The following is geared toward shrub beds. Before you set a budget, draw up plans or buy materials, here are some things that may help, or muddy up the decision-making waters. The 20-year plan for a shrub bed is trimming for shape and adding mulch every year or two. Basic rules include picking the correct plants for the sun exposure of a given area and our current or potential water situation. Space the plants at their mature size, even if you think it looks weird. You can use annual plants to fill in the gaps for a year or so. Leave enough room behind the plants for maintenance of the bed, the house, shed, or whatever.

The following is how I work shrub beds. I do not amend the entire bed with compost, expanded shale, volcanic sands, the eye of newt, or whatever. There are 2 reasons for this: 1) Spend the money and effort around the plant and not on bare dirt that will be covered with mulch. 2) The plants will have to live in the native soil so lightly amending the soil you put back in the hole will give them a good start.  Installing landscape or weed barrier fabric will help keep most of the unwanted growth from coming up through the bed for years. Once the fabric is in place and the plants are staged in the bed, the shovel work starts. Dig the hole about two to three times as wide as the pot and not too deep. It is better to be on the shallow side than the deep side. The sides of the holes should be rough, not smooth. A third of the backfill should be compost and expanded shale. I also use Wells Brothers “Jump Start” in the hole. In the past, I have also used lava and green sand, cornmeal, dried molasses, peat moss, and Eye Of Newt.

Adding 3” to 5” of mulching is the last step but one that cannot be skipped. Mulch aids in weed suppression and most important, moisture retention. You can do everything right but if the plants dry out they are goners. The two most popular types of mulch are hardwood and cedar. Hardwood comes out of the bag black but will fade in relatively short order, especially in full sun. Cedar comes out of the bag faded but smells better. I give the edge to cedar mulch due to its insect-repellent properties. You can also find cypress, pine bark, rubber, and dyed mulches. Nothing wrong with cypress but if you must use pine I would rethink your plant selection. Dyed mulches are used when a particular appearance is wanted. For me, the rubber mulch is what they do with old tires and serves no use in a landscape unless you have plastic or metal plants.

And here comes the shameless plugs. We sell lava and green sand, cornmeal, dried molasses, 4 types of compost, expanded shale, Jump Starter, hardwood and cedar mulch plus shovels, rakes, and other types of garden hardware. We do not carry cypress mulch, pine bark mulch, rubber mulch, or eye of newt!

The past couple of gardening years have had their challenges. Hopefully, some of the product availability issues will be settled in the upcoming year. If not we will just have to make do. I sure would like everyone to spend their gardening dollars at Well Brothers. With that said, if you are looking for a specific crop to plant and you find it, do not hesitate to buy it.

Though it might seem uncommon to be talking veggie gardens in December, ready or not, it’s right around the corner. Onions typically show up the first two weeks of January with potatoes arriving mid to late January. Like Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” I think ole Ben (all his friends call him Ben) was talking about gardening.

The things you need to know are the square footage of the garden and what’s in the soil, nutritionally speaking. If you don’t know, do a soil test or have Texas A&M do it. For gardens, I recommend a soil test every 12 to 18 months. The reason is different crops use nutrition at different rates. Since most folks grow 2 to 4 crops a year, testing is critical. Wells Brothers sells soil test kits and provides nutritional soil testing. Once you have the results, picking amendments is easy.

Next, you need a good crop rotation plan. Farmers have been moving crops around their fields for more than a millennium. Even so, I still talk to folks that insist on planting the same crop in the same spot year after year and expect the same results. You might get lucky for two years, but not for three. In the past, I have had excellent crop rotation plans and then I have had some that really stunk up the garden. “You have to have a plan before it fails.” As the saying goes, plan your work and work your plan. The bottom line is that you have 30 days to prepare!

It is time for planting pansies. Pansies like well-drained soil, cool weather, and full sun to partial shade. The well-drained soil should include expanded shale and compost in the bed. Expanded shale application rates are all over the place. How much you put in a bed depends on what’s going in the bed. Since we are talking about annual plants I use 1 bag of shale for every 40 to 50 square feet and add 2 cubic foot of compost. If you do this every time you change plants (crops) you will have plenty of expanded shale in a year or two. Don’t forget the fertilizer. I’m a big fan of Blood Meal (12-0-0) as a fertilizer. Follow the manufactures application recommendations.

I love the look of pansies around the house, in salads, and have seen folks decorate cakes with the blooms. Different varieties have different flavors so taste them before using them. Make sure that they haven’t been sprayed with any chemical pesticides or fungicides. Should I really remind folks to wash them before eating?

Unfortunately the rabbits like the taste of the pansies also. That brings us to fox urine. Fox urine is a predator scent that is available in liquid and granules. Both are effective but the granulated is easier to apply. A good pair of dishwashing gloves is a sound investment if you go with the liquid. The liquid fox urine is poured into an applicator (a cotton ball in a plastic bottle with holes in it). With the cotton ball soaked, place the applicators about 10 feet apart. The smell of fox urine will last several hours to us humans but for the urban wildlife, it will last about a month. Then, just refill the applicators. The granules you shake out in the area to be protected. If the granules get wet you must reapply them.

Before planting pansies, swing by Wells Brothers Pet, Lawn, and Garden Supply for all your soil amendments and deterrents.