Author: Henry Homeyer

Make a plan before you go shopping

I’m a sucker for a good-looking flower. Back when I was first developing my flower beds I would go to a plant nursery and grab everything and anything that was in bloom and looking great. And I believe in buying multiples: not one plant, but three or five! Needless to say, I was in trouble when I got home and looked for a place to plant them. I needed to create new beds for each truckload of perennials I brought home. Even so, I couldn’t help myself.

Now I am more judicious when I go shopping for plants: I decide ahead of time what I need, and how many. I decide where they will go before I leave home. Still, a few plants seduce me with their beauty every time I arrive at a good greenhouse.

By the way, I’ve heard from many gardeners that some of their perennials, trees and shrubs were damaged by a hard frost in May. Leaves that turned brown will not recover — but will be replaced. I am cutting damaged stems of perennials back to the ground and they should re-sprout. Trees and shrubs that have gone through the winter and leafed out are hardy here and should send out new leaves on their stems, even if they don’t bloom this year. They have dormant buds that will wake up, and plenty of energy in their roots. I won’t bother taking off the dead leaves. So stop worrying if yours got frost-damaged.

Peonies, primroses and barrenwort (which is usually referred to by its scientific name, Epimedium) are blooming in my gardens. I recommend that you buy these now, while in bloom, so you know what you are getting — and if you like them as much as I do.

Some peonies are highly fragrant, others not at all. Some have blossoms with many petals (called doubles) while others have just one or two rings of petals (called singles). Doubles are magnificent but often flop when it rains, sometimes breaking their stems. So you need to tie them to stakes or support them in wire cages made for the task. If you see both kinds in bloom, you can decide what you want to buy.

Most plants have a finite lifespan, but peonies seem to last forever. I have a division of one that was my grandmother’s — and she died in 1953. So plant them well: I dig a wide hole and add compost to it, along with some organic fertilizer — which is naturally slow release. Full sun is best, but they will do OK with 4 to 6 hours of sunshine.

Peonies can be fussy: don’t cover the little growing points beneath the soil with more than ¾ of an inch of soil, or they probably will not bloom. If yours don’t bloom, remove some soil from around them as they are probably too deeply planted.

Primroses, generally, do well in partial to full shade. Some do well in dry soil, but most like moist, rich soil. Read the plant tag carefully before planting. Sometimes I will try a plant in one place, and if after a year or two it is not performing well I move it. Sometimes I move a plant more than once to find the right place for it.

Arlene Perkins of Montpelier, Vermont, is an expert grower of primroses. She told me long ago that all primroses like to grow under old apple trees. The partial shade is right for most, and the soil is naturally enriched by dropping leaves and fruit over time. It is under a cluster of old wild apples that I have had my best luck with primroses, particularly the candelabra or Japanese primrose (Primula japonica). They have multiplied by seed and root from a few planted 20 years ago to over 500 plants, I estimate.

Last year I planted many Primula viallii (no common name) in the perfect growing conditions for them. They bloomed magnificently last summer but so far not one has shown up again. The blossoms are very different from any I know: like little red-topped elf caps over pink/purple bases. It said to self-sow, and it is early yet, so I might see some yet.

Lastly, I love barrenwort or Epimedium. I have about eight different species or varieties of Epimedium, and all are wonderful. Epimedium grow in light to deep shade and do fine under deciduous trees, despite the competition from tree roots for moisture and minerals. My resource books tell me they do best in moist soils, but I grow them routinely in fairly dry soils. I think rich soil is the key, not the amount of moisture.

The common red one (Epimedium rubrum) blooms early in spring but hides its flowers under its leaves, which I don’t like. But it forms such a dense shade cover with its handsome leaves that no weeds will grow under it — so I forgive it.

The colors I grow range from pure purple to red to pink to white, with others a variety of yellows. Again, I suggest buying them in bloom — now — so you can see if the blossoms are prominent above the leaves, or hidden below. The common red one (Epimedium rubrum) blooms early in spring but hides its flowers under its leaves, which I don’t like. But it forms such a dense shade cover with its handsome leaves that no weeds will grow under it — so I forgive it.

