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PAGE 16C PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. APRIL 15. 2004
IN THE GARDEN. . .
A decade of cultivation is time well spent
Damon Howell / Photos
Georgette Cochran in her garden in Jasper which features many native species. She says plants
that often do best are those that are right at home in our backyards.
Georgette Cochran:
“With gardening,
lots of things
just happen”
By Christie Pool
Mother Nature is the queen bee
in gardening and, as most gardeners
know, you must follow along her
lines to be the most successful.
Georgette Cochran keeps this in
mind as she seeks out native
species for her garden in Jasper and
has found that although many
plants can be cultivated, the ones
that do best are the ones we find in
our own backyards.
When Mrs. Cochran moved into
her home on Sharptop Ridge Road
some years ago, she began garden
ing to cover up an unsightly
propane gas tank. From that early
endeavor she has created a garden
filled with different varieties of
plants that bloom from early spring
through summer.
“It hasn’t been intentional,” she
said. “You’ll find with gardening
that lots of things just happen.”
The Jasper gardener said she has
learned many things along the way
- including that she did things back
wards.
“I should have established
shrubs around the borders and got
ten the perimeters in shape before
planting the smaller things but I did
just the opposite,” she said.
In her shade garden, woodland
phlox, that in early spring blooms
in cool shades of lavender is paired
with with non-variegated hosta and
ferns. In a comer, which lost a lot
of its shade last year when a dog
wood was lost, she keeps a potted
rhododendron with pale pink
blooms that are edged in rose. The
path is further adorned with chick-
weed - a wildflower - and a small
white flowering groundcover.
Many of her plants have been
collected in the woods - on her own
property - and moved to her gar
den.
“I used to go on wildflower
hunts in the woods,” she said.
Cochran said Betsy Barnum
helped with her shade garden and
Barbara McCalister helped with her
flower-gathering forays into the
woods.
As you follow along the shade
garden’s path you come to a bench.
In any garden, a place to sit and
enjoy the fruits of your labor is a
must. Around the bench, visitors
find Blue Star Juniper and Lily-of-
the-Valley.
Many gardeners in our zone 7
region have azaleas planted along
shady areas and the Sharptop Ridge
home is no different.
“When I moved here I planted
36 azaleas and now I have only
four or five left,” Mrs. Cochran
said. “I’ve not had good luck with
those but the deer have gotten them
too.”
Mrs. Cochran pairs some of her
azaleas with the groundcover vinca
minor, an evergreen groundcover
that spreads to cover two square
feet per plant and displays small
purple flowers in spring.
As visitors to the garden move
along the path, oakleaf hydrangea
hide what’s around the bend and
provide an element of surprise to
the further plantings.
“I put them (oakleaf hydrangea)
in that location to hide what was
around the corner so when you
walked around the path what you
saw on the other side would be a
surprise,” she said.
Oakleaf hydrangea is one of the
loveliest deciduous ornamentals. It
has a loose, irregular form and
mounding growth habit and is
native to the shady woodlands of
the Southeast. It grows at a moder
ate rate to a height of 10 feet and an
equal spread. The plant features
large, white panicle flowers during
the summer with medium green
colored leaves. In the fall the
foliage turns deep red and, when
the leaves are gone in winter,
shows its twisting stems and peel
ing bark.
At her Jasper home, Cochran
has found the deer leave these
hydrangeas alone and they are rela
tively disease and pest free.
Another of Cochran’s favorite
plants is nandina, an evergreen
shrub that can reach eight-feet tall
and three to five feet wide. Nandina
boasts delicate foliage and fruit that
turns brilliant red in early fall and
remains on the shrub through the
winter. The plant’s form is upright
and stemmy and is ideal for tight
spaces, such as areas between a
patio and wall or the house. Nandi
na combines well with horizontally
spreading or mounding evergreens.
“I love nandina. It has good win
ter berries. I started out with one
nandina and now I’ve got many
more,” she said.
