The Perennial Buzz by Shelley Pederson

 

“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens; the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house,  and the garden of the mind’s eye.” — Katherine S. White

From what I’ve read on Mother Earth News, it seems that many people wonder about composting in beds. In a previous column, I talked about worm castings and how helpful it is to build the soil and add a slow-release fertilizer for perennials, planting trees, shrubs and vegetables. Today, I’m sharing how I built the flower bed of my dreams during the first few years of living in our home.

In Mel Bartholomew’s book, “All New Square Foot Gardening,” he writes about using three different composts in a new bed. Whether we are planting into the ground or in raised beds, it is important to add nourishment back to the soil. Many vegetable crops are heavy feeders. Long-blooming plants use nutrients to develop those blooms. Growing trees and shrubs need nutrients to obtain a healthy size.

When Neal and I bought our home, I knew I wanted a big flower bed and raised vegetable beds. The soil at our place is pretty good, but on the sandy side. We didn’t have a lot of extra money with the kids young and buying our first house, so I covered the area with raked leaves and brought in a couple truckloads of horse manure. The manure had set for a couple years but was still a little “hot”. By spreading it out over the area and mixing leaves, it composted over the winter. We borrowed a roto tiller to dig the composted area in, and planted zinnias. Something about horse manure: even though it had sat for a couple years, there was a lot of weed seed in it. But hay, it was free. The zinnias grew well and put on quite a show.

The second fall, we brought in a couple more loads of horse manure layered with leaves. By that time, the bed had a nice three-inch top layer of soil. I started collecting field rock for a border from various farmers, nearly all of whom said, “the best rocks are in the field, go get them.” The compost did its thing all winter, and I tried sunflowers in the spring. I planted all kinds and sizes of sunflowers. The kids and neighbors got a kick out of it. Once again, there were a lot of weeds.

The third fall I added a couple more loads of horse manure. In one of the layers, I added in a mix of ratio of 4# bone meal to 1# blood meal with the leaves. My bed is about 35 feet in diameter, and I used around 25# of bone meal and a 5# bag of blood meal. We also had a couple of rescue rabbits, as I was running the animal shelter in those days. Rabbit manure is the bomb. It has virtually no weed seeds and composts quickly. We took a couple tubs of manure from some friends who raised rabbits too.

The transformation that next spring was noticeable. I dug the compost in, and the original soil had gotten very soft. I could easily dig down six to eight inches without effort. Adding another compost source caused the soil’s entire ecosystem to soften. That year we planted cosmos. They were beautiful. Come fall, I put on my last big layer of horse manure, rabbit manure and added in some store-bought cow and sheep manure. I had a plan and started buying perennials on clearance. I planted some fall bulbs, and with them, my dream bed began to bloom.

The soil is beautiful. I no longer add horse manure and simply side dress the perennials. I use worm castings and organic blends such as Espoma and maybe a bag of manure if needed. The bed has a foundation, and it was well worth the work and wait to build the soil with a blend of different composts before putting in a permanent landscape. 

Shelley Pederson is a perennially busy master gardener, lover of nature and student of life.