Looking for an ideal companion plant for your vegetable garden?

 

If you’re looking for an ideal companion plant for your vegetable garden, you can’t go wrong with Yarrow. Achillea species and hybrids – aka Yarrow – attract many helpful insects such as pollinators.

Beside pollinators such as bees and butterflies, which are crucial for abundant harvests, yarrow also attracts beneficial insects for natural pest control. Flower flies – Syrphids – and ladybug larvae devour aphids. The more, the better. Right? Then there are the parasitic wasps that gorge on caterpillars, such as tomato hornworms.

Yarrow varieties can grow from 1 to 3 feet tall with colors ranging from white to pink, red to yellow. Shorter varieties are best for vegetable gardens for they are unlikely to overshadow your goodies. They can spread, but are easily divided. The divisions can be replanted elsewhere.

So, if you’re looking for a fine companion plant that’s helpful in the garden, as well as highly ornamental, consider Achillea.

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The Gardener's To-Do List for February

 

You're probably getting the itch to get outside and begin gardening. For some of us, the time is now. For others, not so soon. February barely hints of spring. Swinburne described the month cleverly:

Wan February with weeping cheer,
Whose cold hand guides the youngling year
Down misty roads of mire and rime,
Before thy pale and fitful face
The shrill wind shifts the clouds apace
Through skies the morning scarce may climb.
Thine eyes are thick with heavy tears,
But lit with hopes that light the year's.

If, lit with hope, you must do something, here are a few gardening tasks for February organized by region.

Northeast States: Continue pruning dormant deciduous trees, shrubs, vines; but avoid removing spring flower buds. Continue removing snow from evergreens to avoid limb damage. Inspect indoor plants for disease and insects. Refill bird feeders often. Browse seed catalogs and nursery web sites. Order spring flowering bulbs, onion sets, strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus, if you haven’t already. Start cool season veggies and annuals indoors. Check bulbs and roots in cool storage; throw out rotten ones. Clean and oil garden tools. Organize your potting supplies.

Mid-Atlantic States: Continue pruning dormant deciduous trees, shrubs, vines; but avoid removing spring flower buds.  Maintain house plants, checking for disease and insects. Feed the birds. Browse seed catalogs and nursery web sites. Order spring flowering bulbs, onion sets, strawberries, rhubarb, and asparagus, if you haven’t already. Check bulbs and roots in cool storage; throw out rotten ones. Add mulch to planting beds, if needed. Plant bare-root trees and shrubs. Sow warm-season annuals and vegetables in cold frame. Prune fruit trees, shrubs and vines. Clean and oil garden tools. Take soil samples to your local Cooperative Extension Service for analysis.

Mid-South States: Continue pruning dormant deciduous trees, shrubs, vines.    Avoid removing spring-blooming flower buds. Spray dormant oil on dormant fruit trees, if you haven’t done so yet. Refill bird feeders often. Add mulch to planting beds, if needed. Take soil samples to your local Cooperative Extension Service for analysis. Adjust pH, if necessary. Sow warm-season annuals and vegetables in cold frame. Plant bare-root trees and shrubs. Clean and oil garden tools.

Lower South and Gulf States: Continue pruning dormant deciduous trees, shrubs, vines. Spray dormant oil on dormant fruit trees, if you haven’t done so yet.    Continue planting and transplanting broadleaf and evergreen trees and shrubs, perennials and ground covers. Continue to irrigate shrubs and trees as long as weather is above freezing. Fertilize trees and shrubs when dormant, if you haven't done it yet. Fertilize roses. Add mulch to planting beds, if needed. Take soil samples to your local Cooperative Extension Service for analysis. Adjust pH, if necessary.

Plains and Rocky Mountain States: Follow the same regimen as for Northeast States. In addition, Prepare your grow lights and seed-starting supplies. Take inventory of your garden tools, and buy more, if necessary.

Pacific Northwest States: Follow the same regimen as for Mid-Atlantic States. In addition, plant fruit trees, roses, and cool-season vegetable crops. Divide perennials like hosta, daylilies, such.

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Bad-mouthing Groundcovers?

Embrace Them, Instead

Gardening articles frequently appear in magazines and newspapers complaining about “invasive”, “aggressive”, “opportunistic” or “energetic” plants that gardeners should avoid. The authors might be well-intentioned, but their opinions are almost entirely based upon personal, subjective experiences which are sensationalized, ill-informed, poorly considered, or they are parroting others. Nevertheless, their alarms are read by other gardeners and accepted as gospel-truth. Consequently, many fine solution plants are shunned, especially groundcovers.