I like “collecting” different varieties of plants I like and seeing the differences between different kinds. If one kind does well, its cousins probably will, too. So go buy more of your favorites!

Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and the author of four gardening books. Reach him at [email protected]. He lives in Cornish Flat, NH.

Featured photo: Primula vialii is not commonly sold, but is wonderful. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Savor sorrel in soup and salad

Even if you planted your peas and spinach in April, you will not be eating them anytime soon. Despite days of full sun and occasional days of high temperatures, spring in New England is often cold and rainy, too. Our vegetable gardens putter along, but few things are ready to eat until June, or later. There are vegetables you can be eating now, however, if you plan right.

I eat parsnips as soon as the snow melts and the ground thaws. How? I overwinter parsnips in the ground, which sweetens them up and makes them even tastier. I plant parsnip seeds in June. They need warm soils to germinate. Even then, they take two to three weeks to come up out of the ground.

Parsnip seeds only are good for one year, so buy new seeds each year. Plant the seeds an inch apart and half an inch deep. A key to success is to thin your parsnips so they are not crowded. Thin them in July when the greens are 4 to 6 inches tall. They need 3 to 4 inches of space between plants if you want good-sized parsnips. If you mulch the plants well with ground-up autumn leaves or straw, your work is done until harvest time the following spring.

Parsnips are an old-fashioned vegetable, but prepared properly they are delicious. I peel and chop parsnips into half-inch-thick slices and steam them until slightly soft. Then I cook them briefly in a frying pan with butter. At the last moment I add maple syrup and cook at low heat until it caramelizes. Yum! Don’t have any this year? You can buy parsnips at your farmers market or even the grocery store.

A little-known perennial green is sorrel. Once established, it produces a plethora of light green, lemon-flavored leaves, year after year. The French make soup with it, perhaps because the greens themselves pretty much melt and disappear if you sauté them. So for years I just added them raw to salads.

Then I got Deborah Madison’s wonderful cookbook, Vegetable Literacy. She uses sorrel with peas and leeks to make a soup. But I don’t really follow recipes, and found that yes, indeed, sorrel goes well with peas. But I found I can boil frozen peas, then at the last minute add chopped sorrel. Just boil it for another minute, drain, add butter and enjoy!

Another early perennial vegetable, asparagus, is also coming into season. If you like asparagus — and I can’t imagine anyone not liking it steamed and slathered in butter — you should grow it. It is mostly sold as crowns (roots), not seeds, for starting a patch, but seeds are available if you want to start an acre of asparagus.

Don’t crowd your asparagus. The roots are sold in bundles of 25, which is fine for a family of two. Plant them 18 inches apart and 6 inches deep. Buy any of the Jersey hybrids; they are all male and won’t start new plants that will crowd out your established plants. When planting, add lots of compost and some organic fertilizer. They like full sun and plenty of moisture, but will grow with as little as four to six hours of sunshine if that is all you can offer.

To keep on getting good asparagus every year, keep it well-weeded and top dress it with organic fertilizer every year after you finish picking. Mulch is good for keeping weeds down. And don’t over-pick your asparagus: Three weeks is the season for a well-established patch. Don’t pick any in Year 1 or 2. The plants need to store lots of energy for next spring’s production, so they need to grow fronds all summer for that.

Fiddleheads are a great spring treat. They are the new shoots of the ostrich fern, a big shade-loving fern that is common in New England. All ferns come up as fiddleheads, but only the ostrich fern is tasty. There is an easy way to identify them: They are the only ones that have a groove up the inside of the stem, just like celery.

I sauté fiddleheads in butter in a cast iron frying pan. First I brown some slivered almonds in olive oil, then I add the fiddleheads and some chopped garlic or the bulbs of ramps (more on them below). I pick not only the curled part of the fiddlehead but also the first 6 inches of stem. But I only take one or two fiddleheads from each plant to allow it to develop well.

Ramps, also called wild leeks, are easy to grow if you have an open wooded area with maple, ash or beech. They are commonly sold now at farmers markets. Both the bulb and the leaves are edible, so cut off the bulbs and plant them. Next year they will please you by showing up in early spring. If you plant 25 to 50 bulbs each year for three years or more, you will develop a nice patch. Once established they will spread by seed and root.

