This may sound corny, but I love my soil. I’m so proud of the dark, rich texture, and the way the water soaks slowly out of sight and into the ground. But it wasn’t always so. When I first moved to Seekhaven, my old California cottage, two decades ago, the earth had large bare patches that were as hard as rock, baked by the sun, and eroded by water runoff.
Mulch, compost, and worm castings (manure) deserve all the credit for how it looks today. A constant regimen of adding these ingredients to the top layer of the ground—I never disturb the structure of the soil with unnecessary tilling—is your single most important task. It is literally the groundwork for a healthy and bountiful garden.
For cultivation and propagation practices, I often turn to the long-forgotten tried and true techniques of the early settlers and the Victorians. Willow water, potato cradles, and milk-fed pumpkins are just a few of the whimsical but successful pointers I divulge here.
“And let no idle spot of earth be found, but cultivate the genius of the ground.”
—Virgil, The Georgics
Scientists and researchers recently confirmed something herbalists and gardeners have known for centuries. The tender spring tips and leaves of willows, the easiest of all woods to root, contain powerful hormones that stimulate the growth and development of plants. No need to buy chemically produced rooting compounds when Mother Nature has a supply as near as a willow tree.
Collect tender twigs and leaves (the highest concentration of rhizocaline compounds are in the protoplasm of the newest growth), cut them into 1-inch pieces, and drop a few fat handfuls into a bucket. Fill the bucket with water and steep the mixture for a week. Strain and decant the tea-colored liquid into small canning jars. Store in the refrigerator. (Jars of willow water make great gifts for gardeners.)
For a quicker fix, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil, and turn off the heat. Drop the willow into the pot, cover, and let the mixture steep overnight. Strain and decant into small containers. Keep them refrigerated.
When propagating plants, dip the fresh cuttings into willow water, let them soak for a few minutes, dib a hole into your potting soil, tuck in the cutting, pat soil firmly into place, and water thoroughly with the willow water solution.
For propagating finicky shrubs, nothing works like this tried and true secret first written about in the 1850s. Cut a slip of your plant on the diagonal. Tuck the cutting immediately into a hole in a small potato—you’re creating a potato cradle! Prepare the ground or a container for planting, add compost, set the potato into the soil, and cover it completely, leaving only the cutting above the surface. Water gently, and tend as you would any newly propagated plant. This is a nearly foolproof method to start stubborn, woody plants.
Potato moistens, protects, and feeds a cutting.
Dr. Makota Kawase of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center discovered that fresh rose cuttings root faster if they’re kept in total darkness for the first 4 or 5 days. I like to stick my potted cuttings into a brown paper bag along with a ripening apple. The ethylene gas from the apple speeds up the process.
Famed horticulturist Gertrude Foster’s unique method for getting finicky rosemary cuttings to root was to start them in green glass bottles filled with water. It still works for me every time. Rosemary will begin to show roots within a few weeks and you can transfer the cuttings to a pot of soil.
If you have trouble propagating roses, use the old 3-4 formula first touted in the early 1900s.
Take a 4-inch cutting just above a node with at least 3 sets of leaves. Stick the stem into willow water for 1 hour. Then dib a hole in a pot of moist sand and stick the rose stem into the hole. Cover tightly with a mini-greenhouse (plastic bag or wrap, or bottomless plastic bottle).
It may take a couple of months for the first roots to form, but once they do, you can transplant the rose into freshly dug soil enriched with compost (see the banana peel hint here).
Soak bare root roses in a bucket of willow water overnight. Dig a hole in a sunny area, and build an elevated mound of compost in the center. Set the rose atop the mound, spread the roots out gently, snip a banana peel (high in potassium, phosphorous, and magnesium) into tiny pieces, and drop them into the hole. Cover with humus and soil, tamp firmly, then soak the ground thoroughly.
“The rose looks fair, but fairer it we deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.”
