Establishing meadow from scratch in rocky soil
goldgirl
17 years ago
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ahughes798
17 years agogoldgirl
17 years agoRelated Discussions
establishing white pines on rocky slope
Comments (11)White pines, when young, have some moderate tolerance for shade, but for best development white pines need more or less full sun. If you have a 90 degree window to the sun overhead, that is OK. If you have anything less, your white pines will grow rather slowly. Norway maples are invasive, but if you can get some other more shade tolerant trees to grow in the poor soil, that may be best. As for my recommendation for larger seedlings/transplants. I can't really believe that anyone thinks that my recommendation has anything to do with the article quoted. We are still talking about very tiny trees. I am currently planting about 350 spruce and pines in sized ranging from 14 inches to two feet. I recommend trees of this size because the roots are longer and when I plant them I can get them down into the native soil 18 inches or more, giving them considerable drought tolerance. I don't think any preference for 6 inch seedlings is based on any good science--the roots are simply too short to place deep into the soil and with a week of hot dry weather they will be goners unless watered regularly. Anyone who claims that using the larger size seedlings and transplants I recommend is creating an undue amount of transplant shock is simply mistaken. I have over 35 years experience planting seedlings and transplants of various sizes and what I am hearing here contradicts all I have seen during that experience. In addition, forgetting about the ability to get roots deep enough to afford some drought tolerance, the larger sized seedlings and transplants are just enough taller that they can withstand weed competition better without quite as much constant weeding or use of pesitcides to prevent them from being overtopped. Sorry Mr, C. Whitcomb. --Spruce...See MoreAmending soil - Part II (Meadow garden)
Comments (5)You have to keep reminding yourself that this won't be a quick project. Since you're starting from scratch on a difficult area, I'd guess this will take several years of trial and error to get a look you're happy with. The stepping areas and feeders/birdbath are great ideas. There isn't much point in adding a lot of mulch to an area that you're not ready to plant yet - certainly add an inch or two, if you think it'll stay there. It will break down and the soil will be better when you get to planting the area, but until you get some rooted plants into that area the new soil and the mulch will erode a bit. I wouldn't pull up the weeds - their roots will help stabilize the area until you're ready to tackle it. You can dump some mulch on them and it'll help kill off the bits growing above ground without removing the roots. If you spray with Round Up (might not be allowed anymore in Halifax area?) that will kill off the weeds without removing the roots, but... Round Up takes a few days to a few weeks to break down, and you've got a slope where the rain will run down and wash that stuff onto your lawn or other plants. Might not be a wise idea :-) I would just dump mulch onto them a couple of times a year and gently pull out what is really loose. It takes longer, but you are solving the poor soil problem that way too. In general I am not a fan of herbicides and pesticides since almost all problems they are used for can be sloved with better cultural practices or gardening techniques. I don't know if this would work for you, but if you want to add a lot of mulch right now, and have it stay put, you could place chicken wire or hardware cloth over the mulch (pin the chicken wire to the ground with stakes). A heavy rain might erode some of it, especially in the steeper parts, but it would help a bit at least. About your seeds you plan to use next spring - a word of caution. Seeds are a great way to fill up the slope quickly and without breaking the bank, but stay away from the generic 'wildflower' mixes you can get in Canadian Tire and places like that. They contain a lot of weedy seeds and very few seeds of plants you actually want to have growing there. Buy a good quality wildflower mix - it won't be that much more expensive and it'll be a major improvement over the cheaper stuff. Seeds can wash away fairly easily, so you might want to consider laying down some thin jute or burlap to sow them in or under (that protective burlap you get to wrap shrubs in the winter would work). Sow then as soon as the snow melts. Or you could wintersow them (or some of them) in containers and plant the resulting seedlings in your nooks and crannies. The Japanese Maple being shallow rooted might be a problem if you were planting it directly on the slope. Shallow rooted plants will have a harder time staying put on a slope, but if you build it a nice sized terrace, then it might be perfect. Select one that is hardier than would normally be necessary for your area because of the cold flowing downhill problem. You have a swampy lawn huh? That's a drainage problem. You have neighbours higher up the hill than you do? That's almost certainly where your water is coming from. Peat moss might mop up a bit of water, but I doubt it'd solve your problem. A permanent fix would be to regrade your lawn, but that's not cheap (or have your neighbour regrade his, but that's a lot to ask from a neighbour). You could also install a French drain type of thing to drain the water to a lower lying area or drain - that's cheaper, and a do-it-yourself project if you want, but still a lot of work. You could decide to grow a bog garden in that spot - irises, cannas, lots of neat grasses... I think your slope provides you with some really neat garden terrain - my 'fantasy garden' always has a nice terraced slope full of plants, but it is going to be more challenging than building 'ye olde generic bed'. BP...See MoreNeed help growing meadow from scratch
Comments (3)Sarah, Tom is right that you need to get rid of the coarse, commoner weed species which will grow once you have cleared the area. Also you need to bear in mind that our choicest wild perennial species grow on fairly impoverished soils so do not add any fertilisers, compost etc. And you need to realise that growing a meadow is not a one off project. It will need mowing annually in order to keep the flowering species going and to reduce the coarse grasses. You will need to remove the mowings, not leave them in place (to reproduce the effect of taking a hay crop). Another point, don't buy 'wild flower mixes' from just anywhere - many contain species which aren't even native to the British Isles. This site will help you get started. There are lots of other sites devoted to wildflower meadows in the UK if you just Google. Here on GW most posters are in the US, so their conditions will be different from yours....See MorePreparing rocky soil for wildflower meadow
Comments (7)James, I would urge you to consider simply "bombing off" existing vegetation with a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate (Roundup, et al), then allowing regrowth and resprouting of additional turf/weed seeds, repeat herbicide app, then plant your meadow plants whenever that sowing is recommended for your area. Your climate is apt to be far more mild than where I operate. Here, we do "dormant seeding" in late fall, after all chance of seed sprouting is safely past for that year. We want the frost action to work the seeds into the soil (it does so perfectly) but this may not apply to your situation. You need to enlist the help-I be there's thousands of folks into what you're contemplating, right in your area-and see what works where you live. But generally, tilling up the soil is neither necessary nor desirable. Too much soil loss. We even use a no-till drill for most of our seeding here in Wisconsin. Working up the soil = erosion and new weed seeds sprouting. ps.......oh, and please don't think you have to remove the rocks. They are absolutely a part of the scene there, and any plants that naturalize in your planting should be types adapted to rocky situations. Otherwise, you're starting your "natural" garden right off the bat with the biggest fight against nature you've ever seen in y our life! Not that you said you were moving rocks out of the way. Just saying.....I had some "prairie" planted around a wildlife scrape one time, by a very good native restoration landscape firm. Soil is stoney where this occurred. So there was this company thinking they had to rake or somehow remove all of these stones. I said why? They are part of what's here.....not foreign to the site. Anyway, that one surprised me. Seemed out of keeping with the job....See Morewillameadows
17 years agogoldgirl
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