Ladue's Dirt Gardener

We have had the temptation of springlike weather recently. As you walk through the garden, you can see bare bones come alive. There are three gardening projects that we can start doing this week. Those are Gumball removal, vegetable garden prep, general clean up, and holly, butterfly bush, hydrangea bush pruning.

The Gumball season is in full swing. You are either grateful for these beautiful trees, or on the warpath with your rake to rid your lawn and flowerbeds of these small, prickly land mines. I once tried to make a Gumball topiary with my glue gun. I even varnished it. It was ugly. Even the gold ribbon wrapped around the stem didn’t distract from the fact that it was lipstick on a pig.

Now is the time to test your soil in your vegetable garden. Last summer’s bounty has robbed your patch of essential minerals for growing vegetables that look like they're on steroids. Worm's Way on North Warson Road has a very user-friendly soil tester kit. It also sells the best bags of Happy Frog Soil Conditioner. It contains soil microbes, bat guano and earthworm casings. Another perk is mycorrhizae, which is a beneficial fungus that colonizes the roots and allows increased nutrient uptake. Yes--these bags are expensive and it seems against our nature to pay top dollar for animal droppings--but they are worth it.

My vegetable garden has chicken wire around it, and a smaller-grade fencing wire dug down a foot around the perimeter to keep out the moles, voles and other varmints. Boxwood bushes are planted in front of the wire to hide these ugly mechanics. I also have espallade apple trees against the back fence of the garden, so it is quite a charming potager. Unfortunately, one apple tree died. A vole had eaten the roots before I put in the wire. I just had to learn the hard way.

Garden cleanup can be back-breaking work. There is no need to go to the gym after you prune back your butterfly bush and haul all the dead wood off to the street for Ladue Public Works to pick up and make into wood chips.

The dead hydrangeas still lingering on the wood need to be clipped. I keep my fingers crossed that as the hydrangeas start to bud we do not have a freeze. If we do, which can happen in our climate, some, such as Endless Summer Hydrangea, will not produce any blossom just green leaves. The Annabelle Limelight and PeeGee hydrangeas are at their peak toward the end of the summer so they have not leafed out. They like our climate and the flowers can be used in dried arrangements that will last all winter.

As spring and summer progress, I will try and entertain you with growing tips and garden maintenance. Meanwhile, get to work and enjoy the beginning of spring.