Specialty Gardening: Protection from falling leaves, 1 by imapigeon

imapigeon wrote:
I use a double-layer of roundish river stones about 1 - 2 inches in diameter. They're pretty cheap at our rockeries---nothin' special. I tried gravel-size, but when I want to vacuum or transplant, they are a pain, because they go up the vacuum nozzle or into the soil. The larger stones stay in place and are easy to pick off the surface of the soil. Sometimes I scatter a thin layer bit of pretty gravel or some cocoa mulch on top of the stones, but it's just for looks and I know it will all disappear into the soil.

I started this in desperation about 3 years ago, trying to keep my cats out of my big containers, and it worked. Then earlier this summer when I was cleaning up 6 to 8 inches of last winter's leaves and debris off the rock, and it was easy, I realized I was on to something. Then when my potted citrus and gingers survived 2 weeks of 20-degree temps in containers, and my friend's that were in the ground died, I REALLY realized I was on to something!! I had read articles before about using rocks in the garden to help stabilize soil temperatures around tender plants, and it seems to work with containers, too. The rocks heat up slowly, and then they retain warmth when it gets cold. Seems to keep the soil moisture more stable, too.

Here's a picture I just took so you can get an idea of what I mean. This is a container about 18" across, but I use the same size rocks in my smaller containers---the foliage just covers them all up! Sometimes I add some colorful glass globs or something like that under plants that don't have foliage all the way down to the top of the container.