spring garden: grasses and wood chips

I continue to wrap my brain around the differences between gardening in southwest Virginia zone 7b versus suburban Philly zone 7b. Here in VA everything starts just a bit earlier, plus there is a hot, dry season during the summer that we didn’t have up in PA.

Unfortunately, my brain still operates on my Philly clock, though I have been fortunate to find a Virginia Gardening group on Facebook that is helping me reset my clock.

This week, I am cutting back all the grasses on our property. I’m not really fond of grasses, however, they work visually in the garden.

I had planned on cutting them back next week, but they are making such a mess in the yard! I’m highlighting this particular grouping because I plan on digging out the front of these grasses. They’re about 2 feet in diameter which is a lot for this bed. I’ll transplant the ones I dig up elsewhere; they don’t appear to be very invasive. I’d like to put some small shrubs in here and reposition the perennials I planted last year.

Happiness is free woodchips! Last fall, we had a tree guy come in to limb up almost all the trees, plus remove at least 5 trees on our property. My neighbor found him by keeping an eye out for free woodchips. We spent several weeks mulching the beds, and ahem, creating new ones with the woodchips.

Yesterday, Reese showed up with another load of woodchips. I am working on areas we didn’t cover last fall, plus mulching my new roses and blueberry shrubs which I’m planting along the top of the thyme bed.

To date, over the clay soil and very light layer of topsoil in the beds, we have put purchased compost and woodchips. This year, I added alfalfa pellets in January. Soon, I’ll be adding a layer of leaf mulch, plus starting a regular schedule of compost tea for the plants.

As I put seeds and plants in the ground, I’m already seeing signs of improved soil quality. Every time I dig, I find 1 to 2 earthworms and soil that resembles my Pennsylvania soil.

While I appreciate the free wood chips, I realized this spring that I preferred the darker look of shredded mulch and leaf mulch. I think the spring bulbs are blending into the woodchips.