In a sunny area of the garden, a
New Dawn Rose grows atop a trel
lis. The rose, which was cut back
last year, is already eight feet tall
again and displays showy pale pink
flowers during the summer. Lilies,
daylilies, iris, sedum and ornamen
tal grasses are also prominent dis
plays in the sunny garden.
As her gardening became a
much-loved hobby, Mrs. Cochran’s
husband, Roy, converted an old
woodshed on the property to a gar
den shed complete with a potting
bench to store her supplies. The
location right next to the garden
makes it convenient and an attrac
tive part of the landscape.
Mrs. Cochran advises novice
gardeners to get walkways, terraces
completed first.
“You really should get any hard-
scape in before you start your
plantings, because once the plants
are in it’s hard to go back in and try
to place walkways, terracing or
steps,” she said. “Read everything
you can get your hands on and find
out what works here. And practice.
You can plant 10 things and only
five work and from that you learn
what’s best for your garden.”
Mrs. Cochran had three addi
tional pieces of advice for garden
ers: #1 Get your soil tested (The
county extension service can help
with this)
#2 Amend your soil with com
post/ Enrich the soil constantly
#3 Build a compost heap
Compost piles can be as simple
as waiting on a pile of leaves to rot
or as advanced as building bins and
turning, checking temperature and
making sure the right proportion of
each component is included. Below
is some information from the Uni
versity of Georgia Extension Ser
vice.
Compost is used as an organic
amendment to improve physical,
chemical and biological properties
in the soil. Adding compost will
increase the moisture-holding
capacity of sandy soils, thereby
reducing drought damage to plants.
Compost increases the ability of the
soil to hold and release essential
nutrients. Over time, yearly addi
tions of compost create a desirable
soil structure, making the soil much
easier to work.
Soils can often be improved and
made more productive by mixing
organic matter such as grass clip
pings, scraps of vegetable materi
als, small twigs and especially fall
leaves. To become useable soil
amendments, these materials
should undergo a degree of decom
position brought about by certain
bacteria and fungi (microbes). The
process by which gardeners convert
organic matter for use is called
composting, and the useable mate
rial is referred to as compost. The
practice of applying materials such
as compost, leaves, or grass clip
pings to the soil surface to modify
soil temperature and moisture, and
control weeds and soil erosion is
called mulching.
Organic Refuse Materials --
Yard refuse, such as leaves, grass
clippings, straw, and non-woody
plant trimmings can be decom
posed. The dominant organic waste
in most backyard compost piles is
leaves. Grass clippings can be
decomposed; however, with proper
lawn management, clippings do not
need to be removed from the lawn.
If clippings are used, mix them
with other yard refuse. Otherwise,
the grass clippings may compact
and restrict airflow. Branches, and
twigs greater than one-fourth inch
in diameter should be put through a
shredder/chipper first. Add a small
amount of soil to the pile. Kitchen
wastes such as vegetable scraps,
coffee grounds and eggshells may
also be added.
Ordinary black and white news
paper can be composted; however,
the nitrogen content is low and will
consequently slow down the rate of
decomposition. If paper is com
posted, it should not be more than
10 percent of the total weight of the
material in the compost pile. It is
recommended that newspaper be
recycled through appropriate com
munity paper recycling centers
rather than through backyard com
posting.
Do not use human or pet feces
because they may transmit dis
eases. Do not add meat, bones,
grease, whole eggs and dairy prod
ucts because they can attract
rodents to the site. Also, adding
weedy or diseased plants may
cause later difficulties in the gar
den.
Aeration — Oxygen is required
for microbes to decompose organic
wastes efficiently. Mixing the pile
once or twice a month provides the
necessary oxygen and significantly
hastens the composting process. A
pile that is not mixed may take
three to four times longer to
decompose. Raising the pile off the
ground allows air to be drawn
through the mass as the material
decomposes. Coarse materials
should be placed on the bottom as
the pile is built or placed in the pile
and removed after the decomposi
tion starts.
