Can You Start A Garden On Top Of A Preexisting Garden?

Question: We had a small vegetable garden and a few months ago some major life things happened so we completely forgot about our garden. What I was wondering, is do we need to pull up all of the dead plants or can we just bury them there? Would this nutritionalize the soil or would it just be better to pull them all up?

Answer: If the plants were diseased you may have to start anew. You should pull up the dead plants and throw them away. This is important because some disease can live in the soil for many years. You must also before you take any action, you should identify what the problem is. (I.E. Is it Root Root (Phytophthora?, Nematodes?) But if you know that it is free of these pest then you can put it over but generally, you want to removes the previous plants. If you don’t then you run the risk of re infecting the plants. Nothings to stop you from doing that, however. But if You want to, you can experiment with a crop and see what happens then and take the steps to prevent. The reason is I suggest crop rotation if you must plant in the same space again as some “pests” cannot survive in the host’s absence. The key her is prevention and it will save you a lot down the road. Keep the plants healthy and you should do fine. Good Luck!

Adding a Rain Garden to Your Landscape

What is a rain garden and why would you want one? A rain garden is a depression in the ground that is planted with water-loving native perennials and shrubs. Water from a downspout or other source flows into the rain garden, where it soaks into the ground and is used by the plants.

Rain gardens help protect the water quality in our lakes, streams, and rivers by reducing the amount of polluted runoff reaching these resources. If designed and installed correctly, rain gardens reduce the amount of runoff from hard, impervious surfaces by up to 98 percent. As this water is no longer running over the surface of the land, it cannot transport pollutants to nearby streams via surface runoff or storm drains. Rain gardens are easy and inexpensive to install and maintain. Since they are flexible in size, shape, and appearance, they can fit into almost any landscape and lifestyle.

Rain gardens are trully beautiful. Why? In addition to adding beauty to lawn areas with height and color, rain gardens can replace lawn areas, which would otherwise need mowing, with an interesting combination of native plants. Raingardens can also eliminate unsightly erosion problems on your property by reducing excess water from rooftops or driveways. They can complement any home style, as there are many choices of shapes and plants that can be incorporated into your garden. Rain gardens can even attract birds and butterflies! Aproperly constructed rain garden will drain water, not hold it. In a well-designed rain garden, water will soak into the ground in a day. Mosquitoes will not survive in areas that dry out in seven days or less after a summer rain, because the development of a mosquito from egg to adult takes longer than seven days.