Nancy Mellen Garden Design

Good day fellow gardeners. I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. It has been a busy fall for me with multiple designs, which resulted in my forgetting to update everyone on putting your gardens to bed. Therefore, here is some advice for garden clean up in the future. First, keep all your leaves as they are the best nutrient for your garden beds. If possible, run them over to mulch them before putting them in the garden, but if that isn't possible, just rake them into the beds to keep the gardens warm and let Mother Nature break them down. It is recommended to put the leaves in the garden after the ground freezes, so that animals aren't nesting under the leaves for the winter, but I can't do that as our garden often doesn't freeze. Second, only cut down and remove perennial plants that have diseases and also remove their leaves. Otherwise, leave the stems for insects to winter over in and birds to eat the seeds. Gold Finches are especially fond of echinacea seeds. In the spring, once we've had a series of 50 degree days, the insects will have awoken and left, allowing you to then cut down all of last year's perennial growth. Do not cut down your grasses until April, as they provide wind protect for the plants around them and look lovely blowing in the breeze and with snow on them. Enjoy the winter, and dream about new plants you want, and where they should go.

For the last few weeks we've been having 90 degrees and thunderstorms. If you have planted any perennials, shrubs, or trees, you will need to make sure to water them if the rain stops and the 90 degree days continue. Any plant drooping should also be included. I recommend watering every other day for as long as there is no rain. My favorite way to water, as I don't have irrigation, is to put the hose at the base of the plant recently planted and let the water run slowly so it has time to sink in. For a perennial I let it run for 5 minutes, for shrubs 15 minutes, and trees 30 minutes. All times vary on size of plant. I set the timer on my phone and move the hose from one plant to the next when it goes off. I sit in the shade and enjoy the garden and a book waiting for the timer to ring. This gets you to look at your garden, get some exercise, plus spend some time relaxing.

Winter has finally started. A walk through your yard at this time of year is beneficial to make sure none of your plants have frost heaved out of the ground, large branches haven't fallen into the gardens, or branches on ornamental trees and shrubs aren't broken. It is safe to cut off any dead or broken branches at this time. If there is so much snow on trees or shrubs that you are afraid that they will be damaged, remove the snow by gently lift the branches with a broom from below to gently shake off the snow.

I hope all of you in New England have enjoyed the rain this summer after last year's drought, and your gardens are lush and beautiful. Leave any perennials with seed head for the birds to enjoy this fall and plant native shrubs with berries to help the wildlife get through the winter.

I hope all of you with decorative grasses haven't cut them down as they look fabulous with ice crystals or snow on them. In addition, they protect other plants from damage by being a wind break. Likewise, I use Panicum virgatum to protect seaside gardens from salt spray as it is very tough and salt tolerant. Come spring I'll let you know what to put on your property near the ocean or the street to help flush salt accumulation through the soil.

On these spring like days, you should check to see if your bulbs are hiding under the mulch or leaves. Brush the leaves off the emerging greens to let them enjoy the sunshine. You can also cut down any perennials or grasses you'd left for the birds and insects in your winter garden. Put the cuttings in your compost so that insects which may be sleeping in the stems can emerge with the increasing warmth.