Spring Gardening Tips

by Joel Barkman

I'm inspired by my family's enchanting spring tour of the Biltmore Estate, a French Renaissance-style mansion near Asheville, NC. It's truly a wowing experience reflecting the tastes and wealth of George Washington Vanderbilt in the 1890 era. A National Historic Landmark with America's largest home, Mr. Vanderbilt's private home was designed as a getaway from the everyday pressures of life.

First class designers were used for this enduring monument. Architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the 175,000 SF home with the assistance of supervising architect Richard Sharp Smith. And renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted did an outstanding job with estate grounds, especially in creating a unique approach to the home - design and practicality.

I've discovered that it is essential to combine both building and landscape architecture to create the calming restful atmosphere of a home. Trees, gardens and premeditated sitting areas bring life, tranquility and beauty to building architecture.

What better time to reflect on the outdoors. There is nothing quite like springtime - my favorite time of year - especially in beautiful Fauquier County. April showers bathe your yard, leaving green grass, soft soil, tall weeds and lots of work! But a little effort now can spare you from hours of yard work later. Here are a few tips to consider for your own garden:

Start out raking your entire yard to remove sticks and leaves. Cut dead limbs from your trees. Then remove old mulch and debris from your flowerbeds and loosen up the dirt around them.

Now is a good time to launch an offensive attack against weeds. Your hands make the best weapons. Old-fashioned hand weeding effectively controls weed growth and spreading. Use a hoe to fight off annual weeds before they set seed; hoeing can spread them.

Mulches can also stifle weed growth if you apply a five to seven centimeters thick layer to your garden. Black plastic laid across the soil's surface can prevent annual weeds from seeding. Mulch helps the soil retain more water and regulate temperatures. Clay soil loses more water than sandy soil and always needs mulch.

Healthy soil promotes the growth of healthy plants, which are better equipped to resist weeds. To add more nutrients to your soil, use mulches that are decomposing (such as manure or compost) rather than bark or wood chips.

Before planting, test your soil to determine its pH level and chemical composition. Your county agricultural extension agent or local garden center will do this for a small fee. Most offices provide a sterile container to hold your sample. They will also give you a questionnaire about your garden, your residence, and the types of plants you wish to grow.

Dig five holes that are six-to-eight inches deep in the area you will plant the garden. Take a one-half inch slice of soil from the side of each hole and place it in the container. Use clean tools. Mix the soil then spread it over a newspaper to dry. Then give it to your extension agent's office. A soil analysis usually takes two to three weeks. If you can't wait that long, try a home soil testing kit available at most garden centers.

Prune your trees and shrubs to improve your plants' health and appearance. Prompt removal of diseased, damaged, or dead plant parts can limit the spread of insects and disease. Pruned trees are better exposed to air circulation and sunlight penetration. Pruning also trains and influences the way young plants fruit and flower.

This year, you might want to dig up a new look for your yard. But before you grab a shovel, make a plan. Evaluate the yard's strengths and weaknesses. Walk around your yard to examine what it has and think about what it needs. Do you want a low-maintenance yard? More shade? More play space for the kids? Or more room for planting vegetables and flowers?

Once you decide what you want, make a list and draw a map marking the location of each new feature. Choose trees, flowers, shrubs and other plants that are adaptable to and grow well in our region. Plants that adapt to your yard's soil don't need as much attention from you. Ask your local garden center, arboretum or botanical garden for advice on what plants will flourish in your soil.

Also, monitor light and moisture levels in your yard. Determine what parts of your yard receive the most shade during the day. Don't plant sun-loving plants in these areas. Also, don't put plants that prefer dry soil in your yard's peak drainage areas.

Buy trees with healthy and abundant top-growth that don't show signs of disease or insect infestation. In their first few years, trees are especially vulnerable and need attention. Give plenty of water to newly planted trees on a regular basis to seal them in the ground.

Let a hose drip at the base of baby trees for several hours so that water can soak deep into the soil and encourage deep rooting. Don't plant your new trees too close to walls or buildings, because they could suffer from lack of moisture or light. Beware that some trees' roots can damage your home's foundation.

Elegant landscapes add value to any piece of property. Try putting short, small plants in front, medium-sized plants in the middle and large plants in back. Leaves, stems, buds and bark all add texture to your lawn. Make the textures blend. Also, consider how your plants will blend in any nearby wood decking and sidewalk pavement.

For the best results, you should artfully combine shape and color. Try ornamental grasses to add texture and color to your garden. They contrast and blend with bright colored flowers. You don't have to mow them, and they adapt to most climates. For shape, choose plants of varying sizes. Texture also is created by from variety. A mixture of plants with large, tiny, shiny, dull, fuzzy, prickly, smooth and serrated leaves can be effective.

When arranging colors in your garden place complementary colors such as red and green, purple and yellow and blue and orange next to each other. Also think about layering your colors. Cool colors, such as blue, green and purple recede while warm colors such as yellow, red and orange move forward. You can use color to create the illusion of space or draw attention to a certain area of your garden.

When it comes to building AND landscaping, remember - just "Ask a Builder."

As always e-mail your questions or comments to joel@goldenrulebuilders.com or write to "Ask a Builder" at P.O. box 294, Catlett, VA 20119.

Barkman is past president of the Fauquier Chapter of The Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.

Read Joel's column weekly in the