Let go of gardening dogma - Anne Boulton

While some gardening advice is warranted — a discussion about where best to move this silver mound and when, for example — some is not. I liken it to the unsolicited advice new mothers get at an alarming rate.

It’s best to just sift through what’s useful and promptly forget about the rest.

I’ve heard my share of gardening gloom and doom — most of it entirely well meant. And most of it is somehow based on truth, but somewhere down the line, it got muddled. Here’s what I’ve had to find out for myself.

Myth: You can’t transplant peonies. Not ever. If you do, they will not bloom.

Truth: This is pure piddle—you can, but you must plant them at the same depth as the original spot or they will grow green and lovely, but will produce no flowers. Best time to do it? The fall, after they’ve done their thing.

Myth: You can’t transplant mid-summer. You will shock the plant and it won’t flower, or worse, it will die.

Truth: You can. Make sure you get a good clump of soil, so the roots aren’t bare. Do it in the morning or evening, before the heat of the sun. And water it well at the base.

Myth: You can’t grow vegetables in the front yard.

Truth: This is about as grounded in reason as not wearing white after Labour Day. In my yard, I only get light in the front. Ergo, that’s where the veggies are planted. Neighbour can’t stand the heavy greenery? Just share some zucchini cake and you’ll win them over for keeps.

Myth: Veggies need full sun to grow.

Truth: My Italian neighbour, who lives directly above us in a cement stronghold (and often levers us down bottles of wine and grappa), has an immense garden and all of his leafies—basil, radicchio, lettuce—are either under tarps or in the shade of his grapevines.

I was up for a visit and he explained his mother used to cover hers or else they would turn bitter. The constant sun exposure would make the young leaves tougher. Under the protection of the grape vines, the dappled light offers a delicate sunbath so the tender leaves stay a light shade of green—they are almost translucent in their tenderness.

Likely you have your own list of gardening dogma. Perhaps you have clung to an idea, simply because your neighbour-over-the-hedge knows it all.

It’s an amazingly refreshing feeling to discover a rule can be broken. Go ahead! Flout the rule—you may get amazing results. And don’t trust those gardening charlatans that profess to know it all. They can’t possibly!

Are you sure about something? Please send me your gardening dogma and we’ll find out if it’ll stick.

Anne Boulton is an avid gardener who lives in Sudbury. Contact her at [email protected] or visit her blog at boultonanne.typepad.com/greenboots.

- Posted by Vivian Scinto