Grass 'n' mulch
What I'm obsessing over this week
We have had a rough few weeks of removing grass, in the rain, to expand or alter garden beds. So Claire and I, with over 25 years of professional gardening experience, and 5 postgrad qualifications between us, decided to google which grass has been the bane of our lives, which we never want to see planted again, because we all know you can’t remember the name of a plant whenever you need to.
Fescue, unfortunately. The popular, good one.
Fescue is rhizomatous, which means that there are rhizomes (where the roots meet the above ground plant) which grow along underground, and create new nodes for the grass to pop up. This is great for people who want a fairly tolerant lawn, because the lawn re-fills itself wherever a gap occurs, without needing to drop seeds. If you have a garden bed full of fine, hard to remove grass beside a lawn, though- you will know that fescue can be a massive pain, because you have to remove the roots completely and then constantly fight it as an ongoing issue.
If your grass looks this lush in places you never planted it, it’s likely rhizotamous.
You are probably a bit more aware of the plant kikuyu, which looks rhizomatous because it has these long things creeping along the ground that will even go across concrete. Those are stolons, which for our basic purposes we will call ‘above ground rhizomes.’
Unfortunately non rhizomatous and non stoloniferous grasses clump, which you might know about from trying to mow very bumpy lawns. They all have their benefits and downfalls I suppose. I am a fan of ryegrass, which does have stolons (so the lawn grass isn’t clumpy), but is way easier to manage and weed.
If you want to learn more, you could check out ‘Anatomy of a Grass’ from The Turf Farm.
What staff learnt about this week
Our weekly focus was ‘where to mulch, and what to mulch with.’
Highlights: Most gardens in Wellington are on a bit of a slope, so coffee grinds are great- they stay put! Even the mulch which supposedly knits together doesn’t really stay put on slopey gardens. One of my friends insists that pine tree needles are the best mulch and I have to agree, if only I had a pine forest to constantly rob. But yes, if you can, mulch with pine needles.
Lowlights: A few gardens have had so much leaf-fall this year that we have completely removed them to the dirt. We have also had to remove mulch from gardens that had bugs (aphids or thrip) who were having a field day with the added protection of the mulch. We will gently treat the plants and then add a much thinner layer of mulch very soon.
An interview with a gardening legend
I’ve started interviewing one Famous To Me person a week, someone who either informs my gardening practice directly, or parasocially! If you know someone who you would like to see interviewed, get in touch by popping a comment in this post, or email wellington.gardener@gmail.com.
This week: I have spent a lot of time with my kid this week, who has been off school sick. So here is Persephone Cleary, the person for whom I stopped running bars and restaurants, and started being a single mum who needed an extremely flexible job. She is now 14!
As you can tell, despite being the goddess of agriculture and harbinger of Spring, she has zero consideration for the fact that she can go into an overgrown garden and return with handsful of herbs; she can grow peas, beans and dahlias; she understands the difference between a stolon and a rhizome; she can prune any herbaceous perennial… she tells me she is an ‘inside girl’ and refuses to believe that her knowledge base extends beyond the average teenager.
I really wanted to get a better shot but I am terrified of knocking something over.
She is the proud owner of four houseplants- two perpetually near death, one sanseveria (essentially a succulent) which is thriving, and an angel wing begonia which is carefully curated and absolutely beautiful. Hmmmm. Here she is.
What are you known for?
Going to school. I’m your daughter.
How does it feel to know that I have had my business for 10 years, and some of my clients have watched you grow up on my Instagram and heard all kinds of stories, but you’ve never met them? How does it feel to know that some people contribute directly to your university fund, but you have never met them?
Terrifying.
What are you working on at the moment?
Finishing school.
Do you have any other goals in life?
Go to an aquarium. A big one. One with sharks and jellyfish.
What gardening thing is occupying your mind lately?
(Confused look) keeping my plants alive.
No comment.
Why don’t you water your plants?
I do
No you don’t.
Yes I do it after you have gone when you’re not looking. So you can’t know you’ve won.
What are you waiting for?
Results on my NCEA level 1. I either did really good or terrible.
Do you have any listening recommendations?
Yes. Listen to TED talks on YouTube. I guess listen to gardening ones.
Thanks everyone! Don’t get the weird tiring illness that everyone seems to have lately- it’s a bit crap!