Introduction This book is about gardening in a new way--one that is in harmony with how plants grow and interact with each other in nature. All it requires from you, the reader, is that you come to know your plants. Once you acquire that knowledge, you will discover that you actually need to spend far less time maintaining them, because they exist in largely self-sustaining communities. I call this new way of gardening the "Know Maintenance" approach--and it can be applied to everything, not just the garden. Simply consider whether you can care for something before you add it to your daily activities. If you can't, you wait until you're able to. All the plants featured in the book are perennials; all have a very generous, forgiving nature and can have a good life in many parts of our country (broadly speaking, its northern half). I have used only perennials for two reasons. The first is simple: these are the plants I know and grow well. Secondly, I believe perennials provide a solid beginning, middle, and end for durable, diverse, beautiful gardens. In the next few chapters, as you become familiar with the approach, you will start to recognize how and when you can add annuals, vegetables, herbs, shrubs, trees, and containers to these perennial plant communities. But before I turn to the various aspects of my perennial garden system, we need to look at traditional gardening practices, the source of so much frustration and so many false starts and unfulfilled promises. They have given gardening an undeserved reputation for being difficult and time-consuming. Think about how these practices have evolved over the years. They were designed for specific kinds of plants and site conditions, everything from agricultural crops to bedding annuals, perennials, groundcovers, shrubs, and trees. The problem is, over the last fifty years these well-defined cultural practices have been homogenized into common tasks that are now applied indiscriminately to all types of plants and landscapes. As a result, what is routinely done in most gardens has become less life-enhancing and more overwhelming to both the plants and the gardener. Doesn't look very good, either. Here are a few common actions or stances that are detrimental to healthy perennial plantings or that inhibit the plant's full potential: * Rototilling every new planting space, regardless of site conditions. * Incorporating large amounts of manure and compost into every new planting space, without regard to plant selections (and preferences) and existing soil conditions. * Placing plants so far apart, they barely touch each other as they mature. * Applying 2 to 4 inches of wood-chip mulch annually, without considering the product's source and its effect on perennials. * Deadheading immediately after bloom simply because that's what's "done." * Staking, caging, or tying up any perennial that begins to lean. * Cutting back everything and removing all plant debris at the end of the growing season. * Watering too often and too much, or too little. * Using too much fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicides. * Planting only the newest selections, believing they must be superior. * Trusting that the newest market products will save time and effort. * Fearing all insects. * Following tradition blindly. As you walk down your block, drive through your neighborhood, travel from city to city and state to state, you will notice most perennials are living in a sea of wood-chip mulch, irrigated at least three times a week for twenty minutes--or not at all. Most of these plantings will have large empty areas. The uninhabited areas were planted originally, but the plants eventually died. What caused so much decline? No one took the time to get to know the plants. The owners may have read about the plants' flower type, color, bloom time, and height but neglected to fully take in how and where the plants lived their lives and their intimate association with other plants. They assumed that every planting can be maintained in the same way: weed, add wood chips, then replace dying plants--often. Imbalance in the garden develops when we don't understand how individual plants live and flourish and how they relate to other plants. By coming to know our plants, we interact with natural elements. We become aware of our evolving relationships with other living things. We understand the custom nurturing necessary for the plant communities we have developed. In the end, the time we spend gardening becomes manageable, and both we and our gardens will develop, in the best sense, each time we enter them. We must abandon the tradition that one method of gardening fits all plantings. We must be more creative with our thinking, our approach, and our participation. And we need to establish new gardening traditions, modeled after the knowledge, awareness, spirit, and joy we bring to each day. So, what should we do in the garden? Excerpted from The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden by Roy Diblik All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
