Spring is here, what should I do with my soil?

Ahh, spring is here and it feels so good!  I love watching Willoughby move from step to step as he follows the ray of sunshine coming through a nearby window.  Such a kawaii kitty.

This year I'm on a mission to replant a flowerbed at the front of my house.  Last year I attempted to dress it up with a handful of penstemon, gaura and platycodon, but without any real plan it just looked a little sparse and disheveled.

I have truly little experience in the gardening world, and before replanting the bed, I was wondering if I should be amending or adding anything to the soil?  

I have more of a clay type soil that gets sticky and heavy when wet, but quite hard when it dries.  I mulched before winter to protect some tulip bulbs that are finally poking through (which I will also replant after bloom), so I was also wondering if I should work the old mulch into the soil and add a fresh layer to the top?

Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks in advance! 

 

I have clay soil also.  It is difficult to deal with at times!

When planting new flowers/bushes, etc.  amend the hole with good quality compost.  Mix it up with the native soil.  This will lighten up the soil in the planting area substantially allowing proper growth.  Add some bone meal to the bottom of the hole also.  Once planted (make sure to allow enough room for roots to grow properly), top it off with some mulch but be sure not to use too much or you run the risk of rotting the bottom of the plant.  Landscapers are terrible about this - they will "volcano" mulch around trees which leads all sorts of disease and pests.  Mulch, should be more or less flat, just barely mounded.

Awesome, thanks!  I had it in mind that I could work the old mulch into the ground, but recently discovered that this could rob nitrogen from the soil.  Following your recommendation for compost, I've read that the addition of compost is the best way to amend clay soil over time.  Supposedly the earthworms will work the compost into the soil, so no need for tilling.  Sounds good to me!  Will look into getting some bone meal in preparation for planting.  

Just splurged on three Sonic Bloom pearl weigela shrubs and can't wait to get them in the ground. 

Thanks so much for the suggestions! 

Ooo! I love weigela.  It's one of those bushes I don't have yet.  My yard is fairly small and fitting in everything I want and like impossible.

I grow roses - I ordered a new climbing one this year.  I think that will be the 10th bush and just about can't fit anymore of those due to light requirements.  Also got my first peony this year.  Can't wait to get it into the ground (right now, it's potted and I let it get accustomed to my garden first).  

I have a ton of hydrangeas including a very old PeeGee type, which is a large tree.  It's quite something in full bloom.  

The whole thing is a work in progress.  I've been at this house for almost 5 years and it was a nightmare inside and out when I bought it.  The backyard, was a literal jungle of garbagey weed trees and bushes.  And hornet nests 

It's much improved now.  

That sounds lovely!  My husband is actually petrified of spiders and is convinced rose bushes are their favourite nesting place!  I wasn't allowed to plant one anywhere near our deck or front yard, so the one that I do have has been banished to the worst place for it (the shady side of the house).  I was gifted it by my mother-in-law, I think it's a pink David Austin 'Heritage' rose.  Despite this, it still gave out a few blooms!  It's looking a little leggy, and still quite small, so I'll probably need to prune it at some point.

Weigelas are so lovely - these Sonic Bloom ones supposedly begin blooming in late spring and continue until frost!  

I've been tempted to get my hands on some peonies, but I heard they can be challenging?  I'm not entirely sure I have enough of a green thumb, let alone experience, to keep them alive.  I opted to try growing a dahlia bulb instead, which is coming along nicely so far.  Also waiting to see if I have any luck with an elephant ear bulb out in a pot on the deck; the one I planted last year turned to a big mush.  

And I was lucky when we got the house about a year and a half ago, there was absolutely nothing  planted.  We have a bunch of dense trees in the back, but the front yard was left barren.  I'm going for a mostly pink and white theme, so what's been planted so far is:

Veronica 'Giles van Hees'

Veronica 'Sweet Lullaby'

Penstemon x mexicali 'Red Rocks' (or so I think; got them from Home Depot and there wasn't any indication as to what variety)

Gaura 'So White'

Agastache 'Kudos Ambrosia'

Platycodon 'Astra White'

Platycodon 'Astra Pink'

Clematis 'Duchess of Albany'

Clematis 'Huldine'

Lonicera x heckrottii 'Gold Flame' honeysuckle

And a 3-in-1 apple tree (will produce Granny Smith, Red Delicious and Gravenstein apples when mature!)

