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Do You Have A Favorite Flower?

Do you remember the slogan of a popular soft drink… “The pause that refreshes.” Well, here it is – May – the season between the seasons. Weve got the first early rush of planting work done, now trying to catch our breath, and get started on the next round. Maybe some of you feel that you are entitled to a little pause between rounds.

I planned for my rest several years ago. Our cultivated strips of ground are about 20 feet wide and 100 feet long, with grass paths between. When we first moved here, it looked awfully bleak around the end of the rows, and I visualized how hot it would be when one reached the north end of the garden.

My solution was to plant a pin oak. It is now large enough to furnish shade. With a comfortable yard chair it is ideal to sit in the tree’s shade and muse over the gardening problems. Maybe I should have planted two such trees far enough apart to swing a hammock between them.

They often deride someone for wishing for this or that. Wishing for the moon,” they say. Just like, when i wish for my own beautiful japanese garden design. Probably all of us at some time in our youth wished for the moon, or maybe it was just a star. Every true plant lover, I suspect, is still just a child at heart. Whenever you read of this or that, don’t you say to yourself, “My, Id like to have that growing in my garden, landscape, greenhouse or wherever.”

In all honesty, I must confess I get an almost uncontrollable urge to try everything I read or hear about. Oh, some of you will say, I specialize in roses, iris, daylilies,” or whatever your favorite might be. But did you ever know a “specialist” who didnt want more varieties? In our back yard youll find no evidence of specialization. Someone once asked me what was my favorite flower. My reply was The one I happen to be looking at at the time.

July 27 2009 | Gardening | No Comments »

4 Great Tips for Lawn Water Conservation

Now that the warmer months are here everyone is starting to water their lawns more and more to keep them from turning brown. I do it as well! But unfortunately there are a lot of people that waste too much water. Let’s go over a few things you can do to stop wasting water and still keep your lawn green.

#1 – Fix Broken Sprinkler Heads

If you have any lawn sprinklers that are broken and just shooting water straight up into the air you should get them fixed as soon as possible. This is a great way to stop from wasting a lot of extra water. Sprinkler heads are pretty cheap, so get it fixed quickly!

#2 – Water Your Lawn in the Morning

The most optimal time to water your lawn is in the morning. Watering in the afternoon is no good because you’ll just lose a lot of water to evaporation. If you water in the evening you’ll have fungus problems because your lawn will stay wet too long. So shoot for between the hours of 5 and 10 am.

#3 – Infrequent Watering

If you water your lawn every day you’re going to have a lawn with a very shallow root system. It’s best to water your lawn infrequently and even send it into drought mode from time to time so that the grass will develop a deeper, stronger root system.

#4 – Let Rain Do Its Thing

Nature has its own lawn sprinkler system: rain. So if it’s raining you don’t need to water your lawn! Let nature do its thing and turn your sprinkler system off when it rains. Consider that your watering for the week.

The summer months are great for a lot of things, and one of them is nice green lawns. But thankfully you can have a great looking lawn without over watering or in other ways wasting water. I hope these tips help you to have a great looking lawn for less!

July 26 2009 | Landscaping | No Comments »