Tuesday Tip #1: how to NOT loose your plants

Weekly Native Gardening Tips on Tuesdays

Here in CNY Zones 4-6 we are getting our perennial native plants in the ground before the first frosts of October arrive.

The Autumn planting~ tucking in those sweet plant babies now so we have stronger plants & more blooms next season.

But … there’s one problem…

And you know we all do it.

Pulling the weeds in Spring… but are they really weeds?

We eagerly put our plants INTO the ground in September

and then in Spring we accidentally and regrettably…

RIP THEM OUT OF THE GROUND!

YES– WE HAVE ALL DONE IT….

We have all felt the sorrow of realizing we ripped out our precious plants.

What would have been a lovely patch of plants blooming & feeding the pollinators in our gardens is now in our compost bins…

I myself have probably ripped out more native Monarda than anyone– those little seeds travel so far and the sprouts ALWAYS get mistaken for ragweed!

What’s the cure for this reckless gardening behavior?

You can either grab a cold root beer and then sit crying and cursing in your flower beds…

OR after you’ve had the root beer, a good fit and wiped the tears and dirt off your face~ you can step up your gardening game…

I like to call it the

‘Do You Know Where Your Plants Are Autumn Action Plan’

2 simple steps to solve so MANY ‘operator troubles’ of your gardening!

Tip #1:

If you plant it…Label IT!

While we’re playing in our native gardens in September is a perfect time to …

IDENTIFY YOUR PLANTS FOR NEXT SPRING!

Brilliant idea if I do say so myself!

BUT let’s keep it lazy ahem… I mean … easy ~

After all you have better things to do like actually get new natives in the ground and photograph the bees in your goldenrod..

All you have to do is label your plants as you plant them…

You can use the plant labels that either came with your plant or have some fun DIY with old blinds or yogurt containers handy.

Oh — you are out in the garden and realize you didn’t label the plants?

All season?

No guilt & no worries friends…

Find what the heck that green leafy thing is with these easy plant identification apps

*Credit: the fabulous Amy Fedele at Pretty Purple Door*

So grab those labels, marker & the app. Lots of folks love to use a special garden marker.

Works great.

Until it doesn’t.

‘Label Fade’ … strikes terror in the heart doesn’t it..

All your labeling dreams dashed by a simple faded label…

AND you are back to not knowing what the heck you just planted!

But ya know… plant labels have a lot to contend with after all.

Rain. Buried in snow for months on end. MICE. Hot searing sun.

And let’s not forget the darn MOWERS… the list goes on and on..

It’s tough being a plant label for sure! I wouldn’t want the job!

So what is a gardener to do?

Take Tuesday Tip #2:

MAKE A MAP

Why a map?

Because we all have cursed when we see our garden markers fail to stay on our plant labels ….

AND on a cold snowy Winter day there is nothing like cuddling up with a big sweet mug of cocoa and … YOUR GARDEN PLANNING!

You’ll need the maps then my friend!

So, get yourself some scratch paper, notepad, sketch book or even a large dry erase board – Anything to write on that is large enough for you to sketch out WHERE your plants are…

Grab some pencils and erasers. I myself love to use colored pencils.

Why? Because choosing the color code is good for at least 20 minutes of procrastination from washing the dishes!

Loosely draw your garden map… keep this simple! Directions, shape of the garden or bed, circles and a ‘code’ of plants aka list.

Your map does NOT need to be a masterpiece— this is for YOU and YOUR garden!

Photo Credit Wildlife Garden Map Sketch by Benton Soil and Water

TIME SAVER TIP:

When you are planting this Autumn…

Pre-make the outline of your garden and then take it to the garden mapping as you plant & label your plants!

Don’t forget to add the ones already labeled!

~ You can also walk the garden with your map after you’ve finished tucking everyone in!

Once you have your Autumn labeling & mapping done it’s time for … putting in more plants! Don’t forget to use your map & labels as you are tucking them all in for the Winter!