2. Test soil pH
Frank Almquist of Kingston has been a Master Gardener for about 12 years. He advises home gardeners to find out what the pH level of their soil is before they start a garden. “We’re in a region where the soil has a tendency to be acidic, and most plants don’t like the pH to be more than maybe a half point either side of neutral,” he says. “We offer soil testing down at the [CCE] office and we’ll test a sample for $3 and tell you how much lime or sulfur you need to add to the soil to amend it.”
Before you start a garden, he says, you should really know what you’re going to plant and what pH you have for the plants. “Not too many plants like to have a pH above seven or seven and a half, and blueberries you need a pH between five and six; they like an acidic soil. Vegetable gardens like to have a pH between six and seven,” Almquist says. “And it takes a while for the pH to change; it’s not like a chemistry experiment where you can watch the pH change; it takes a few months. It has to be bonded into an organic form that the plants can digest.”
3. Plan-ahead plant choices
People always want to know what the easiest plants are that need the least maintenance, says Alloway, but a gardener has to be realistic. “Plants are living things and they’re going to grow,” she says. The best solution to easier care in your garden means giving a lot of thought to what you’ll put in before you take the steps to plant it. “Look at your site, determine what the conditions are and plant for those conditions, as opposed to going out and buying on impulse because you find a plant you love. Don’t give in to impulse shopping.” With the right planning, she says, you can make the garden fit the time that you do have.
4. Use native plants & avoid invasive species
The Master Gardners are very emphatic about not using things on the invasive species list. “People like things like Japanese Barberry, because it’s deer resistant, but it’s extremely invasive and creates a thicket in the woods so thick you can’t walk through it, and it crowds out the native plants that are a good host for the beneficial insects, butterflies and birds that we want to attract to our gardens,” said Alloway.