—Shakespeare
To protect a prized rosebush from the ravages of winter and frost heaving, surround it with a cylinder (taller than the canes) made of box wire or chicken wire. After the ground freezes, top the canes with a mound of loose soil and fill the entire cylinder with straw or leaves. Cover the cylinder with a large plastic bag tied tightly to the frame. Remove the bag when spring growth resumes, clear the soil from the canes, and spread the leaves around the rose for mulch. Give the rose a thorough soaking with Container Champagne (see here) or organic fertilizer.
Roses love and require sunshine, and sometimes the best sunlight is on the roof. I was inspired by the cottages on Nantucket Island, where I saw my first rose-festooned roofs in the historic village of Siasconset.
Make lift-up boxed frames with two-by-fours set on end. Attach a trellis to the top of each frame and latch frames to the roof with heavy-duty hooks and eyes. Keep your constructions in easy-to-handle sizes appropriate for the roof area.
The boxed frame allows for plenty of ventilation, and the trellis lifts easily for trimming or repairs. In summer, the roof will be cloaked in colorful, fragrant roses; in fall and winter, the glowing globes of rose hips add a dash of brilliance (and food for the birds).
Rose hips add a fall touch of color.
Stop the habit of using rock salt to de-ice walkways and drives. As snow melts, the salt filters down into the soil, injures roots, and can kill plants. Instead, use complete NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) garden fertilizer to de-ice anything that’s near landscaping. Spread the fertilizer in the same quantities recommended for salt. The potassium, or potash, will melt the ice, and the phosphorus will provide a slip-proof surface.
Stash sand in a covered container near frequently walked pathways, and use a coffee can or scoop to spread it.
Apply 10 pounds of urea per 100 square feet of pavement to melt ice, and add a sprinkling of sand for traction.
Use a small propane torch, such as the ones used on weeds, to quickly de-ice walkways. (See “Burn the Bad Guys.”)
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
—Marcel Proust
To prevent cuttings from rotting, spread a 1-inch layer of clean sand on top of potting mix. Use a pencil as a dibber, let some of the sand trickle into the hole, insert a cutting, and pat the soil firmly around the stem.
Make a throne for your pumpkins. Curl a piece of box wire into a cylinder, fasten the ends together, and stand it upright. Fill the wire enclosure to the brim with grass clippings, leaves (preferably shredded), vegetable refuse from the kitchen (and the water you cooked the veggies in), shredded newspaper, and shredded garden debris interspersed with layers of soil. Tuck in pumpkin seeds, and cover with compost. Your pampered pumpkins, treated like royalty on their rich throne, will flourish and their vines will quickly disguise the wire. Championship pumpkins will be yours if you cull the small ones until only the biggest and healthiest remain on the vine. Water, feed them regularly, and treat them to a gallon of whole milk every other week.
A compost bin becomes a planter.
Cultivate watercress, an old-fashioned favorite that adds zing and a peppery taste to sandwiches and salads. Purchase a plant from a nursery (or gather in the wild and set in clear water for a few weeks to purify the plant) and fill a pot (this is one time you don’t want a drainage hole) with soil mixed with sand. Drench your soil with willow water mixture or clear water.
Gently separate the stems (each one will eventually sprout), dib a hole into the wet soil with a pencil, and plant the cress about 3 inches apart. Set the pot in a partially shaded area and keep the soil soggy. Within a few weeks, you’ll be able to harvest these greens for salads. Use the cut-and-come-again method and snip only the outer leaves each time you harvest them.
Protect vulnerable shrubs and trees from weed-whacker or lawnmower accidents. Keep a plastic bottle (slit down the side with the top and bottom removed) tied to your machine. Stop before working too close to plants and slip the bottle around the trunk while you weed or mow in that area. Remove the bottle when you move on.
For centuries, seaside gardeners have valued and used seaweed as a garden mulch and food. For a healthy, no-work potato patch, dig a hole about 1 foot deep and as long as you want your patch to be, and fill it to the brim with seaweed. Plant your sprouted seed potatoes, cover them with a 6- to 8-inch-high mound of seaweed, and forget about them until harvest time.
Sprout your seed potatoes in an egg carton. Set the potatoes rose end (fattest end) up. This end produces the best sprouts.
