Category: Gardening

The Best Way to Lay Mulch

While mulching your landscape can seem simple at first glance, there is more to consider if you want your labor and time to turn into a pretty landscape with healthy plants. Our quick step-by-step guide will tell you how to lay mulch and give you plenty of tips to use along the way.

Step One – Figure Out How Much Mulch You Need

 The first thing you should do is figure out how much mulch you need. To do this, you must figure out your flower beds’ square footage. You’ll do this by multiplying the width and length of each one. The average step you take is 2.5 feet long, so walk along the edge of the beds and count the steps you take along the length and the width.

• Total Length – 2.5 x the number of steps
• Total Width – 2.5 x the number of steps

Once you get the total square footage, you’ll need to figure out how many bags of mulch you’ll need.

• Two Cubic Foot Bags – Square footage divided by 12 to get the number of bags needed to put down a two-inch layer of mulch.
• Three Cubic Foot Bags – Square footage divided by 18 to get the number of bags needed to put down a two-inch layer of mulch.
• Bulk – Square footage divided by 128 to get the amount of bags needed to put down a two-inch layer of mulch.

Step Two – Gather Your Tools

 Once you know how much mulch you’ll need for your garden beds and you buy it, you’ll have to get your tools. You’ll want to get a pitchfork, shovel, wheelbarrow, rake, and gloves. Having everything on hand will help the project go smoothly from start to finish.

Step Three – Clean the Beds Out

 Remove any debris, dried-up leaves, old mulch, and sticks from the beds. Take time to clean up the bed edging along the beds, and use a spade to cut a defined, clean line between the lawn and bed.

Step Four – Water the Beds

If you haven’t had any rain in the area and the beds are dry, water them. The mulch will help to retain moisture. Before you water the beds, you may want to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weeds from poking through.

Step Five – Remove any Weeds

Clean out any weeds you spot in your garden beds. Remember, the main benefit of mulching is that it suppresses weed growth, so you shouldn’t have to weed the beds nearly as much.

Step Six – Spread the Mulch

Shake the mulch from the bag or shovel it from your wheelbarrow into small piles. Put on gloves and use your hands to spread the mulch, especially as you get close to your plants. The mulch should be two to four inches thick because weeds will push through if it’s too thin. On the other hand, if the mulch is too thick, water won’t reach the soil. Once you finish, you can water the mulch to help it settle into place.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Not sure how much mulch you need? Maybe you don’t have time to lay mulch yourself. Whatever the reason, our professional staff is here to help. Reach out and contact us to set up an appointment.

8 Hummingbird Friendly Plants

A Useful Guide to Companion Planting

Companion planting is learning how to grow different vegetables or plants together for mutual benefits. There is a mixture of herbs, plants, and vegetables that all grow well together, but some will bully others. So, looking at this quick guide to give yourself a solid idea of how companion planting works is a good idea.

Companion Planting Cheat Sheet

Before considering companion planting, rotate your crops. Don’t plant the same garden crop in the same spot for more than one year because this can lead to disease spread, pest issues, and nutrient imbalances. If you rotate your crops and you’re ready to companion plant, the following list can help:

Beans

Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, peas, potatoes, radishes, squash, and tomatoes

Carrots

Beans, peas, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes

Corn

Beans, cucumbers, peas, melons, potatoes, and squash

Cucumbers

Beans, beets, corn, onions, peas, and radishes

Peas

Beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, radishes, spinach, and tomatoes

Garlic

Beets, brassica, carrots, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes

Lettuce

Corn, pumpkins, and squash

Potatoes

Beans, brassica, corn, lettuce, radishes, and spinach

Tomatoes

Basil or other herbs, carrots, squash, and cucumbers as part of a three-way companion partnership

Herb Companion Planting

Not every garden is big enough to grow a range of crops needed for companion planting. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of herbs’ benefits, like repelling or trapping pests and attracting pollinators to the area. A few culinary herbs that can help repel pests and protect your crops using companion planting include but are not limited to:

• Basil
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Lavender
• Mint
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme

Ideally, the goal is to allow your herbs to bloom, as this is when they’re at the most fragrant stage. In turn, this is when they do their best to repel pests, and they may even work well to repel deer or rabbits from your vegetable garden.

Companion Planting Mistakes to Avoid

Just like there are plants that play nicely together, there are those that clash. Generally, plants that compete for the exact nutrient needs, like space, sun, or water, shouldn’t be companion plants, either above the ground or at the root level. Likewise, crops with issues with the same plant diseases, like blight, shouldn’t be companion plants. You want to spread them out as far as possible to prevent them from spreading, and the same rule applies to plants with the same pest issues.

Also, some crops will stunt the growth of other plants. Fennel is a very popular example of a poor companion plant that you want to give its own spot in your garden a decent distance away from other crops. This stops it from slowly taking over and taking out your other plants.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Do you have more questions about companion planting? Maybe you’d like help setting up the perfect garden space. Whatever the reason, contact us. Our staff is happy to answer your questions and set up the perfect companion planting setting in your yard.

