Tree and garden care in Nibley, Utah

Choosing plants for ground that stays wet

Roots need air as much as they need water. In a yard where the water table rises in spring and after heavy irrigation, a tree planted deep in silty clay can sit in a bowl of mud. The first rule is to plant a little high. Set the root flare at or just above the soil line, and make a low mound around the trunk so water drains away.

Pick plants for the wet end of the range. Willows, red twig dogwood and many sedges and rushes take wet feet. Spruce, junipers and lavender do not, and they sulk in heavy silty soil. A planting plan for a Nibley yard starts with a walk after a storm or a big irrigation turn, to see which corners hold water and for how long.

Working compost into Nibley's silty clay

The silty clay loam that the soil survey describes for Nibley has fine particles that pack tight when wet and set hard when dry. Water moves through it slowly. That is why a bed can be soggy for days after a storm and cracked by August.

Compost is the fix, worked into the top foot of a bed and spread as a layer on top each year. It opens the soil so air and water move, and it feeds the worms that keep it open. Sand does the opposite of what people hope in clay, so leave it out. Raised beds about a foot tall also help, since the roots sit above the wettest layer and the soil warms earlier in spring.

Alkaline soil here can also leave plants short of iron. Yellow leaves with green veins are the sign, and good organic matter helps more than a quick spray.

Trees on newer streets and along the park strip

A census-based housing summary puts the middle Nibley home at about 2007, and most homes went up in the 2000s and 2010s. That means many yards have trees that are 10 to 20 years old and still being shaped. This is the best time to prune for structure: remove crossing branches, pick one strong leader and raise the lowest limbs over time.

Many new streets have a park strip tree chosen by the developer. Check with the city before you remove or replace one, since public strips follow the city's tree plan. Mind the power lines too. The plan splits its trees into two lists for exactly this reason, so a tall tree under a line is a poor match from the start.

When a tree is dead, leaning or damaged past saving, we do remove trees. We look at the lean, the roots and the wires first.

Water, runoff and the Blacksmith Fork

The city's stormwater plan says most Nibley runoff drains to the Blacksmith Fork River or to the Hyrum Slough, and that some detention ponds do not drain well. It also notes that new homes add runoff where fields used to soak it up. A yard here can get water from your own roof, a neighbor's slope and the street.

Walk your lot in a rain and note where water runs and where it pools. Keep downspouts pointed away from foundations and out of beds. Leave shallow swales open and do not pile bark or leaves in them, since a clogged swale floods the bed beside it. Finally, ask your canal company for its schedule each spring, and plan new beds around when the water runs. Check the city's current page for any change to canal contacts.

A habitat-minded town and the Nibley calendar

In 2016 the National Wildlife Federation named Nibley the first Community Wildlife Habitat in Utah. Its volunteers had registered 87 homes, and Hollow Road, which runs beside the Blacksmith Fork, had more than 20. If you want birds and pollinators, a bed of native and long-blooming plants fits right in. Leave some seed heads standing through winter.

Timing follows the valley. USU Extension lists an average last spring frost of May 15 and a first fall frost of October 1 for Cache County, and says low spots where cold air settles have shorter seasons. A flat Nibley yard may be on the cold side. Prune fruit and shade trees in late winter, plant tender things after mid-May, and rake and cut back in October. Heavy wet snow can also load branches, so check old trees before winter.