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English Ivy Replacements
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Date Posted: Mon, Mar 18 - 12:49 am
- Hi there! We just had a ton of English ivy removed from our yard and were wondering if someone would be willing to help us plan/design the landscape since we have a mostly clean slate! Thanks for your time. Regards, Haven
- Oh! English Ivy is one of my enemies. I bet it feels so great to have it removed from your yard. And you are absolutely correct in wanting to plant in its place. We do not have any master gardeners going out on site to make recommendations like this, but many of our local nurseries are excellent resources for landscape and design advice (ex Sneeds, Cross Creek, Great Big Green house and I'm sure others)! There are even several local native plant growers that offer their services for this as well (ex Reedy Creek Environmental, Parallel Nursery). It seems like you are looking to take advantage of the blank slate you have and design a wonderful space for yourself. However, it you, or anyone else reading this answer, are interested in strictly filling the space left from removing english Ivy, The Northern Virginia Master Gardeners have a great article about replacing english ivy. Their top three suggestions include: golden ragwort (Packera aurea), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and Hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa). Their full article can be found here: https://mgnv.org/invasive-plants/replacing-english-ivy/ Good luck!! Happy gardening!
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Building soil
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Date Posted: Sun, Feb 26 - 5:45 pm
- We are making new raised beds for flowers and veggies. We are designing them with a wooden frame and then approaching the layers as a lasagne garden. My partner is thinking he can use only mushroom compost and cardboard to fill these beds but from what I read we need about 75% soil and 25% mushroom compost. Is this accurate for Richmond soils? Thanks for your insights on how to best lay the ground materials for thriving flower & veggie beds. Much appreciated, Jāna
- Hello Jana, My go-to resource for soil building is the permaculture guide--Gaia's Garden. The recommendation for building soil through compost is to use half green matter and half brown (to attain a good ratio of nitrogen to carbon). Green matter would be leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps (but also manure) and the brown would be dried leaves, hay (includes weeds), straw, pruning trimmings, and wood shavings or similar. The book discusses all issues such temperature of pile, size, turning, etc. The mushroom compost is great but I think the combination of materials will lead to a longer stretch of fertility in the beds. With different materials leaching their nutrients at different times. The beds will consume a lot of mulching material. One way to deal with this is to use any brush you may have collected and build hugelkultur beds. They are basically a mound of brush (tamped down), well watered and covered with organic materials, compost and soil. So you may want to use a combination of hugelkultur and organic matter with a good topping of mushroom compost. I recommend reading Gaia's Garden's chapter 4-Bringing the Soil to Life. The author's favorite method for doing so is sheet mulching (lasange gardening). Happy gardening!
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Pollinator gardens
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Date Posted: Wed, Sep 28 - 11:26 pm
- Thank you for your quick response! The after school program supports 24 students (12 second graders, 12 third graders). We will be researching and designing the gardens from October until December. The program runs until the end of the year, so we can build it next spring or late fall - whichever best meets your schedule. The principal is allowing us to build it in the area where a previous garden was built a few years ago. I believe it will be roughly 5' by 5'. Do you have anyone that might be interested in discussing gardening or butterflies with the students? The presentation can be virtual or in person. Thank you again for your assistance.
- Thank you, this is very helpful. It sounds like a great program! I'll be passing this along to others and will post it as a volunteer opportunity for those to help build and instruct. Please send me all your contact information to this address--jrreilly2323@gmail.com and we can discuss more specifics. We look forward to working with you!
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Reference for design and maintenance
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Date Posted: Fri, Sep 23 - 7:18 pm
- Hello! I realize Master Gardeners cannot advertise towards commercial gain. I’m looking for someone who has a gardening business with extensive experience to plan, plant and maintain garden beds at a residence in Hanover county ( Beaverdam). We are not looking for a large landscaping company. Do you know anyone or where I might find someone with this background ?
- Hello there, I can make some recommendation to make your search a bit easier. Do you have a favorite garden center, one you go to regularly? If so, many garden centers also offer design services. I'm not familiar with any out your way but I'm certain you can find a garden center with these services if you inquire. When you do, you'll want to know whether or not the staff providing these services are certified horticulturists (VCH) or certified landscape designers (VSLD). Additionally, you can take a look at the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers website---- https://www.vsld.org/certified-member/ and look for designers in your area. There are many good choices. I hope these are ideas are helpful, good luck with your plans!!