How to Plant a Garden to Attract Pollinators

Fluttering butterflies, buzzing bees, and speedy hummingbirds are fun to watch as they zoom and flit around from plant to plant, but these key pollinators do much more than provide entertainment. They’re responsible for helping pollinate your vegetables and flowers. So, it makes sense that you’d want to attract as many to your yard as possible. But, how do you go about this? We’ll outline several tips for you below.

1. Create Groupings of Plants
   Did you know that a lot of pollinators are near-sighted? This means that it’s much more challenging for them to find flowers or plants if they’re spread around the yard. To fix this, try to plant your items in groups of three to five to mimic the natural planting style they’d encounter in nature. This gives a can’t-miss target for all of your pollinators to come in.

2. Provide Shelter
   Any pollinator you attract will need a place to hide and feel secure as they raise their young. Examples of spaces include a compost pile, hedge, longer grass, a dead tree, or soil that doesn’t have any mulch. Try to add shelter around your pollinator garden to entice them to come in, stay, and raise their young next to a safe hideout and a food source.

3. Incorporate Native Plants
   Ideally; you’ll include a few native plants in your landscape design in your pollinator garden. These plants are usually hardier and not as prone to issues with diseases and pests when you compare them to important plants. A few examples include purple coneflower, Liatris aspera, coreopsis, swamp milkweed, California poppy, and manzanita. If you’re not sure which native plants will thrive in your area, you can contact your local extension office to get a list of native plants. You can group them with non-native plants that have similar growing needs.

4. Consider Planting Trees
   Include shrubs and trees in your pollinator garden plans. A crabapple or maple tree will come alive with activity during the blooming period, and most pollinators will stick around for more blooms throughout the summer months. Shrubs like butterfly bush, viburnum, summersweet, and spirea all come packed with nectar-laden flowers that pollinators find impossible to resist. If you add these trees with your shade flowers, your pollinators will have layers of areas to visit. As a bonus, the trees can offer shelter.

5. Stagger the Bloom Times
   One big component to getting pollinators to stick around once you lure them in is to offer an ongoing nectar source. Also, consider the colors as different pollinators respond to different colors. Bees like yellow, blue, purple, and white, while hummingbirds are attracted to red-hued flowers. Butterflies love purple or red tones. Fill your yard with all these colors, and pick plants with different bloom times. Planting flowers in different heights, shapes, and growth habits will also help draw pollinators in.

6. Don’t Forget the Water
   Even pollinators like access to a nice water source, and it’s relatively easy to add one to your pollinator garden. Consider putting a bird bath in, or you can put a shallow pond or small fountain in. As a bonus, this can give you the sound of running water, and this is something very relaxing to listen to as you go about your day.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

If you’re going to create a pollinator garden but you’re not sure where to start, contact us. Along with having knowledge of the native plants, we can help you set up a haven that draws the pollinators in all spring and summer long.

Plants for Retaining Walls

Retaining walls may not look stunning on their own, but they perform a very important function in helping control erosion. If you’re someone who has a retaining wall running through their property, you can easily dress it up by adding plants around it that camouflage the wall or that provide visual interest by cascading down the side. We’re going to outline several functional and pretty plants for your retaining wall below.

1. Creeping Thyme
   This plant is very popular because it is a pretty cascading plant. It’s a low-growing perennial that creates a very dense mat of tiny leaves, and it’ll spread very rapidly over and down your retaining wall. It’ll thrive in a huge range of conditions, and it’s very easy to grow. There are also several types of creeping thyme available, and they offer different leaf textures and colors with hundreds of tiny flowers.

2. Cascading Rock Cress
   This plant is also called Aubretia, and it’s a plant that virtually anyone can grow. You’ll get a herbaceous perennial that thrives in rugged environments. It likes to be in at least partial sun if you can’t put it in a full sun location with well-draining soil. When it grows, it hugs the surfaces of walls and rocks. Over the years, this low-maintenance plant will give you a huge mat of flowers and green foliage with a very pretty but light scent.

3. Tumbling Losetto Tomato
   A tumbling tomato won’t give you coverage for your retaining wall all year-round, but they do produce delicious fruit in the summer months. To get the biggest visual impact, plant a row of cascading tomato plants along the top of your retaining wall. As they grow, they’ll spill over the wall with vibrant green leaves, cheerful yellow flowers, and then sweet and succulent red tomatoes.

4. Wave Petunia
   If you’re trying to cover your retaining wall as quickly as possible, it’s hard to beat the petunia’s speed. These are low-maintenance and colorful annuals that will spread up to four feet at full maturity, and they give you a stunning splash of colors. Petunias love to be in well-draining soil in a sunny location so they can be happy at the top of your retaining wall. They’ll also flower again and again throughout the spring and summer months without any deadheading.

5. Trailing Lobelia
   Most gardeners already know what lobelia is, and it’s a popular plant around the world. There are now over 400 lobelia types available, and it’s easy to find one to fit your growing zone. Trailing cultivars create a nice visual display with star-shaped, tiny flowers that cascade. They love warm locations, so you should put them in full sun for the best results. You can treat them as perennials in some zones, but they’re annuals in cooler zones.