Things to get in the ground this spring:

Weigela florida 'Sonic Bloom Pearl'

Vaccinium 'Pink Lemonade' (pink blueberries!)

Calamintha nepeta 'White Cloud' (catmint, mmm) 

Buddleia 'Pink Micro Chip' butterfly bush

Buddleia 'Ice Micro Chip' butterfly bush

+ more gaura and more platycodon

Basically, I aim for the airy-fairy looking plants that attract pollinators.   

David Austins are my favorites!!!

I have a Gertrude Jekyll (extremely thorny but the fragrance would knock you out!)

Also, Reines de Violettes and Ebb Tide.  I got others from them which aren't specifically bred by them, but their stock is SO healthy that I like to make my purchases through them whenever possible.

Bare root of course.

As far as I know, they do not have spider issues.  I've never seen any on them.  Aphids? Yes.  Japanese Beetles, OMG.  Big super yes lol.

I want to add a Buddlleia this year too - waiting until I find one which is just the right color.

I have a lilac bush also, which was very young when planted so it's taking it's sweet time to get bigger.  Last year I finally got some decent blooms off of it.  The usual azaelas and mountain laurels for early spring color, with a flowering cherry and white dogwood.  Also, lavender which isn't supposed to do too well by me but so far it's been doing ok.  I have daylilies, English Daisies, spearmint and chives thus far.  Oh and some Knockout roses and a couple of smaller miniature type roses.  My front beds still need more in them.  

I'll post photos when I can.  I'm at work so it's a bit difficult 

EDIT: I've also heard peonies are a pain but after reading up on them, I don't think it will give me too much trouble.  I just need to buy some stakes for it.  Very very pricey plant though - it's a Raspberry Sorbet - was $40.  I really wanted one of the Japanese Itoh types, but that, was $80.  I figured I'd wait another year to see how I do with this one first.

Awesome - I would love to see some photos!  I could use some inspiration! 

The blooms on mine aren't too impressive in the photos - I've been slowly learning about deadheading spent blooms to encourage growth of new ones - but if you Google more images you'll see some fantastic blooms!

If I might add a bit here, please....

Around here peonies are not challenging at all. Before my parents moved out of their house, I dug up some of Mom's peonies so I could have them in our yard. They just grow. They bloom in the spring and we pretty much let them grow after blooming until they start to die on their own. Then we'll cut them down. Ants love peonies and I think they actually help the peony blooms, but I'm not sure about that. I can tell you that we don't do much at all for our peonies and they bloom every year. You would probably need to put wiring up or some kind of small tomato basket to keep the peonies "up" because the peony heads are large and they will droop. We have red, pink, and white ones. I don't remember if they bloomed the first year or not, to be honest. 

Now caring for a peony tree might be a different story. Mom had a few peony trees and she always complained about them. About the time they'd start to bloom, we'd get really bad rain storms with a lot of wind. Same with her burning bushes, too. She used to get very frustrated.

We have the same Buddlleia planted in the front flower bed. It's really pretty, but not too big yet. My friend cuts his butterfly bush down to about 3 inches above the ground every fall and it still gets huge every summer with glorious blooms. I'm not really sure how to take care of them.

Have you considered hydrangeas? I love hydrangea bushes. The Blue Nikko is my favorite because it gets large blue globes of flowers. We have two PeeGee hydrangeas, too, one in the front yard and one around the side of the house. They get big and get these huge white globular blooms that can also be used for dried flowers when they're done. They're beautiful.

As for weigela, we have a bit of a fence row of the bushes on the outside of our pool area. Ours are Prince Red weigela and we've had them for years. We try to keep them trimmed down to about the top of our pool fence, but that's getting to be cutting them too short now. Rick is keeping them trimmed now to about 5 feet or so. They are very heavy bloomers. They are beautiful. They give a heavy bloom sometime in June, followed by small bursts in July. 

