You’ve Heard of Right-Plant, Right-Place: Now Add Right Maintenance

Now we can also add in our gardening tasks by asking ourselves a few questions and thinking through how they might sit within the triangle. And, then ultimately asking whether they match the site conditions and plant material that’s already there. In other words, will the tasks alter the conditions to the point where they are actually creating new issues.

I usually start with;

1. What are we doing?
2. Why are we doing it?
3. How will this alter the conditions?
4. Is there a better/different way to get the result that we want?

Take weeding for instance,

1.  Weeding
2. to remove unwanted plants
3. exposes soil = space for anything in the soil seed bank to germinate, soil erosion, loss of nutrients (a shift towards the R)
4. topping plants (leaving root system in tact) = no soil disturbance while still removing the unwanted material.

In my mind, I would equate weeding with disturbance. Digging into the ground to remove plant material including roots, turning over and exposing the soil. So, I would place it closer the R corner of triangle. This disruption to the usual site conditions, not only has a negative effect on the plant material that you've chosen to plant but also encourages, opportunistic (short-lived and high seed producing) species to move in.

But, if weeding shifts the conditions to far into the Ruderal area, is there a way to discourage weeds without disturbing the soil?

Topping the plants also gets the job done, removing the weedy biomass and reducing the vigour of weeds. While the roots continue to protect the soil until more desirable material has a chance to out compete it.

Let’s try another, how about mulching,

1. Mulching
2. to protect exposed soil and prevent nutrient loss. To keep weeds down and help hold moisture in dry soils.
3. Makes soil richer, more moisture retentive (a shift towards the C)= loss of tough short-lived perennials and annuals, encouraging perennials that require more care and inputs.
4. use a cover crop or leave adapted plants to do their thing (ie go dormant in drought conditions) without added mulch.

Here, mulching shifts the conditions towards the C corner of the triangle. You're covering the soil surface with an extra layer of nutrient rich material. So, all of those tough plants that you've matched to more extreme conditions lose vigour (or possibly grow out of control due to a much higher nutrient level than they need) and less resilient species (that require more care to retain) begin to move in. So, how do we prevent that shift but still get some of the same benefits?

Depending on the existing conditions, a cover crop can still protect the soil from erosion or, possibly an inert mulch like crushed stone? But be sure to think through all of the possible ways that mulches of any kind can alter the conditions. Sometimes the most strategic choice is to do nothing. In other words, if your site is dry, let it be, and trust that either you have chosen well adapted plants that will survive without any major intervention or accept that you may have to experiment with other materials that will.

Here's where a few tasks might sit within Grimes Triangle:

Weeding = R

Mulching = C

Cultivating, Tilling = R

Watering = C (or S if it’s used to water)

Fertilizing = C

Pruning or cut back with biomass removal = S