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Fall garden planting
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Date Posted: Tue, Sep 06 - 9:28 pm
- Hello! I just moved to RVA and Id like to plant a small flower garden in front of my house. The area receives sun most of the day. What plants could I plant that would adjust to being planted in September? Thank you so much! Taylor
- Hello Taylor! You've got two really good things going for you-sun and fall planting. Fall is a great time to plant here, though you may want to wait until it cools down just a little bit. This will give you some time to mull over your design. Your plant palette is pretty much wide open. Richmond is on the border of the piedmont and coastal plain regions, so you can use plants that are native to either of those areas. To get you started I have a few plant suggestions. They are: yellow coreopsis (tickseed), some purple echinacea (purple coneflower), liatris (liatris spicata)-also purple, orange butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) not butterfly bush, one of the native low-growing phloxes-divaricata or stolonifera, maybe some little bluestem grass (schizachyrium scoparium) for a different texture, for some height-oxeye (heliopsis helianthoides) and some shrubby st. john's wort (hypericum prolificum) for its lovely pollen-laded flowers and attractive foliage. One of the best approaches is to find a nursery you like that sells native flowers and see what is for sale at the nursery as the months pass. Ask the staff for information, they love sharing their knowledge! I also suggest reading up on what is, and why plant, a native plant. This is a really useful website--https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58e25c41e6f2e17ea4cb7766/t/5ed00bfcb208c2251311ebc6/1590692887078/Native+Plants+for+Virginia%27s+Capital+Region+Guide+for+download.pdf. Check out the information for the capital region on this website when gardening in Richmond but remember you may be able to use some plants for the coastal plain as well. Before starting your garden it's a good idea to get your soil tested to find out if it's lacking in any nutrients. You can find out about cost and how to gather a good sample by calling to speak with a VCE-MG at our Chesterfield Master Gardener Help Desk weekdays during regular business hours, March through October or call (804) 751-4401 to speak with the Master Gardener on call. Also, the local branch libraries have MG help desks. Check your local branch for the day and time and speak to an MG. They are there to help! Best of luck with your new garden!
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Master plan-ADA compliant gardens
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Date Posted: Sun, Sep 05 - 9:31 pm
- Hello, I am moving from London to Richmond. While I have won awards for garden design, now, I am a handicapped senior. I want a parterre, which is ADA compliant, and am looking for a master gardener to help create. Whole property is 4 acres, 2 lawn, full sun. Where would I find master gardeners around Richmond who know best plants/roses/ilex for the region. Also, any other ADA gardens? Thank you.
- Hello there and welcome to Richmond! Your project sounds intriguing though outside of the work typically done by Master Gardeners in Richmond. It seems you are looking for a master plan of your new property to include hardscape and gardens for a 4 acre property. Master Gardeners work to educate and work with the public on community projects. You may want to check in with the Virginia Society of Landscape Designers--www.vsld.org. Their website will connect you with designers and there are lots of photos from various designers to aid in making a choice. I can't say I know of any ADA compliant gardens myself but I have reached out to another organization to see if they have information that would be useful for you. I will let you know what I find. In the meantime it would be helpful to research the zone you will be living in to see if the plants you have in mind will thrive in your new landscape. The zones for Richmond are 6b to 7a. And sometimes micro-climates provide a situation for plants outside these zones. Please send me another message as a check in so I will be able to give you an update. Allow some time for the other organization to get back to me. Best of luck with this project, It's very exciting!
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Bunnies
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Date Posted: Fri, Aug 06 - 8:54 pm
- What is a good way to keep bunnies out of my garden? They have eaten ALL of my strawberries and are starting to gnaw down the plants. They are carving caves out of my broccoli plants and have eaten the leaves off my Brussels sprout... I put down dichotomous earth and pepper flakes to no effect. They gnawed the marigolds I put in the garden as a deterrent to a nub. They are eating the greens off my onions. They have eaten the entire stalks of all my coneflowers. My pepper plants are getting stripped. They have recently started snipping the top 2/3 of the branches on my blueberry bushes off.
- I know, it's hard to believe such benign-looking creatures can wreak such havoc....but they can. I have not had personal experience but I have heard many tales of woe. My experience has been with deer and despite the difference in size, they both seem to do the same amount of damage, actually no, bunnies are worse. The only real solution is to fence your garden. Not knowing the size of your garden, it's difficult to say how much of a project this will be. You may need to make some adjustment to the design of your garden. It could be done relatively cheaply with some fence posts and rails from the hardware store and chicken wire or preferably hardware cloth. You probably want the fence to be 2-3 feet high so they can't jump over and the wire/cloth should be buried 6 inches in the ground to prevent the bunny from burrowing under. If you have individual plants you want to protect, you can make a 2-3 ft high collar out the wire. But it will have to stay in place year round. There are other methods and products out there for consumers but many have to be reapplied frequently, if they even work. You should also have a look around the house and garden to see if there are inviting places for rabbits to hide or nest. If so, take care of that. I hope you're able to secure your plantings and enjoy the harvest!