Think Spring

The last of the snow is melting and the grayness of winter is slowly fading away. Spring is in the air. Some of the things to get ready for spring include: soil and bed prep, plant cold weather annuals, and plan out your garden.
Soil and Bed Prep: Turn your compost, pull any weeds remaining from last fall, and add mulch if necessary.
Plant cool season annuals: such as peas, cabbage and broccoli or pansies for color.
Plan out your garden: Consider what your garden needs are. Do you want vegetables or annuals? How many and where do you want them. Consider plant culture needs such as sun, shade as well as moisture requirements. Decide if you want to buy plant starts or grow them from seed. Consider companion plants (see http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw.aspx for more information).

Poisoning an Unwanted Tree

The best way to kill an unwanted tree stump is to pour round up concentrate on it, making sure that the concentrate soaks into the cambium tissue just under the bark. That is the most effective way because the tree will to take the poison directly to the roots.

The poison may need to be applied more than once.

My Garden Flowers

My flowers are looking so good I just had to share some pictures.

I love the double petunias. The only drawback is that they don't produce as many flowers as the single petunias, but other than that I love them.

Nothing like a fresh cut rose bouquet straight from your garden.

New Grass

I have some dirt patches in my lawn that I planted with grass seed a couple weeks ago and was thrilled to see them sprout today!

Most Common "DIYer" Landscape Mistakes

Lack of repetition. Often there are so many fun little plants that you can feel the urge to buy one of this and one of that. Unfortunately this leaves a yard completely unorganized and a bit chaotic. I know but thats "how nature does it right?" Wrong. When nature propagates itself a flower disperses its seeds sometimes 50 or a hundred of them right near where it currently grows, thus nature repeats! Nature plants in mass. If you want a "natural" looking yard, do like nature does and repeat! No focal points Random Rocks too small Too large of evergreen trees. Often "cute" little evergreens are bought and planted without any thought of the size they can easily get. A large evergreen can easily swallow the whole yard. Make sure whatever evergreen you do buy will stay the size you need to stay proportional to the rest of the yard.