Clematis are fussy about where they grow; they prefer to have their heads in the sun and their feet in cool shade. If you don’t have the required shade, you can fool the vine by simply placing broad, flat stones at the base of the plant.
Here’s a foolproof way to keep a line of trees or plants perfectly spaced. Cut notches into a long board at 1-foot intervals. When you need to plant trees, shrubs, or perennials with specific space requirements, lay the board on the ground and align the plants with the notches.
Sometimes it’s impossible to grow a hedge of lavender of uniform height, but there’s an old-time method of uniformly propagating this fragrant shrub that’s simple and easy.
Give your favorite lavender a crew cut. Using hedge shears, cut the top foliage of a lavender bush flat. Then dig up the plant—root ball and all. Split the root ball into vertical pieces, with the old wood and foliage still attached.
Plant the lavender pieces in well-drained soil at least 3 feet apart (unless you’re planting the tiny Hidcote or Munstead varieties). Spread a layer of light-colored pebbles, sand, or chipped granite beneath the plants to reflect light and deter soil-borne diseases.
When bearded iris stop producing flowers after 3 or 4 years in the same area, gently dig out the rhizomes, and save the biggest with the healthiest leaves. Use a sharp knife to separate the clumps, trim the roots, and cut leaves to about 6 inches. Allow the clumps to “rest” overnight before planting. Space the rhizomes about 18 inches apart and barely cover the roots with soil (don’t bury the fan of leaves). Water thoroughly. Properly planted iris looks like a family of green-tailed swans sailing across the garden.
Old patches of mint often turn into tangles of roots and stems with few or no healthy, flowering stalks. Each spring, score the mint patch checkerboard style, about 1 inch into the soil, with a sharp knife, and new growth will quickly emerge from each small square.
Tennesseans, famous for their mint juleps, have a tradition of presenting a new bride with a gift of mint plants dug from the family garden.
“A good day’s work can be done with a dirty spade.”
—Old saying
“Ere yet the planter undertakes his toil,
Let him examine well his clime and soil;
Patient explore what best with both will suit,
And, rich in leaves, luxuriantly shoot.”
—Richard Payne Knight
Mulch, mulch, and more mulch. Through every season (even in the worst winter weather), mulch’s macro- and microscopic armies are at work in your garden. Mulched soil is high in ethylene gas, which discourages the growth of fungus and other pathogens (from the Greek pathos, meaning disease). Microbes in composted pine and hardwood barks enhance microbial activity and suppress diseases and root rot.
Mulched earth supports unseen billions of beneficial underground dwellers that enrich the soil and improve its structure. Soil protected by a layer of mulch also retains moisture, prevents soil-borne diseases from splashing up and onto plants, deters invasive weeds, prevents erosion, and provides a welcoming environment for spiders, ground beetles, and other helpful garden critters.
The New York Times, that is, or any newspaper. For garden pathways, spread a thick layer (about 30 sheets) of newspaper, then top the paper with 3 inches of shredded bark.
For beds, apply a thick layer of damp newspapers, leaving narrow spaces for row crops. To plant individual perennials or bushes, cut into the damp paper and tuck the plants into the soil. Top the beds with finely shredded bark, leaves, or grass clippings.
Save your leaves, and put them through a shredder or run your lawnmower through piled-up leaves to shred them. Or dump the leaves into a trash can and use a weed whacker to shred them. Top your beds with the shredded leaves, and don’t worry, they won’t change your soil pH.
Mulch when soil is freezing. You can even apply mulch on top of snow. As the snow melts, the mulch settles onto the soil and releases nutrients.
Look locally for abundant sources of mulch—wheat, leaves, grass clippings, soybeans, cocoa hulls, shredded corn cobs, kelp, mussel, and clam shells . . . you get the picture.
Many gardeners and farmers have stopped using strips of black plastic for mulching because plastic is costly and isn’t biodegradable. A new alternative is brown kraft paper coated with boiled linseed oil.
Even more inexpensive and equally healthy is to buy wrapping paper by the roll, coat it with canola oil, and allow it to air-dry. Cut the sheets to fit your beds.
