Question: I want to try growing flowers from seed in my front yard. Which do you recommend I start with first?
- Sylvia S. (age 10), Las Cruces
Answer: I have had great luck growing flowers from seed, and I think you will too. I try different combinations each year and usually forget the ones that did not ever come up. One tip is to get a mix of wildflower seeds the first year, pay attention to the ones that flower and thrive in your environment, and then buy more of those in future years. To save you the trouble, here are a few that have worked well for me: rocket larkspur, cosmos, sunflowers, blue flax, Rocky Mountain bee plant, zinnias, and sacred datura.
The trick is that they do need some moisture to get growing and keep looking good, especially in bad monsoon years (aka mon-later or, worse, monnever). Spread flower seed around in places that are already getting watered, like within and around vegetable beds, around trees and shrubs, and at the base of vines and ornamental grasses. If you have a soaker hose, you can lay it out (straight, curved, or looped) in the desired spot and plant your seeds along the hose, so you know they will benefit.
For a meadowy look, add native grass seed in with the mix and water them with a soaker hose or sprinkler in the evenings about every third or fourth day (check the soil occasionally and adjust if it gets bone dry sooner or if moisture holds longer). My favorite grasses are blue grama, sand lovegrass, and side-oats grama. The sunflower is an
The sunflower is another tried and true winner for gardeners—and wildlife too. Do not get too stressed when you see various bugs all over the lower leaves. Pests that thrive on your sunflowers are great at attracting beneficial insects and birds. Check out my blog this week for a link to an older column titled, “Sunflowers are Loved by Many” and other resources on attracting beneficial insects (https://nmsudesertblooms.blogspot.com).
Sunflowers can grow from seed to full flower in as little as 70 days, depending on the variety. This is both good and bad, as spent sunflowers are a pitiful sight. Beat the “bloom-and-bust cycle” by staggering your plantings a few weeks apart. Try a handful of seeds once or twice a month through the summer. You will be glad you did, and the birds will be too.
In an archived South west Yard & Garden column from 2001, Dr. Curtis Smith suggested, “For drier parts of the garden, plant Rocky Mountain zinnia and desert marigold. Cosmos takes a little more water as do the biennial hollyhocks. Sunflowers, rudbeckias (gloriosa daisy and black-eyed Susan), Shasta daisy, and many others do well in New Mexico.”
I was excited, but not surprised, to see Dr. Smith recommend my favorite New Mexico wildflower, desert marigold (Baileya multiradiata). In warmer regions, these beauties can grow as perennials, and up north they are usually annuals that grow from seed each year. As a tiny sprout, the fuzzy leaves have an almost blue hue. Later in the season, the bright yellow flowers can be found on disturbed roadsides, desert trails, lakesides, and, hopefully, in my front yard by the end of this summer.
As well as growing them from seed, annual flowers can also be purchased from local garden centers as small plants and transplanted in your garden or patio containers. I am always on the lookout for 4- and 6-packs of prairie verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida, aka Verbena bipinnatifida, fern verbena). If you find them, please let me know where, get a few for yourself, and leave some for me!
Mulch Obliged
Few people are as excited about mulch as me. Maybe it is the name. Maybe it is time for a rebrand. Whatever you call it, mulch can be defined as any material (organic or synthetic) that is added on top of the soil surface to benefit the soil, the plants, the gardener, or, in some cases, all the above. Organic mulches are made of natural plant materials, like woodchips, shredded bark, pine needles, leaves, etc. Synthetic mulches consist of human-made materials, like recycled rubber bits or sheet plastic. Each mulch type has its list of pros and cons. Once applied, mulch may look like it is just sitting there, existing, but that is the beauty of it. Behind the scenes, mulches perform a variety of proven benefits—when applied correctly.
When I recommend mulching, I am referring to the natural kinds, but both organic and synthetic mulches can provide the following benefits: inhibiting weeds, retaining soil moisture, slowing erosion, moderating soil temperature fluctuations (in winter and summer), and others. In addition to all of that, organic, natural mulches can add nutrients and organic matter to the soil as they break down and thereby help the roots of surrounding plants even more.
When we list the benefits of mulch, we tend to breeze through them collectively, but each benefit has a whole story with decades of research behind it. This week we will focus on weed control. It’s a doozy.
Question: Why is a mulch depth of 4 inches such a common recommendation? Answer: That 4-inch
Answer: That 4-inch rule is the minimum mulch thickness needed for controlling annual weeds when using coarse mulching materials (like woodchips or bark). The reason is that a thick layer inhibits weed seeds from germinating and growing by blocking sunlight. A much thicker layer of mulch may be needed to control perennial weeds fully, but we do not have an exact number yet. In my own yard, sections mulched with four or more inches of chipped and ground woody materials have almost no annual weeds and only a half dozen or so perennial stalks poking up. The mulch was applied almost two years ago, and before that, it was a weedy nightmare cycle of London rocket in the cold season and an itchy, sneezy blanket of kochia and Palmer amaranth the rest of the year
Ȧs mentioned above, there are pros and cons to each different kind of mulch, and these depend largely on particle size. In the recent University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources publication “Mulches for Lands c a p e s ” (https://anrcatalog.ucanr.ed u/pdf/8672.pdf), authors Drs. Jim Downer and Ben Faber include a helpful table titled “Benefits and problems associated with various mulch materials used in landscapes.”
Comparisons are made between bark mulches; sawdust or finely ground wood products; shredded wood products; recycled green wastes [also known as " biological waste "], is any organic waste that can be composted; fresh tree trimmings; compost; and stone, rock, or gravel. For the most part, all are good at weed control (when applied thickly enough), except compost, for two main reasons.
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For more gardening information, visit the NMSU Extension Urban Horticulture page at http://desertblooms.nmsu.edu/ and the NMSU Horticulture Publications page a t http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_h/. Find your local Cooperative Extension Office at https://aces.nmsu.edu/coun ty/.
Marisa Y. Thompson, Ph.D., is the Extension Urban Horticulture Specialist in the Department of Extension Plant Sciences and is based at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas.