Most good gardeners have a well-developed sense of place. They are observant. They know their soils. They know their weather and climate. And they’re good at matching plants to the conditions they find where they garden.
We may take all that for granted. But there are many folk out there who want to garden (or want to be better gardeners) but really don’t have a clue. They need help understanding where to start when it comes to assessing their site.
If you know someone like that, here’s a publication that might help them out: Site Assessment for Gardeners. (Full disclosure: I work for Cornell and am a friend and co-worker of the author.) It the 56-page manual won’t be available in hard copy until fall, but there’s a pre-publication version online.
It’s been field-tested and is undergoing revision. Charlie Mazza, the author, has been working with Master Gardeners in 5 New York counties. The MGs have held workshops to introduce ‘regular’ gardeners to the site assessment process and the publication. He told me today that a good sign is that most of the gardeners who took the workshop intend to follow-up and do a thorough site assessment of their own yards this season.
That’s no small commitment on their part. The 11-step, how-to process includes:
- Garden or landscape area
- Obstructions above and below
- Sun and shade
- Hardiness and microclimates
- Wind
- Compaction
- Drainage
- Soil characteristics
- Wildlife interference
- Existing plants
- Putting it all together
When you complete the process, you’ll have:
- A sketch of your yard with information you’ll need to make important planting decisions for years to come.
- A list of existing plants and how they fit into your future plans.
- A checklist of other physical factors that you have discovered during your site assessment.
Final revisions will take place in June. If you have a chance to look it over in the next few weeks and have suggestions for making it better, you can leave comments here or email Charlie Mazza directly: cpm6@cornell.edu
I’d be especially interested to hear if you think the publication would be valuable for gardeners near you. It was written with Northeast gardeners in mind. But I think the process itself is widely adaptable.
I love palms. I don’t care that they’re everywhere in the landscape and stacked on flatbeds headed for the next new development. If I could grow palms here, I’d do it. Growing Amaryllis outside is pretty cool, too.