Improve Your Garden with Cheap Homemade Compost Job one in gardening and landscaping is loosening and enriching compacted soil and clay by mixing in organic materials like compost. For experienced gardeners, good compost is worth its weight in gold. There’s nothing healthier for your plants than rich black compost, but any kind of organic material …
Design – Landscape Pathology As a landscaper specializing in “makeovers” (rebuilding existing landscapes) I often find myself looking at landscape disasters, trying to pick up the pieces and figure out how to make it right. You might call me a landscape forensic pathologist, examining a crime scene of poorly designed, carelessly installed, mis-managed landscaping with …
Hollies – It Takes Two to Berry Think about what a pleasure it would be to walk out into your garden next Christmas and gather an armful of festive holly branches for holiday decorating. We’ve all seen magnificent Holly shrubs and trees, loaded with fat, shiny red berries at Christmastime. It’s possible to grow your …
Hostas Are Problem Solvers for Shade Hosta is a perennial foliage plant so well-known and widely planted that many gardeners take it for granted. There are over 3000 named varieties, all of them easy to grow and very trouble-free. They are known for growing well in shady spots where most flowers struggle, just one of …
Pansies Are Cold-Hardy Color As fall weather brings frosts, your annual flowers will start to fall victim to nighttime temperatures, wilting and turning brown. Some annual flowers are more tender than others. The petunias and lantanas in our landscape seem to shrug off the cold, while the impatiens and begonias are fading fast. In Marjorie’s …
Making Stepping Stone Paths Professionally Natural stone paths look good in almost any landscape. They never go out of style like so many man-made paver materials. Like most things made of stone, they will stand the test of time if they’re built carefully. Stone construction is one of the most satisfying home improvement projects you …
Shrub Grooming & Shearing Regular shearing, particularly when shrubs are young, helps them develop a stronger branch structure and a more rounded, full, and neat appearance. The more branches they have, the shorter each branch will be, making shrubs more compact and well-shaped in later life. The best time to shear or trim evergreen shrubs …
Lawn Restoration in Fall Early Fall is an ideal time to restore your lawn. There is a way to do this successfully at a reasonable cost, and following this recipe just once will give you terrific results, but if you really want a healthy green weed-free lawn you’ll repeat this formula in both spring and …
Fertilizing Trees – When, What & How All plants have one thing in common. If they don’t like where they’re living, they can’t pick up their roots and move. So, ask yourself, are you doing what it takes to give your trees a long, healthy and happy life? It never occurs to most people that …
Mums as Perennials Have you ever tried planting hardy mums and had them fail to come back the following year? Fall mums are perennial flowers that can grow and bloom in your landscape year after year, if you handle them properly. One secret to success is to buy them before they bloom and plant them …