For a new bed, spread the paper in the garden and top it with shredded bark, grass clippings, or straw. Poke holes through the mulch and paper to plant seeds or seedlings. By the end of the growing season, the paper will already be decomposing and becoming a part of the earth.
See if neighbors will give you their bags of leaves in the fall. Store the bags out of the way in your yard and ignore them. Within a few months you’ll have some fine, rich compost to spread throughout your garden.
Create a big doughnut of mulch, then plant your trees and shrubs in the center. Take care to keep the trunk at least 6 inches from the mound to prevent rot and rodent damage. Replenish the mulch doughnut 3 to 4 times a year.
Keep the branches of small, fragile conifers from breaking under winter ice or snow. Use 2-inch-wide strips of fabric. Tie one end to the base of the tree and spiral-wrap up to the top, then back to the base, to secure the branches.
Activate your compost pile by adding alfalfa meal, Litter Green kitty litter, pelletized rabbit food, or dry dog food, which is rich in nitrogen and protein. Nitrogen-rich green grass clippings (without chemicals) will also help.
“Of composts shall the Muse descend to sing.”
—John Grainger, 1770
Provide new compost piles with a large scoop of finished compost from your old pile. The hungry microbes from the old compost will stimulate the new, sluggish pile and speed up the process of decomposition.
Even apartment dwellers can compost with red wiggler worms, the world’s most undemanding pets. These hungry invertebrates have an appetite for garbage and will quietly transform your leftovers (and culinary disasters) into castings, known as “black gold.”
Use the castings to top the soil of houseplants, as well as outdoor containers and garden beds. Once you share your life with worms, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without them.
You can purchase a worm bin kit or make your own for indoors or outdoors (see Appendix). Worms are content indoors if kept warm (55 to 77 degrees), fed, and watered regularly. They must always be kept moist.
When you cut a willow branch and plant it in damp ground, it will immediately strike roots and sprout. Use this magical quality of the willow and plant a living willow screen to hide an unsightly compost pile. Cut fresh willow rods about 4 feet long. Dig a narrow trench 12 inches deep around the area you wish to hide and fill it with good aged compost. Stick a line of rods, about 8 inches apart, a few inches deep into the trench at a 45-degree angle, then lay another line the same distance apart in the opposite direction, making a crisscross pattern. At each end of the screen, sink a wooden or metal pole about 2 feet into the ground to strengthen the structure. Cluster at least 5 rods around the pole and tie them loosely together.
“The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
—John Ruskin
Don’t throw away that holey old plastic trash can; reuse it as a fast-acting composter. Remove the bottom of the can with a box cutter or snips. Drill about 2 dozen 1-inch holes into the sides. Cut a sleeve of scrap screen to slip down into the sides of the can (the sleeve should cover all the holes).
Dig a hole at least 2 to 3 feet deep and the same diameter as the can. Set the can in the hole and fill in the sides of the hole with mulch, leaves, straw or hay. Add alternating layers of wet and dry material and mix with a pitchfork every two weeks.
Composting doesn’t need to be a fancy or laborious process if you use the method of my grandparents (and thousands of other gardeners). Dig a hole at least 3 feet square, and toss your garbage, grass clippings (high in nitrogen), leaves and straw (high in carbon), shredded wet newspaper, and kitchen waste (not meat or dairy products) directly into the hole. After each addition of garbage, just add a layer of soil, leaves, grass clippings, or a mixture, and cover the hole with a screen, weighted down along the edges with a board framework or rocks. The screen excludes flies and predators, but allows rain to trickle into the hole.
If you plan to plant a tree next spring, a compost hole is a great way to prepare the soil for it. Just plant your tree directly into the hole once it’s filled with compost, and it will have all the nutrients it needs.
Compost ingredients: everything but the kitchen sink.
Dig a long, shallow trench at least 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep in an unused area of your garden. Work your way down the trench, daily dumping garbage, clippings, and leaves into it. Cover the refuse with soil and a board to exclude critters.