My favorite way of eating ramps is to clean them and rub off the gelatinous covering of the bulb, and then chop the entire plant for cooking. I fry them in a cast iron pan until the leaves wilt, then make scrambled eggs. They can also be added to anything that requires garlic or onion — they are the same family.

We will have to wait until July or August to get our tomatoes, even those like ‘Early Girl’ and ‘Fourth of July’ that are quick to produce. But if you start some perennials in your garden, you can be enjoying tasty treats even now, in May. I am.

Henry Homeyer is the author of four gardening books. His email is [email protected]. He is a lifelong organic gardener and a 20+-year veteran of the UNH Master Gardener program.

Featured photo: Ramps are easy to grow and a real spring treat. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Dig some holes, see what you’ve got

Most gardeners know that success in the garden depends on many factors: You can’t grow a sun-loving plant in a shady area, for example. And a shrub that loves wet places won’t do well in dry soil. But the key to success is really the quality of your soil. Not only that, any soil can be improved with some help from you, the gardener.

Ten thousand years ago the glaciers made a final pass over New England, grinding rocks into sand and smaller bits that became sandy, clay and loam soils. Soil is made up of roughly 45 percent ground rocks, 5 percent organic matter, and the other 50 percent is air. Surprisingly, plants get their oxygen through their roots, not leaves.

Of course if you have been driving your car over the lawn, it is compacted and has much less air. Even walking regularly over the ground will compact the soil, which you should avoid, especially when the soil is wet. Compacted soil not only has less oxygen, but also is tough for roots to penetrate, and it is more likely to be waterlogged. Crabgrass does much better than planted grasses in compacted soil.

An easy test for soil compaction in your lawn is to take a screwdriver with a 6-inch shaft and see if you can easily insert it into your soil. If not, the soil is seriously compacted. A lawn with compacted soil will improve if you spread a half-inch layer of compost over it every year. Earthworms and other soil organisms will slowly move it into the soil, improving it. Flower and vegetable beds can be loosened with a fork or hand tool.

It makes sense to get a soil test done every three years to see if your soil is improving with your efforts. Your state extension service has a lab that will test your soil for a fee. Get the home garden test, which will tell your soil pH (acidity), mineral content, organic matter content and soil texture. If your vegetable garden is near the house and it was built before 1978, get the soil tested for lead (the law prohibiting lead in paints passed in 1978). Some states include testing for lead for free in the standard test.

By adding compost or aged manure to your soil in the garden, you will increase the percentage of organic matter and improve soil texture or tilth. You should have at least 4 percent organic matter, and 8 percent is terrific. I add compost every time I plant anything, even though my soil is excellent. Good compost contains lots of living bacteria and fungi that help plants.

Your soil test will not tell you how much nitrogen your soil has, as that number varies daily according to moisture levels and temperature. But if you have plenty of organic matter, it probably has adequate nitrogen. Still, I add some slow-release organic fertilizer when planting anything except annual flowers. Organic fertilizer (unlike most chemical fertilizers) provides nitrogen and other nutrients slowly, rather than all at once. This encourages healthy growth, not a fast spurt of green growth.

Two simple tests you can do involve digging holes. Dig a hole with straight edges down at least a foot to see the soil profile. The top layer will be darkest, as that is where the topsoil is — maybe just 2 inches, or maybe as much as 6 inches. The deeper the topsoil, the better. Adding compost and working it in will increase the quality of the soil; the top 6 inches of soil is where most plant roots are (except for trees).

The next layer is subsoil, which is a different color, perhaps a light brown or reddish brown. Finally, you may get to a layer of sand, gravel or clay. Sand or gravel will help your soil drain well; clay will act like a barrier, holding water. If the soil stays wet much of the year, it will be gray.

Drainage is important for most plants. You can test this by digging a hole 24 inches wide and about 8 inches deep. Fill it with water. If it drains out right away, or within 20 minutes, you have very good drainage. If it holds water for a few hours, especially if there has been much recent rain, you are fine. If it holds water overnight, you have a drainage problem.

If you have a drainage problem, you can build raised beds, either with wood sides or just mounded up. There are plenty of companies selling raised beds or corners for making raised beds with lumber you buy locally. Most lumber stores will cut your lumber to length.

