Tips for Seashore Gardens

* Keep soil moist and stable with a decorative but heavy mulch of gravel, stones, wood chips, or compost. Avoid lightweight mulches such as peat moss or straw.
* Constant winds are an unavoidable feature of all seaside gardens. To provide young shrubs with a much-needed windbreak until they become established, tie plastic screening between sturdy stakes.
* Brace taller trees with three wire cables. To avoid damaging the bark, secure a piece of rubber hose around the trunk and attach the wires to it, then drive three stakes into the ground around the tree and secure the other ends of the wires to them.
* No salt. Saltwater spray is a serious problem for evergreens. Wash them down regularly with a forcible stream of fresh water from a hose.
* If seawater floods the lawn. let the grass dry out completely, then spread lime (2.5 to 5 pounds per 100 square feet) and water in thoroughly. Don't despair if the grass dies down; if the roots are healthy, the lawn will recover the following spring. If the roots were injured, however, the lawn will need to be reseeded.
* Hold it steady. Stabilize sand dunes by planting beach grasses. Protect them with windbreaks for the first year; when they become established, they will reduce erosion. The most effective anchors include wild oat grass, wild rye or lyme grass, switch grass, canary grass, and cord or marsh grass.
* A blustery day. To block prevailing winds and salt spray, install a windbreak of board fencing or a double row of seaside shrubs. In general, a hedge protects for a distance equal to 20 times its height, so a row of shrubs 15 feet high will protect a garden about 300 feet wide on its leeward side.