Calhoun County, AL –Winter is the perfect time to focus on your summer landscaping by planning your hardscapes. What are hardscapes? To name a few: fences, gates, sheds, raised beds, a vertical trellis, etc. Hardscapes show off your plant selections and support your plants. The winter weather helps you beat the heat of summer. Colder temperatures are ideal for digging, hammering, and installation. My first suggestion is to visit Aces Hardware for rebar. They sell rebar. They cut your rebar for a dollar ($1.00) for each cut. Cutting your own rebar at home is labor intensive. I use 7-9 foot rebar sledgehammered to create a strong vertical trellis. I use wire or zip ties to attach cattle panels to the rebar. I grow Clematis vines on these rustic trellises. When you are creating garden pathways you want to have a few mock walls of plant material growing. Why? Mock walls of plants growing vertically create eye appeal to the viewer touring your property. The surprise to turn a corner and enter into a private vertical wall of vines blooming is a nice landscape addition. The winter is providing a gardener time to install fencing or gates that become support for plants to grow on. A few free-standing gates attached to rebar become unique garden art to grow vines on. Older sheds or barns can become blooming shed walls. Attach plastic lattice grids to the shed walls to grow vines. Winter is a great time to build raised bed boxes for vegetables. I use pallets to create raised bed boxes. Several types of recycled lumber can become raised bed boxes. Use your imagination and create some winter hardscapes.
Betty Clark is a contributing writer. She has been an organic gardener since 1998. The signature flower she grows is Dahlias. She has a straw bale garden, a raised bed garden, and an in-ground garden. Both her surnames are agricultural farming families (8 generations). Her hobbies include ancestry research, antiques, continued education classes, and workshops. She also has a background in marketing & promotions including expos. To contact Betty Clark with gardening questions: [email protected]