Here’s a list of some that we are told to avoid:

Ajuga reptans - Bugle Weed
Carex spp. - Sedges
Dichondra argentea - Silver Dollar Weed
Euonymus fortunei - Wintercreeper
Ficus pumila - Creeping Fig
Gelsemium sempervirens - Carolina Jessamine
Hedera spp. - Ivy
Hemerocallis fulva - Ditch Lily
Hydrocotyle spp. - Pennywort
Hypericum calycinum - St. John's Wort
Lamiastrum galeobdolon - Yellow Archangel
Laurentia fluviatilis - Blue Star Creeper
Lespedeza spp. - Bush Clover
Liriope spicata - Creeping Lily Turf
Lysimachia clethroides - Gooseneck Loosestrife
Lysimachia nummularia - Moneywort
Mazus reptans - Creeping Mazus
Nassella tenuissima, aka Stipa tenuissima - Ponytail Grass
Ophiopogon japonicus - Mondo Grass
Pachysandra terminalis - Japanese Pachysandra
Rubus calycinoides - Ornamental Raspberry
Trachelospermum asiaticum - Asiatic Jasmine
Sedum spp. - Stonecrop
Veronica spp. - Speedwell
Vinca major - Big Leaf Periwinkle
Vinca minor - Periwinkle

Yada yada yada. The list goes on and on.

What those “experts” are ignoring is that these plants do what effective groundcovers are supposed to do; they cover ground. Without them, we are left with the kinds of problems that bare soils present us – wind and water erosion, soil compaction, weed infestations or bare spots where nothing else will grow, parched earth or boggy soils, and just plain ugliness.

Choose wisely.

Rather than eschew such solution plants, they should be adopted happily, planted selectively and maintained appropriately. Recognize from the start that ground covers, just as any other group of garden plants, serve particular purposes which others may not. Erosion, soil compaction, weed infestations, dense shade, arid and boggy soils can be solved with appropriate plant choices. Groundcover plants are in high demand as lawn grass substitutes, and what grass substitute is worth planting if it doesn’t spread rapidly and extensively.

Set limits.

Know that ground covers will do just that – cover ground. With that in mind, define their limits and stick to them. Physical barriers such as steel, brick or concrete edging are usually effective. Mechanical edging with power tools also works very well, sometimes in combination with physical barriers. 

Maintain them.

Nearly every plant in the landscape requires maintenance. Fertilizing, pruning and occasional mowing might be needed. Gardeners should assess their own willingess or abilities, and select their groundcovers accordingly.

Briefly said, take those exaggerated alarms about ground covers with a grain of salt.

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The Gardener's To-Do List for January

 

There’s not much new garden work to do in January. If you completed all your garden tasks in November or December, you should relax with your coffee or tea, seed catalogs and spring garden plans. In case you’re not sure, here is your checklist to review.

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

Get your seeds ordered ASAP before they’re sold out!
Inspect your cold frames for needed repairs.
Organize your garden tools.
Add kitchen scraps to your compost bin.
Check the wrapping on your evergreen trees and shrubs, if you added any for snow protection.
It’s easy to forget watering during winter. Make sure your garden gets a couple inches each week.
Drain garden hoses and store them out of the way after each use.

South

Start planting asparagus and strawberries.
Be ready to cover crops again with frost cloth in case temperatures drop severely.
Get your seeds ordered.
Plant trees, shrubs and vines.
Add fallen leaves and kitchen scraps to your compost pile.
Prune certain ornamental trees and shrubs, grape vines, and fruiting shrubs.
Make sure your garden gets a couple inches of water each week.
Drain garden hoses and store them out of the way after each use.

Midwest

Organize your garden tools.
Inspect your cold frames for needed repairs.
Get your seeds ordered very soon.
Check your garden beds in case more mulch is needed.
Check the wrapping on your evergreen trees and shrubs, if you added any for snow protection.
Don’t forget to water your garden. Rain and snowfall might not be enough during dry winters.
Drain garden hoses and store them out of the way after each use.

Pacific Northwest

Get your seeds ordered now.
Add kitchen scraps to your compost bin.
Make sure your garden gets a couple inches of water each week.
Drain garden hoses and store them out of the way after each use.
Organize your garden tools.

West Coast

Plant bare root trees, shrubs and vines.
Add compost to your garden.
Refresh mulch, if necessary.
Organize your garden tools.
Keep your plants well-watered.
Get your seeds ordered now before they’re sold out!

Southwest

Plant winter vegetables and warm season annuals.
Be prepared to protect citrus from cold snaps.
Organize your garden tools.
Check frost protection fabric for tears.
Get your seeds ordered right away.
Inspect your irrigation system for leaks. Now is no time to waste water.
Make needed repairs to your garden tools before the spring rush.