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FLOWERS ON A MOUND? MAYBE...IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES.
I recently attended a party at the Lakeville home of friends. The evening's entertainment included a frisbee-golf tournament around our host's wooded 20-acre lot.
One of my errant frisbee tosses landed in the host's beautiful perennial garden, a two-stroke penalty! While retrieving my frisbee, I paused to marvel at the stunning monarda, phlox, lilies, echinacea, sedum and other perennials.
"What's your secret to such beautiful flowers?" I asked the host.
"Part of it's location," she responded. "That entire garden is on top of our mound septic system."
Wow, I thought. My septic mound is planted to fescue grass and is about as exciting as a gravel road. My Lakeville friend's mound looks like a cover photo from Better Homes and Gardens.
I seeded my mound to grass because that was the recommendation of the contractor that installed the system. I didn't think I had a choice in the matter. Since a mound septic system can represent an investment approaching $10,000, the decision of what to plant on the mound really comes down to a question of maintaining the integrity of the septic system. Remember, the purpose of this space is to process and redistribute your household's wastewater. When it quits working, life gets complicated.
To find answers, I talked with Mark Wespetal, a hydrologist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Interestingly, he informed me, the state has recently broadened its guidelines for mound maintenance. The new guidelines specify that any plant material should meet four criteria:
1. Protect against erosion. With a 4 to 1 slope, you want plants whose roots cling to soil particles in a heavy rain. This is why grass is such a good cover crop for a mound.
2. Frost protection. Plants should be capable of trapping winter snow that insulates the mound from deep freezing. Most short-lived annuals would not be up to this task.
3. No water-loving vegetation. You don't want plants that like to go deep for water, since roots can raise havoc with rocks and pipes in the mound. This rules out trees, shrubs and other deep-rooted plants.
4. No edible plants. This eliminates herbs and vegetable crops such as potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, beets and radishes.
The new guidelines clearly give us more flexibility than the earlier grass-only guideline, but they also raise our responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the mound.
So far, I haven't begun digging in any perennials. I'm still thinking about it. Have any you had gardening experiences, good or bad, on your mound system? Let me know, and I'll share your ideas and experiences in a future column.
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For those of you who start annual flowers indoors from seed in late winter, here's some new stars to look for in the seed catalogs: Gypsophila muralis 'Gypsy,' a compact baby's breath (10-14 inches) with a "loose, airy, casual or 'cottage garden' look;" Celosia cristata 'Prestige Scarlet,' a 15-20 inch celosia with numerous side-flowering branches; and Zinnia angustifolia 'Crystal White,' a compact (4-5 inches) zinnia with pure white, season-long blooms.
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Pumpkin update: I had carried about all the water my weary arms could handle when the rains finally came. Two rains of 0.6 inches in early August, and another 1.3 inch downpour August 10, made my plants lift their leaves in gratitude. I've got about 10 pumpkins in all, with the largest measuring nearly 2 feet in diameter. Now the question is, will the pumpkins reach maturity and stop growing soon, or will one of them truly become "the mother of all pumpkins?"
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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