Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Asters Star

Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Asters Star

Fall is glorious and few garden pleasures trump purple galaxies of asters. Indigenous to New England, the showy New England aster is now cultivated around the world, sometimes better known by its English name, the Michaelmass Daisy. Their multitudinous array of petite purple blooms with a golden center redefine generous. Often seen along country roadsides the New England aster adapts well to city life. Bumblebees adore the aster and bustle laden with golden pollen from bloom to bloom. A joy to cultivate and certain to enchant bee lovers, asters thrive for gardeners with little effort.

Asters are a large family, the perennial New England aster is ideal for gardeners. Virtually pest free and hardy in poor or infertile soils, this is a perennial to love. When others have wilted or gone to seed, the asters move into center stage. They ask only for sunlight and good drainage. Asters shrug off compost and fertilizers as extra but unnecessary gifts. Rather tame, asters form clumps easily lifted and divided during winter and into mid spring. Their sturdy stalks are needed to carry mobs of bloom. Inspired to cultivate asters? 

Prepare ordinary sandy or gravelly soil, loosen and mix in modest amounts of compost, peat or loam. Bone meal is the panacea for strong root systems, add a handful to the spade deep bed. Lift and divide from established clumps, most gardeners are happy to share bounty. No need to carefully separate individual stalks, small clumps will do. Give them a little space from neighbors, asters gather strength for the fall display over a long growing season. Allow a location likely to be undisturbed by cultivation or taller, faster growing plants. Their sage green foliage is pleasing and responds well to grooming. Pinch back once or twice in late spring and early summer. Lateral side shoots will thicken the clump and offer additional bloom. 

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New England asters grow 36-48 inches tall. They tend to be blousy. Urban gardeners are the most space conscious of all, gently gather the brittle stalks and bundle with jute twine. Their density will offer support, sometimes a short stake as mainstay is helpful. Mature aster clumps are often beyond an arm’s breath and must be gathered in manageable portions. Kneel on a folded burlap bag and wear long sleeve shirts for this technique and a hat. Move slowly if already in bloom, each aster is a magnet for benign bumblebees, and wrap with at least 2 or more twine wraps. A single bit of twine creates a stress point likely to break stalks, lend a hand and wrap twice for better wind resistance. 

Expect a solid month of bloom. Mounds of purple color endure cooler fall temperatures. Long after the rest of the garden is covered in winter mulch, cut the spent stalks down to ground level. The fibrous stalks are slow to decompose in compost heaps. Snap the stalks or cut into pieces for the bottom levels of the compost heap. Or simply dig a hole nearby and bury the stalks. 

Purple is the dominant color in New England asters. However, pink and white varieties are as rewarding. Aster precede chrysanthemums by 10 days. Shorter, cool days are no obstacle to stunning fall bloom. 

While in the garden, remove overgrown tomato plants, bring in green tomatoes for the table or to ripen with an apple in a paper bag. Bury the leaves and stalks and plant next year’s tomatoes in another location to prevent soil depletion and dormant infectious spores. Glance over the garden and note where and what rewarded your efforts. Consider sun exposure, perhaps shrubbery or trees have grown taller? Or maybe some flowers or vegetables have become old hat and it’s time for a new interest. Autumn is the ideal time to prepare soil for the winter. Warm soil and active microbes relish plenty of organic materials and are ready to nourish t future crops. 

A permanent mulch is many gardeners approach. Most organic materials laid down in thick layers during our long dry summer have imperceptibly merged with soil. Grass clippings have disappeared, hay vanished, seaweed no longer. Virtually any organic material will decompose over the cold weather. Trenches measured by spade depth are handy ways to add lots of organic material into the soil with a minimum of labor. Simply dig down, lay aside topsoil on a burlap bag or tarpaulin and begin to fill. 

Cardboard is abundant and easily torn into smaller pieces. Place in the lowest level dug. Add enough soil to cover from view and repeat. The sponge like nature of cardboard hoards moisture for future use. Remove plastic tapes and beware of staples. Shredded paper in thin layers also absorbs water and micro-organisms ready to digest cellulose. Trench composting is versatile, start or finish as space and time allow. Top off with first soil removed, any elevation will disappear under the final winter mulch. Save much time and effort forming compost in situ.

It’s difficult to pass garden displays full of spring bulbs. We have another 6 weeks to plant daffodils and tulips. Mix daffodils and tulips and frustrate squirrels. Daffodils and other members of the Narcissi bulb family are unpalatable to squirrels. Daffodils are reliable under the most difficult conditions and last for many years. Tulips are prone to predators and tend to peter out. Both types are often revealed as we cultivate soil, simply separate those thick and clustered, replant. Although tulips winter over from year to year in my humus rich soil, I approach them as an annual. There are so many types and varieties to choose from only the most disinterested can ignore additional bulbs. 

Pay attention to the so called “minor” spring bulbs. Crocus and grape hyacinths are best scattered upon the soil and planted in random. Both multiply and are far greater than the sum of their parts. Grape hyacinths are bright green along the margins and edges of my garden in preparation for next spring when they form a blue haze under apricot and pear trees. Store unplanted spring bulbs in the refrigerator’s vegetable bins. Save those overlooked while raking leaves. Force them into bloom in January or February for a taste of spring. 

Many gardeners “turn over” the garden each Fall. This is a great work out, use a long handled shovel with a round spade. Simply dig out a trench across a plant bed, and repeat filling the first trench with the remnants of summer mulch and topsoil, bottom side up. This is a fine opportunity to incorporate additional organic materials to the soil. 

You may lean upon the shovel handle and gab with friends. My father propped against his shovel shank and supervised his sons each fall for the great garden turn over. We were much more interested in the afternoon football game and understood much later in life this was time well spent. Be careful digging around the New England asters and remember to plant crocus around the main clumps. The crocus will bloom and flourish long before the asters tower above them. 

Leonard Moorehead is a life-long gardener. He practices organic-bio/dynamic gardening techniques in a side lot surrounded by city neighborhoods in Providence, Rhode Island. His adventures in composting, wood chips, manure, seaweed, hay and enormous amounts of leaves are minor distractions to the joy of cultivating the soil with flowers, herbs, vegetables, berries, and dwarf fruit trees.