Another simple soil test you can do for free is to moisten some soil, then rub it between your fingers. If it is sticky, it is a clay soil. If you feel grains of sand, it is a sandy soil. If it is neither, and is a nice brown color, you have a good loam, which is what you want.

The last test is to take a handful of moist soil and try to form it into a cylinder. Clay soil will hold together well. Loam, which has some clay, will hold together but break apart if you touch it with your other hand. Sandy soil will fall apart when you squeeze it. The remedy for sandy or clay soil is a generous dose of compost.

Rome was not built in a day, the saying goes. This is true for soil, too. It takes years to get your garden soil in optimum condition everywhere. So work on the places where you are planting for quicker results.

Featured photo: Raised beds are great for areas that flood or stay wet. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

An idea for more pollination and less pollution

In 2019 a British nonprofit called Plantlife coined the term “No Mow May.” They proposed that gardeners leave their mowers in storage for the month of May in order to let wildflowers and weeds bloom and provide pollen and nectar for pollinators. And of course the caterpillars of many pollinators feed all our baby birds, so the ramifications are vast.

Early spring is a tough time for pollinators, especially here in New England as there are not many flowers to visit. I like the idea of a simple action that can have positive effects on so many species of wildlife.

The most obvious advantage to you is that you have a few extra hours to do other things in your garden. Next, you are not spending any money on gas or electricity. Most gas-powered mowers do not have the emission controls that are required for cars. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), one hour operating a new gasoline lawn mower emits the same amount of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide as driving a new car 45 miles.

According to the EPA, lawn mowers and other garden machines like leaf blowers, string trimmers, etc., contribute as much pollution as our cars and homes. The statistics on lawns are deceiving; two percent of the land mass in America is lawn. But that is more square miles of land than all the corn grown here. Roughly 80 percent of homes have at least some lawn.

If we mow our lawns from May to the end of October, that’s six months of mowing. Eliminating one month of mowing reduces those emissions by 17 percent. Good for the environment, good for the wallet.

For the last two years I have been installing trees in what was a 5-acre lawn in Hanover, N.H. So far we have planted about 150 of them — and we largely stopped the mowing, just leaving pathways throughout. The owners now have their field mowed everywhere just once every two years to control growth of unwanted woody plants like poplars, which spread by root.

We were delighted last spring to see the field come alive in spring. At least a dozen species of flowers bloomed, probably more. And the bees and other pollinators just loved it.

What happened when we just stopped mowing? Grass grew, and largely flopped over as it got taller. It was nothing like the unruly 2- or 3-foot-tall mess that the mowing guys predicted. We were always able to walk anywhere in the field even though it was not mowed. Of course, when the mowing crew shows up soon, they have big, industrial-scale mowers that will chew up anything.

For your home lawn you may want to pay attention to how tall the grass gets in May. Presumably your push mower or electric mower will not mow tall grasses as easily as the riding mowers used on the field described above. If you can only avoid mowing for two or three weeks, it’s still better than mowing it short every week in May.

Another advantage to No Mow May is that you will probably end up with a better, more resilient lawn in times of drought. The longer your grass, the more food it produces for the roots, allowing them to grow longer and deeper.

Your lawn might complain about being mowed short on June 1. So put the blades up as high as they go. The lower parts of blades of grass may be a little pale in color as they were shaded out by the taller parts. Leave your lawn a little longer this year — it doesn’t have to look like the infield of Fenway Park.

What about bare spots on the lawn? These are often filled in with crabgrass, an annual weed. For large areas, you will need to plant new lawn seed — the sooner the better. Filling in empty spots can be done in May by scratching the soil with a short-tined rake to loosen the surface. Add half an inch of compost and mix it in with the soil. Then spread seed over it — just broadcast it with your hand in small areas. I use a lawn/leaf rake to mix the seed in with the soil: I flip over the rake and drag it lightly over the area, which mixes in the seed well. If you have a metal tamper, use it to press down the planted area. If not, use a small board and step on it.

I never fertilize my lawn, and it looks fine to me. If your lawn is a little feeble, check the soil pH. If it is too acidic, you can spread some limestone. Lawn grass prefers nearly neutral pH.