Lavender would be really pretty. You can grow lavender as a specimen in a garden (we have it out back) or you can plant it as a fence row. Either way it's gorgeous and the smell is intoxicating.

Thanks for the very informative post, Winchester!  I'm thinking I'll go ahead and give the peonies a try.  I read things like they can take 3 years to fully establish themselves before they begin to bloom.  I'll be honest, I've never heard of a peony tree, but sounds too fickle for my liking!

I think so far weigelas are my favourite flowering shrub; they are so beautiful!  I can see new growth coming up on a couple I bought last year already! 

I don't suppose your buddleia is showing new growth yet?  I actually have 4 of them, and I'm really worried that they perished this past winter.  They were all potted.  I live in zone 6, and not one of them is showing signs of growth, even though my veronica, honeysuckle and clematis are growing.  

There's a few other plants that I'm also worried about.  Out of 6 penstemon I planted, only two are showing new growth, which started a couple of weeks ago.  But the others...nothing.  

Only 1 out of three gaura I planted is regrowing, and none of the agastache seem to be reappearing.

I planted a fair amount of platycodon also, but none have reappeared yet; I was hoping to move them around when I re-design my flower bed.

I know that the temperatures have been lower than normal for this time of year, so is it too early to write them off?    

Hazelnut said:

 
Thanks for the very informative post, Winchester!  I'm thinking I'll go ahead and give the peonies a try.  I read things like they can take 3 years to fully establish themselves before they begin to bloom.  I'll be honest, I've never heard of a peony tree, but sounds too fickle for my liking!

I think so far weigelas are my favourite flowering shrub; they are so beautiful!  I can see new growth coming up on a couple I bought last year already! 

I don't suppose your buddleia is showing new growth yet?  I actually have 4 of them, and I'm really worried that they perished this past winter.  They were all potted.  I live in zone 6, and not one of them is showing signs of growth, even though my veronica, honeysuckle and clematis are growing.  

There's a few other plants that I'm also worried about.  Out of 6 penstemon I planted, only two are showing new growth, which started a couple of weeks ago.  But the others...nothing.  

Only 1 out of three gaura I planted is regrowing, and none of the agastache seem to be reappearing.

I planted a fair amount of platycodon also, but none have reappeared yet; I was hoping to move them around when I re-design my flower bed.

I know that the temperatures have been lower than normal for this time of year, so is it too early to write them off? 

  

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I hear you about certain things just not coming up, or failing.

I haven't seen any of my hostas emerge yet.  Very unusual and I suspect they may have been killed off this year.

Last year, one of my hydrangeas never really grew - and all of them had very few blooms when in past years they were an explosion of color.  The past 2 winters have been incredibly harsh and sadly, that one bush may have to be pulled if it doesn't catch up this year.  All are leafing out, but that one is SO incredibly small in comparison to the others.  

As for the peony, you can purchases them in pots instead of bare root.  The one I got is from Monrovia, and was easily 1-1/2 feet when I bought it a month or so ago.  It's grown several more inches since and sent off new shoots also.  I don't see any buds forming yet, but again, it's been way cooler than usual with not much sun.  It looks extremely healthy at least, so I'm hoping for a few this year.

Hazelnut, I see you're in Pennsylvania, too; I'm in central PA, so our growing seasons, temps, etc. are alike. We are in Zone 6 as well. But it's been downright cold in PA thus far, other than a few days here and there of warmer temperatures.

Will check on the butterfly bush when I get home from work tonight to see if it's up. The hostas are up everywhere. We have a ton of different hostas and they're all pushing steadily. I'll go out back, too, and see if our penstemon are up. We have several of those, too, in the back flower bed.

Our butterfly bush has pushed out by about 3 inches or so. It's coming along. Our penstemon is up, too. Supposed to start getting warmer this weekend, so hopefully that will be enough to start really pushing things along.