimmicks and
gadgets. There are no magic tricks for eliminating garden chores, so don’t
waste your gardening dollars on items that make those promises. Gardening is
fun, but there is a little effort involved. For a successful garden, stick with
elbow grease and time-tested tools rather than falling for the newest
As-Seen-On-TV offer, even if you can “act now and get a second one free”.
Treat yourself. Finally,
after you have demonstrated frugality and pinched a few pennies, go ahead and
splurge on a new flower pot, birdbath, perennial variety, showy annual, or
whatever your heart desires. You’ve earned it!
5/29/20 - Since creating this post we were talked into presenting the topic as part of a virtual gardening series for a local library. If you are interested you can view it
here.