Evergreen Landscaping Has Plants for Your Retaining Walls

Don’t leave your retaining wall bare and sticking out like a sore thumb in your yard or garden. Instead, contact the professionals at Evergreen Landscaping and allow us to help you choose the perfect plants to add visual interest and pops of color to your space all summer long.

7 Flowering Shrubs Ideas to Add to Your Yard

Smart Watering Tips for Your Garden

Learning how to water the plants in your garden can help you conserve water, and it’s better for the plants as a whole because some require less water than others to thrive. You can do several things to water your garden in a smart way, and we’ll outline several great tips below.

1. Water at the Correct Time
   Did you know that there’s a correct time to water each day? When you choose to water will make a big difference in how much water your plants can absorb. Watering your garden very early in the morning will allow them to absorb the water before the heat of the day causes it to evaporate. Also, any water that gets on the plant’s foliage will dry before nightfall, and this reduces the risk of fungal infections and slugs.

2. Aim the Water Carefully
   If you’re watering your garden by hand; you want to aim your water stream right at your plant’s base where they need it most. This helps to keep your foliage dry, and it can prevent it from scorching in the sun. Also, giving your plants a very good soaking every now and then is much better than watering them often but lightly. Soaking them encourages an extensive and strong root system.

3. Mulch Regularly
   Many people like how mulch looks in the flower or garden bed, but mulch also serves a very functional purpose. Adding a one to three-inch layer of mulch around your plants keeps the soil and root system cooler. It also slows how quickly the water evaporates, and this can reduce how much you have to water in the hotter summer weather. The best mulch is a well-rotted organic matter with grass clippings, and compost will nourish your plants too.

4. Collect Rainwater
   If you have a large garden, you can easily spend a decent amount of money each year to keep it well-watered. To offset this, get rain barrels and collect rainwater to use in your garden. You can collect rainwater from your greenhouse, house, or garden shed. You do want to make sure that you put the barrels close to wherever you’re going to need it, so you don’t have to haul water long distances.

5. Practice Selectively Watering
   You should only water when your plants really need it. Since it can be difficult to judge by looking at the soil, you can get a smaller trowel and dig a small hole by your plants. If the soil is dry a few inches down, this is a good indicator that it’s time to water. Also, try to group plants with the same water needs together, so you only have to water parts of your garden periodically.

6. Remove the Weeds
   Weeds present stiff competition for your plants for resources, including water. To prevent this, you should make a point to go out a few times a week and remove any weeds you see. Your plants will get more water and nutrients to grow, and you won’t have to worry about feeding and watering the unwanted weeds.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Do you want more watering tips? Maybe you want to install an irrigation system to make the watering process easier. Contact us, and we’ll work with you to ensure that your garden thrives while you save water.

What is Soil Blocking?

For nearly a century, the Dutch have been developing and refining soil blocking. In Central America, planting a variety of seeds in soil blocks dates back nearly 2,000 years. But, what is soil blocking, and how does it help your plants?

Defining Soil Blocking

Soil blocking is exactly what it sounds like. When you use this planting method, you use the potting mix as both the growing medium and container for your seeds. You use blocking tools to create compact soil blocks to add your seedlings in. Since most plant roots evolve to grow in the soil where it’s dark, they will air-prune the roots and grow back into the soil block instead of sticking out into the air. In turn, this maximizes the soil volume and stops your seedlings from becoming stunted and root-bound.

How to Use Soil Blockers

You’ll need the soil blockers themselves with a set of two inserts. You can get mini inserts or larger ones for this project. You’ll also need potting soil, and the best type to have is soil that is a mix of half soil and half peat moss or coconut coir. Get a tub and fill it with the soil, and have tap water on hand to rinse the blockers between each set. Finally, bottom trays are a must to hold your seed blocks, and you’ll also need your seeds.

1. Get the Potting Mix Ready
   Pour your potting mix into your shallow tub and add enough water to make it moist. If you squeeze the soil, it shouldn’t drip, but it should feel wet.

2. Fill Your Soil Blockers
   Once the soil is ready, fill the soil blockers. You want to dig them down into your potting mix and really pack it in. Gently shifting the blockers from side to side will help compact the soil more. You can also manually fill each block. Once you’re sure the blocks are nicely compacted, scrape any excess off the bottom.

3. Release the Blocks
   Place your blocker on your seed tray or flat sheet and release your potting blocks. The goal is to get tightly compacted soil blocks that stick together and don’t crumble or slump over when you release them. Rinse the blockers between each set to get more consistent results.

4. Add Your Seeds
   Now that you have your blocks of soil, it’s time to add one to two seeds per block. You should sow them two times their depth. Any plants that like extra heat to grow will love this method, including peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and ground cherry tomatoes. You’ll want to water your seed blocks from the bottom, so place them in shallow trays that make it easy to pour water in. Allow the top millimeter of each block to dry before you water it again to prevent mildew.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Do you want to know more about soil blocking? Maybe you have questions about the process, or you’re unsure if this method will work well for your needs. Whatever the reason, we encourage you to reach out and contact our professional staff for assistance. We’re happy to start your garden off on a strong note.