Tips & Tricks
Watering
There are many ways to water your garden or landscape. You'll want to consider existing irrigation before you plant. At minimum, a spigot and hose is needed if you want any success to speak of in the garden. You might also have sprinklers to your advantage. Of any infrastructure you could install in your landscape, irrigation is a wise investment. Before breaking ground, make sure you take the time to observe and consider the impact of your plans. Especially, make sure you don't set up a watering system that washes valuable garden nutrients into the street and down your storm drain!
If you don't have an established in-ground watering system, You can quickly take some of the work out of watering with soaker hoses and portable sprinklers. These simple tools will water your garden slowly, freeing you up to work on another area.
Traverse City averages about 33 inches of rain per year, wich is about average for the US. We get more than twice as much rain as the driest parts of the southwest, and about half as much rain as the wettest parts of the south east.
While 33 inches per year may be enough water for some plants, this rainfall is not evenly distributed throughout the growing season. Dry spells may call for irrigation, especially when establishing new plants.
I've heard, the most important water a plant will ever get from you is it's first. Whether planting seeds or seedlings, you should take the time to really soak the area before you add your plant. After you dig a hole to plant in, fill it up with water and let it drain before you mix in your amendments and finally add the plant. For seeds, evenly wet the seedbed with a sprinkle setting. You may be surprised how much water it takes to prepare soil for planting. If you think you might be getting there, dig down into the soil; if it is still dry a few inches down, keep going!
Once established, well selected landscape plants may thrive with little to no irrigation in the average year. According to Michigan State University's Groundwater Inventory & Mapping Project, the water table in Traverse City is often under 15 feet. While some areas of Traverse City are higher and drier, properties along Boardman River and near Grand Traverse Bay have a water table high enough for perennial plants to tap into. Drought resistant Michigan native grasses and flowers can grow roots 5-10 feet deep, so you might not need to water them at all once they are all grown up!
Wood chip mulch keeps weeds down, moisture in, and is a nice even background for the garden as plants grow in.Â
A thick layer of cardboard under a thick layer of woodchips is a great way to claim new garden space. If weeds are very tall, mow first.
Woodchips around a native hibiscus.
Mulching
It is not advised to leave bare soil in your garden or landscape; instead, mulch around plants and even over seed beds with carefully chosen organic material. For mulch, I use a light dusting of shredded straw over seedbeds; thicker straw around annual plants, wood chips around perennials, and thick cardboard under thick woodchips to claim new garden territory on the lawn.
Adding an even layer of mulch has a way of making the garden look fresh and kempt. It's best to do a light weeding before mulching an area, but you can also skip that if you just want it to look picture perfect for a moment.
Wood chips make great mulch for many reasons, not the least of them being that woodchips can be free. Many local tree services will drop a pile of woodchips for you if they are removing a tree nearby. The important thing is to know how much to ask for. One yard is going to be about 10+ wheelbarrow loads, so don't get in over your head. Don't get more than that without a plan and a project happening.
When using cardboard and woodchips to define a new garden bed, it's quite possible to slip on woodchips over cardboard, so be careful walking in the area until it settles. You shouldn't be walking in garden beds much, anyways! Water each layer of cardboard and woodchips thouroughly. You can build pockets for plants as you go (see image) or you can make a solid cover of cardboard, and cut pockets in later when you are ready to plant. If you are already using cardboard and woodchips to garden, you are practically lasagna gardening already! Consider adding a layer of compost or leaves in between for extra nutrients and organic matter.
Lasagna Gardening
In nature, soil is created by decomposing layers added over seasons. When gardening for conservation, we can mimick and speed up this soil building process and build a healthy garden bed, using cheap and free materials. The technique I am about to explain is called lasagna gardening or sheet mulching. This technique is perfect for conservation gardening beccause it is resourceful, regenerative, effective, and relatively easy.
Note that this garden building technique will make an elevated garden area. This isn't bad or good, it's just something to consider before proceeding. To make a lasagna garden bed, you add layers of organic material like compost, straw, wood chips, leaf mold, and plant clippings on top of a thick layer of cardboard to smother any weeds below. This will break down into a great growing medium, but it takes time. Get plants growing in the bed right away by adding pockets of good garden soil (or even potting soil if you are feeling real fancy) where you plant them.
When you make a lasagna garden bed, you are mounding materials that break down over time, the height of a lasagna garden bed is typically most noticeable at first, and settles into the landscape withe ease over time. Adding elevation can create visual interest, microclimates, and privacy to an area. If you you want to add even more material and give your new garden bed a bigger presence, you can bury logs and branches (hugelculture) and build the garden bed on top of that.
I recommend lasagna gardening as a resourceful, economical, and effective way to make a new garden bed. I also recommend doing more research before making your first lasagna garden bed. While you can build a bed like this any time of year, this is a great fall project because you can let it set and settle all winter before planting.
Fall Leaves
We've all probably heard the call to "leave the leaves" for wildlife, but the fact is you can't just let your leaves fall and stay where they may in an urban landscape. Left unmanaged, all the leaves that fall in Traverse City would clog our storm drains, make our sidewalks slippery and stained, cause property damage with rot, and even smother desired plants. Leaving leaves, and blowing them to bag for the treash are luckily not our only options.
The best thing to do with leaves that fall where they aren't wanted, is to rake them up and drop them on a garden bed. This will maintain the fallen leaves as potential habitat. By the time leaves fully drop here, most annual and perennial garden beds are wrapped up for the year and could use these leaves and winter mulch. Keep them a bit away from the trunk, and leaves can also be used as mulch around and under trees and shrubs. If you are working on building up a new perennial garden bed, there is really no limit to how many layers of leaves you can add in.
If you have more leaves than you can manage as mulch, fallen leaves can also be mixed into compost bins. They can get a little matted and weird if you put too many in at once.
Try to keep at least some of the leaves that fall on your property around, as tree litter is great habitat and organic matter for any landscape. Leaves picked up by Traverse City in the fall are composted and used for landscaping projects, so curbside cleanup really isn't a terrible way to deal with extra leaves.
Curb Cuts
Curb cuts have great potential for reducing urban runoff. Using this hardscaping technique, water is designed to flow first to a landscaped area (like a rain garden) and only flows down storm drains if this garden area becomes fully saturated. Traverse City has beguin designing such roadside planting areas in slabtown. Planted with natives, this kind of garden is not only water smart, but it also can be low maintance and habitat friendly.
I don't recommend taking jackhammers to city properties, but you can encourage your local elected officials to utilize conservation concious practices for development projects.