Moisture — Adequate moisture
is essential for microbial activity. A
dry compost will not decompose
efficiently. Proper moisture encour
ages the growth of microorganisms
that break down the organic matter
into humus. If rainfall is limited,
water the pile periodically to main
tain a steady decomposition rate.
Add enough water so the pile is
damp but not soggy. Avoid over
watering.
Preparing the Compost Pile —
Prepare the compost pile in layers
to facilitate proper mixing
Steps to follow include:
Coarser materials decompose
faster in the bottom layer. The
coarse material also allows air cir
culation around the base of the pile
creating a chimney effect that will
take air up through the pile and
heat it up. Moisten all layers as
they are put in the pile.
Organic wastes, such as leaves,
grass, and plant trimmings are put
down in a layer eight to 10 inches
deep. This layer should be watered
until moist, but not soggy.
In addition to the plants,
Georgette Cochran’s garden
includes other interesting fea
tures like this twig-framed mir
ror.
Apply about a one-inch layer of
soil or completed compost on top
of the fertilizer layer. Adding soil
ensures that the pile is inoculated
with decomposing microbes.
Studies show that there is no
advantage to purchasing a compost
starter or inoculum. Microbes mul
tiply as rapidly from the soil and/or
added organic wastes as from the
inoculum.
Place the nitrogen source on top
of this layer. Use two to three inch
es of livestock manure or a nitrogen
fertilizer, such as ammonium sul
fate, at a rate of one-third cup for
every 25 square feet of surface
area. If these nitrogen sources are
not available, one cup of 10-10-10
fertilizer per 25 square feet of sur
face area will also suffice. Do not
use fertilizer that contains a herbi
cide or pesticide. Other organic
sources of nitrogen are green grass
clippings, lake plants or blood
meal.
Repeat the sequence of adding
coarse material, organic waste, soil
and fertilizer until the pile is com
pleted. Remember to water each
section as you make the pile. The
pile should be about five feet high,
topped off with five to eight inches
of straw or hay, with a scooped out
basin on top to catch rainwater.
Maintaining the Compost Pile
To prevent odors and hasten
decomposition, turn the pile once a
month. Turning also exposes seeds,
insect larvae and pathogens to
lethal temperatures inside the pile.
Turning and mixing can be done by
inverting segments of the compost
or by shifting the pile into another
bin. A properly mixed compost pile
should have no objectionable odors
because elevated temperatures
within the pile will destroy odor-
causing bacteria. Keep the compost
pile moist, but not waterlogged.
Odors may arise either from the
addition of excessive amounts of
wet plant materials, such as fruits
or grass clippings, or from over
watering. A properly mixed and
adequately turned compost heap
will not have objectionable odors.
An actively decomposing pile will
reach temperatures of 130° to
160°F in the middle in just a few
days. At this time, you’ll notice the
pile “settling,” a good sign that
your heap is working.
If the pile does not heat up, the
cause may be one or more of the
following: too small a pile, not
enough nitrogen, lack of oxygen,
too much moisture, or not enough
moisture. Turn the pile with a spad
ing fork or shovel when the temper
ature in the center begins to cool.
Turning will introduce oxygen and
undecomposed material into the
center and subsequently regenerate
heating. The composting process is
essentially complete when mixing
no longer produces heat in the pile.
When the compost is finished,
the pile will be about half its origi
nal size and have an earthy smell to
it.
As the decomposition process
continues, the pile will begin
shrinking and settling. Leaves, for
instance, will shrink to approxi
mately 30 percent of their original
volume. As useable compost is har
vested from the pile, you can add
small amounts of fresh materials.
Bury vegetable wastes inside the
pile to avoid attracting rodents. If
there’s enough material, make a
new pile instead of combining fresh
materials with old compost. Gener
ally, a well-managed compost pile
with shredded materials under
warm conditions will be ready in
about two to four months. A pile
left unattended with unshredded
material may take over a year to
decompose. Piles prepared in the
late fall will not usually be ready
for use the following spring.
Know someone who should be
featured in “In The Garden”?
Send your suggestions by email
to cpool@tds.net or call 706-253-
2457.
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