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| My new year gardening resolution (as is every year) is to spend more time on my gardens around my father's pond. This is always a challenge because the soil is very wet, heavy clay. I fill each new planting hole with good soil and compost. I add mulch every year, much of which gets washed into the pond during heavy rains. I must try to find more plants that enjoy wet feet. My other obstacles are the hot summers we've had. After working a full-time job, I don't have the energy to garden in the heat. Also, the goose poop! Lots of it! One more obstacle, or frustration actually - the horsetail weed has taken over this garden and I have never found a solution to getting rid of it. It's quite annoying to spend hours weeding only to come back a week later to find the horsetail back. But I will try to fulfill my resolution again this summer and take back my garden. |
Horsetail require repetitive spraying.
ReplyDeleteno other solution. You can not dig it out.
It is said it is better to have clay soil than very sandy soil. As sandy soil don't retain any nutrient. But clay soil stores nutrient it just takes time to break it down. We have very heavy clay soil before. But we used gypsum to help break the soil. I think you are doing a great job by adding compost.
ReplyDeleteFortunately we haven't any horsetail as I understand it can be a real problem.
ReplyDeleteTwo good perennials which like their feet wet are, Ligularia and Filipendula.
ReplyDeleteI love a pond as the water feature in a garden, its so therapeutic just sitting there after a hard day's work at the office. Your goose poop can be used as fertiliser as Im using processed chicken poop in my garden too, they sure make the plants fat and healthy!
ReplyDeleteI concur with Donna from GardenwalkGardentalk. Horsetail is such a menace and I've heard nothing less than spraying will eradicate it. But you wouldn't necessarily want any sprays getting into your pond water. That could be bad news.
ReplyDeleteHorsetail is a pest one can't get rid of I'm afraid had it in another yard and finally gave up and turned the garden back to grass..
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly certain my horsetail came in a load of mulch. We'd never seen it before laying down the mulch. The same for red root - it has taken over areas and lawns where we have used mulch. The topsoil from our local nursery is even loaded with weeds. If I had to do it over, knowing what I know now - I would not buy mulch. I would only use compost that I made.
ReplyDeleteGreat project! I am sure you will be able to do it
ReplyDeleteI recommend some HanashÅbu or Kakitsubata (japanese iris) if you can get some, they grow nicely along the ponds and they have beautiful blooms
Nice resolutions! Mine is to just get into my garden this year. Hopefully every single weekend and also after work most days. Last summer my daughter and I were training to run a full marathon and so poor hubbie had to do practically all the garden chores. I don't think he'll ever stop mentioning how hard he worked. :-)
ReplyDeletealoha
ReplyDeletewhat a great project in store, i'm getting inspired with my plot
thanks for sharing that and showing us your garden today
That sounds like a lot of work. Have you tried cardinal flower or blue flag iris for your wet area. Both will self sow if happy.
ReplyDeleteI do have iris in the garden, I used to have cardinal flower in a different garden, I need to find some more or someone who grows it and would like to get rid of some!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the horsetail! Maybe you could put down heavy cardboard with new soil above it like a lasagna gardening. With any luck, by the time the cardboard breaks down the horsetail will be gone.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to invite you to participate in the carnival How to Find Great Plants. It's has a slightly different entry system than other carnivals which is explained here:
http://www.appalachianfeet.com/how-to-find-great-plants/
If you don't have time to write a new post, you could use the October 20th post on morning glories that you've already written. :)