In this week’s episode of “Ask Danny,” Sid Sexton is again to explain to us how to plant shrubs and give some assistance on pruning crape myrtles.
Sid is the founder of Sexton Garden & Landscape in Daphne, Ala., and is licensed in turf and ornament spraying, landscape layout, and environment of landscape plants.
About Sid Sexton
As the founder of Sexton Lawn & Landscape, Sid is a down-to-earth, honest businessman with a love for lawn care, landscape design, and delivering the greatest products and solutions to his purchasers.
Setting up at age 16, Sid put in his summers working for a regional landscape business and the neighborhood place club and golf system in his hometown of Muskogee, Okla.
After earning his bachelor’s diploma in business administration with a insignificant in horticulture, Sid joined the U.S. Coastline Guard and was stationed in Hawaii, where by he fulfilled his foreseeable future wife, Jourdan.
Sid was our visitor for the 1st episode of “The Inquire Danny Podcast,” and he’s back again! Hear to “Question Danny Episode 1: Enhancing Your Lawn’s Overall health” to capture up, or go through on for a lot more facts about this second interview with Sid.
Planting Shrubs: Ideas for Accomplishment
What are some of the ways our listeners should acquire when planting shrubs?
Sid: Prior to you plant shrubs, observe these three ways:
- Have a strategy. You require the suitable kind of plant for your setting in the proper locale. Assume about room, sunlight and drinking water, then ask yourself these inquiries: Where by will the plants go? Will the space have too a great deal or much too tiny drinking water? Are they the suitable vegetation for the proper place for the daylight they need to have?
- Lay out the mattress. Use spray paint to outline the bed line, then rent a sod cutter to eliminate the turf and vegetation.
- Insert soil: Make certain to develop the soil up. You can use prime soil, bagged soil or an organic and natural specialty blend. The major intention is to increase some form of amendment to the existing soil so your vegetation will have the nourishment they need to have.
When digging holes for your plants, go broad. The gap really should be 3 moments the width of the container. Giving it that place to grow out is substantially additional important than how deep the gap is.
Nevertheless, you never want to dig the hole way too deep to where drinking water settles all-around it. Plant it level to the floor or about a fifty percent inch previously mentioned the soil amount. You want drinking water to drain away from the base of the plant.
Then insert organic mulch, like pine straw, bark and hay. It will develop a mat that will reduce weeds from escalating. Weeds sprout from seeds that can be spread by way of the wind. If you make a thick layer of mulch, it will avoid the seeds from reaching the soil.
Landscape cloth also does this, but personally, I never use it because of the local climate I dwell in. It stays sizzling pretty much year-spherical in south Alabama, so landscape fabric tends to lure heat underground and problems roots. Also, it can thrust h2o to lower places and guide to root rot.
Mulch also insulates the roots, preventing them from obtaining too sizzling and cold. And it keeps moisture in the soil from evaporating too promptly. As natural mulch breaks down, it provides natural make a difference to the soil.
Ideal Time to Prune
What are some typical suggestions about pruning? When is the greatest time and are there unique actions for unique plants?
Sid: All plants call for some pruning to maintain them in condition and encourage healthy progress.
There is heaps of nuance in pruning but a general rule for flowering plants is you want to prune the plant just after it blooms.
Discover which approach to use when in our Standard Shrub Pruning Techniques report.
Pruning Crape Myrtles
Many people have strong opinions on trimming and pruning crape myrtles. What is your view?
Sid: A crape myrtle blooms off new growth. So, some people today hack away at the branches to stimulate this new expansion. But this is not necessary — you can nonetheless deliver new growth and keep the form of the plant with selective pruning.
Pick pruning eliminates an unpleasant knuckle from forming and maintains full foliage. Here’s how to do it.
To start with, prune cross branches — branches that are rubbing alongside one another and growing across from just about every other. You want the tree to improve up and out, so trim the branches that are increasing toward the center.
Then, prune damaged branches and any department that is lesser than your pinky.
Read our manual on How and When to Prune Crape Myrtles for far more information.
Sid’s Ideas
- Make positive you have a approach. If you fall short to system, you system to are unsuccessful.
- If you’re not certain what to do, consult with with a local skilled, like a nursery or landscape architect.
- Do it in levels so it is not mind-boggling in time and finances.
Additional Examining
Question a Concern! (Podcast)
Question a issue and we could remedy it on the “Today’s House owner Podcast!” We also might use it on our nationally syndicated radio broadcast or on todayshomeowner.com.
