10 RULES FOR A GREAT LAWN

Every summer we have a nice lawn at home - soft and cool underfoot until early fall.   All accomplished without the ability to water; we are dependant on rainfall for the necessary moisture. 

Unlike paving, or patios, a sunny lawn provides a cooling barrier around the house. Maintaining the lawn, without a lot of water, fertilizers, $$$, and time is possible; you just need to pay attention to what the lawn requires and then deliver it at the right time for maximum benefit with minimum effort.

Here is the link to the 10 essential steps

Check them out, and let me know what you think.

GREEN, GREEN, GRASS SHOULD BE GREEN

Brown Lawn spots are evident everywhere in our neighborhood. The ones on our lawn are there for two reasons (maybe three if you count two dogs as two reasons!) ... the other reason is a particularly hard winter. A winter that started early, with rain that turned to ice, then got really cold, really fast and then stayed that way for A Long Long Time. Just one of the reasons that we have been so anxious for a change in the weather.

Spring is always such a busy time in the garden, BUT I haven't got limitless hours in my day to just spend gardening, so over the years I have developed a few quick solutions that have worked for me.

The goal over the next week is sprinkle some grass seed mixed with some topsoil, or compost - whichever I have on hand that's ready to use! - on the thin or dead areas in the lawn, tamp it down, and make use of the wonderful spring rain to help to sprout the new grass. Next to fall, spring is the best time to do lawn repair, as long as it doesn't get too hot too quickly.... at the moment we are still cool enough and wet enough that I won't likely have to water the seed as well, but I can keep an eye on things for the next 2 weeks or so to make sure that new grass takes hold.

More about lawn care soon.

GARDENING; THE GOOD ENOUGH METHOD

We are having a late spring frost, so I am unable to do much planting for another week or two.  I made up for this by getting out in the garden to do a bit of tidy-up. 

My little vegetable growing area was looking pretty sad after the winter, and two summers of neglect!, and I spent about an hour raking out the leaves and fixing up the climbing supports.  I am pleased with the results. 

I will be planting vegetables and annuals among the perennials, as they come to life.  So, at this moment I need to be patient and allow things to pop up in the garden.  Here are the basic structures that I am planning on using.

The 'circle' supports are being used in a different setup from their original plan, but they are quite secure and I will see how well they work.  If they are not strong enough, or tall enough, I will have to have a rethink!

I am unable to attach the trellis style climbers to the wall, so I used the spiral stakes that I already owned to secure them in place. While they are not perfect, they are definitely ‘Good Enough’,  and they will look great once things get growing.

When will it be spring??

Two weeks ago, when it snowed, I felt as if spring was NEVER going to get here.  But it melted... the grass got greener... I could just about taste the tomatoes fresh from the garden.

THEN IT SNOWED AGAIN!!  Hah... not great.  

But, that (on the left) is gone too, and I have some flowers (below) to share that certainly cheer ME up!  

You will notice that there is some raking to do. 

That, my friends, is O.K..  

I promise not to jinx things by thinking about vegetables again - at least not just yet.