So take a break from mowing this May.

Featured photo: Drumstick primroses. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Look at all the pretty flowers!

I like to have blossoms in the garden and in vases everywhere. I try to have something blooming all the time, or as often as possible. Right now, in mid-April, I count more than 10 species of plants in bloom, along with seven species of bulb plants that are blooming by the hundred for me.

Let’s start with trees and shrubs — what I call woodies. The most unusual woody is leatherwood (Dirca palustris). This is a native woodland plant that does well in part shade. Although the literature says it prefers moist, rich soil, I have it in dry soil and it does well there.

Leatherwood has small greenish-yellow flowers that appear about the same time as forsythia — mid-April for me. Mine is slow-growing with lovely gray bark that reminds me of beeches. This is a well-mannered plant that stays 3 to 6 feet tall and wide.

February Daphne (Daphne mezereum) is in bloom now with highly fragrant pinky-purple flowers. It is originally from Europe, Turkey and Iran. I love it so much I named a corgi after it (she is now gone, alas). It stays 3 to 5 feet tall and wide. In the fall it produces small red berries.

Magnolias are in bloom now, too. My favorite is the Merrill magnolia, a hybrid that produces double white lightly fragrant flowers. I planted mine as a small tree in 2004, and now, 19 years later, it is about 40 feet tall with a spread of 25 feet. It blooms reliably (nine years out of 10) on my birthday, April 23. It is a good specimen tree to put in a lawn and will do well even if the soil is consistently moist to soggy.

Forsythias are in bloom everywhere with bright yellow flowers. If yours only blooms down low, in the area covered by snow, the buds that were formed last summer were killed by the winter cold. So get rid of it and buy a new variety such as New Hampshire Gold, Vermont Gold or Meadowlark. All are hardy throughout New England.

My favorite early spring perennial is called the drumstick primrose (Primula denticulata). It comes with flowers in purple, blue, pink, magenta and white. The florets are small and arranged in 2- to 3-inch globes on 6-inch stems. They do best in moist to wet soil in sun or partial shade.

Hellebores or Lenten Roses (Helleborus orientalis) are also wonderful spring flowers. Mine have been blooming for a couple of weeks already and will continue on for another month or so. The blossoms are five-petaled and 2 to 3 inches wide with yellow stamens in the center. Colors range from white and cream to pink, purple and nearly black. They are evergreen, but last year’s leaves should be cut off now as they are all bedraggled.

A dainty flower with beautiful finely cut foliage is a spring ephemeral called corydalis or fumewort (Corydalis solida). It pops up in my garden where it wishes, and I am always glad to welcome it. It seems to do best in moist, part shade with rich soil. The flowers on mine are small, long-spurred light blue, but other colors are also possible. There is a yellow variety of a related species (C. lutea).

Lungwort or pulmonaria (Pulmonaria spp.) is a good ground cover that is blooming for me now, too. It is interesting that a single stem might support blue, pink or apricot flowers all at once. All do well in shade or partial shade and better in moist soils than dry soils. It spreads by root.

There are at least a dozen different species of pulmonaria including P. longifolia with spotted leaves and multicolored blossoms. The one I like best is P. angustifolia, which has very intense blue flowers and solid green leaves. I’ve read that varieties or species with more white spots grow better in full sun than those with fewer or no spots.

Wildflowers are starting to bloom, including one of my favorites, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). These white multi-petaled flowers come up from the soil wrapped in the leaves that look like a green cigar. On cold days, or at night, the blossoms close up, but they open on sunny days when the bumblebees are working.

The bloom season of bloodroot is short, but there is double bloodroot which is sterile and blooms for a longer time. Like all bloodroots, the clumps get bigger every year, so you can dig them up and divide them to start doubles in new places. The sap from the roots is poisonous, so wear gloves when dividing any bloodroots. Do that now or in the fall.

We certainly deserve spring blossoms for having survived winter and mud season. But you do have to plan and plant for those early bloomers.

Henry is the author of four gardening books and is a 25-year veteran of the Master Gardener program. Reach him by email at [email protected].

Featured photo: Drumstick primroses. Photo by Henry Homeyer.