Since we just passed the first day of spring, and the ground seems to be thawing from a long (too long) winter, we figured it was about time to get into that garden of ours. Here to help us get started is Marjorie Harris, editor, author and gardening pro...
Should I cultivate my soil before planting in the spring?
I am a big believer in leaving things alone. Soil has a complex structure and every time you mess around with it, you change things. Instead, remove weeds, do your planting and then mulch. I use a combination of ground up leaves and compost (doesn’t have to be finished) and there are a lot of companies doing this sort of thing. Add a two- to three-inch blanket over the soil, and the worms will do most of the work.
I have a small, sunny yard. What can I plant instead of grass?
What bliss. Clear the space of grass and add a layer of compost and mulch. Plant straight into this. You can have edgers of such plants as carex spp; grasses like hakonochloa macra ‘aureola’ and then add ground covers such as asarum canadense (a native ginger), or for a more tailored look, a Europeum (european ginger) which has a smaller shiny leaf.
You might also want to consider a thyme lawn. Buy flats of plants and divide each one up into four, and plant them about 5 inches apart. Water regularly until they are established.
Which trees and shrubs do well in containers?
Japanese Maples are incredible in containers. Check out the size and get one of the lovely ones with a fountain shape that doesn’t get bigger than 12-feet high. There is plenty of choice.
Small trees such as Taxus 'flushing parade'; it's narrow and gets to 10 feet. Also consider Boxwood (Buxus Spp); Picea Albertiana get smaller form that grows to about 7 feet; and Rosa Glauca (a species rose that has pink and blue foliage).
Shrubs such as Berberis Spp (barberries); any Dogwood (Cornus Spp) works well and consider some of the top grafted specimens that are the size of small trees (c. 'Wolf eyes' and c. 'Samaritan' are my two favourites). Fothergilla Gardenii is a lovely little shrub which has white spring blooms and incredible autumn colour.
Marjorie Harris is the author of Ecological Gardening. She is the national gardening columnist for The Globe and Mail and the editor-at-large of Gardening Life magazine.