How to rejuvenate a 20 year old Juniper bed.
It is showing signs of wear since we got a, now 2 year old, St Bernard.
Occasionally, she lies on it, a spot here and there. I can't believe this rugged plant would die from puppy oil!
There must be a way to bring this once beautiful area back to full life. It is showing haggled wear. I don't want to "dig it up and start over". At 65 and disabled, I can't do the labor or afford to have it done. Besides, it is the front of my home facing the street. The area it is planted is full of creek rock and limestone. It was planted when the house was built in 1981, it has done well until recently.
What material may I use to dress the roots and what feed may I use to bring it to life. I KNOW what family it is in and that limestone is a no-no. The liquid feed I have used in the past has worked well to control that. The limestone is the driveway and this is a 2 1/2 foot raised area against the foundation footing. It was put in by nursery pros and creek rock was used as filler. I believe it needs the right form of rejuvenation but I know not what. Help? (PS: I am a hobbyist Gardener, for 58 years now. Also, the gardening has helped with our vegetarian lifestyle {born with protein allergy}. We have experimented in most forms of gardening; greenhouse/indoor, perennial, biennial, annual, bonsai, orchids, cacti, evergreen, shrub, orchard. berry, etc. [Intro]
Blue rug Creeping juniper.
Wow Doc - You have asked a question that needs attention here at my place too. I planted several of these in 1991 when I built this house. They are located on a small bank beside our driveway. Yesterday as I was driving by I noticed that mine are in pretty rough condition. Not by any of our three dogs, but neglect while this house was rented out for the eight previous years. They are over grown with brush that my hubby will eventually get to cutting down.
I will be able to benefit from the answers that you get, so thank you for asking this question. Good luck in whatever you find out.
Ruby
DrGreendigit, you may want to post this in the Trees and Shrubs forum since there are some excellent resources hanging out there.
Thanks, Friends, for the feed-back.
You may want to test the soil.You can get a kit from a home improvemant store fairly cheap.I got mine from lowes and it was around two bucks.
My personal hunch is that your soil is low in phosphourous/potassium.This can be corrected with potash.[wood ash from a fireplace]Work in around the outside of the root base of the plant.Use a light amount, too much and you will burn the plants roots.You need to know if juniper is a high user of phosphourous.If so you would need to apply more often or in a slightly heavier amount
The following link may help you
This message was edited Apr 7, 2006 10:39 AM