South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

Since today is St. Patrick’s Day and tradition dictates that we do all things green and as Irish as possible here are a few things green from my garden!

We have green in the vegetable garden in the form of sugar snap peas, spinach, and lettuce! Other things haven’t come up yet for a visit like the asparagus (which I just planted) and the potatoes. Time and the warm weather coming will give our plantings a growth spurt.

I’ve mulched lightly around the sugar snap peas with grass clippings for an organic fertilizer (approximate NPK: 4-1-2) and for increased water retention in the soil. 

Little ‘Tom Thumb’ lettuce is coming up! When it’s time to harvest the lettuce these little lettuces will be somewhere between 3-4 inches in diameter. It’s a cute little lettuce that kids should love. If you need ideas for a vegetable that will encourage your kids to garden ‘Tom Thumb’ is a good choice. They can sprinkle it (scatter sow) and watch it grow!

Here comes the spinach! It’s growing it’s first new sets of leaves since the cotyledons (that’s a fancy name for the first leaves the seed sprouts to collect energy).

More lettuce seedlings are coming along. These should be one of my favorite lettuces Rouge D’Hiver. It’s a red romaine lettuce with a delicious taste. I know, we said today is for green right? Well the seedlings are green – for now!

How about some extremely green grass! How does this happen so easily and without fertilizers? Through good mowing practices, overseeding in the fall, and allowing the grass clippings to break down where they land. In the fall I overseeded with fescue and rye. The rye grass is an annual and will die off in the heat of summer and supply the soil with more nutrients! Of course it also makes holes in the soil where its root system burrow which has an aeration effect the soil over time. The aeration makes the soil easier for the fescue to grow roots which should enable it to get more water from deeper in the soil! Exciting? Well, I think so!

 

Maybe watching the green grass grow isn’t your thing but you have to admit watching things green up and come alive is pretty cool.

And why not take a look at some green in the blue garden shed? We’ll start with one of my favorite viburnums a ‘Mohawk’ Burkwood (Viburnum x burkwoodii). It’s a fragrant viburnum that is fairly easy to propagate in the late spring and early summer from greenwood cuttings. It’s actually a hybrid of the Korean Spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii) and Viburnum utile.  I have two in my garden shed that I propagated last year and they are looking fantastic! Follow the link for a picture of our Burkwood Viburnum from last April which I’m hoping will be much more showy this year!

And or some variegated greenery here are some variegated dogwoods! These came from my Tatarian dogwood ‘Elegantissima’ (Cornus alba). Shrub dogwoods are extremely easy to propagate in the fall. Just take hardwood cuttings from the red stems and stick them in soil in a pot! It just couldn’t be much easier.

So there’s a bit O’ green from St. Patrick’s day! Now no pinching – I’m wearing green!

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Winter is the time to carry out some much needed lawn maintenance. Below are five tips you can think about as the big cold envelops your garden and lawn.

Maintenance Tip #1

As winter approaches, gradually lower the mowing height of your mower. Winter should begin without any young, tender growth that makes your lawn more appealing to winter diseases.

Besides, new growth on the lawn is vulnerable to dry out after the first winter winds come through, which will give you a brown winter lawn. So for the sake of lawn maintenance, as winter approaches, begin to gradually reduce the cutting height on your mower, until you are almost, but not quite, shaving the lawn. However, be sure to do this in several steps to avoid suddenly removing all the green leaf tissue and damaging the turf.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #2

In late fall, be sure to give your lawn a final fertilization. Inactive during winter, your lawn won’t use the fertilizers immediately. Much like mammals bulking up for the cold, your lawn will store these nutrients in its root system and take full advantage of them at the first signs of spring.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #3

Clear your lawn of any debris like logs, toys, or gardening equipment. Once snow comes, these objects can smother your grass, damage your turf, and leave your lawn more vulnerable to diseases.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #4

Be sure to aerate your lawn before the first freeze. Thatch will only get worse with the affects of winter. A good aeration, along with a round of fertilization, will set the stage for bountiful spring growth.

Winter Lawn Maintenance Tip #5

Winter is a great time to learn more about your garden and your lawn in particular. Take this time to buy some lawn maintenance books and research the Internet for tips on how to keep a beautiful lawn and garden.

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Why Lawn Aerating is Necessary for a Healthy Lawn
By LawnCare.Net

You may have seen “aerating shoes” for sale in the hardware and wondered if they actually work.  The short answer is “not really.”  Do you need to aerate your lawn?  The short answer is “yes!”  There is a right way to aerate and a right time to do it for best results.  Aerating is part of maintaining a healthy lawn.  Here’s how to do it right.

What is Lawn Aerating?

Aerating is the process of removing small plugs of soil from the turf.  Core aerators are the best types of mechanical aerators because they remove the soil, rather than pushing soil back in to the ground.  (That is what those little lawn-aerating shoes do.)  Lawn aeration is one of the keys to healthy lawn maintenance.

How does Aerating help your Lawn?

Plants need oxygen as much as they need carbon dioxide, but they need oxygen in their root areas.  As people walk, play football or practice swinging the golf club on their lawn, they compact the soil, squeezing it together and removing spaces that oxygen normally fills.  Plants use oxygen when they metabolize (break down) the sugar they store from photosynthesis.  Without oxygen for this process, plants will literally starve.  In addition to improving oxygen availability for plants, it also improves life for soil organisms.  Lawn aeration allows water to filter more consistently through soil, and helps reduce problems with thatch.

When to Aerate Your Lawn

Depending upon how much foot traffic the lawn in question gets, you may need to aerate more than once a year.  You always want to aerate when the lawn can grow and heal itself from the process.  Aerating a lawn disrupts plant roots and is stressful to the plants in the beginning.  It is best to aerate in the spring and fall—when the plants are actively growing, and it is not too hot.  Warm season grasses grow most during the hot summer, so aerating during the summer works well for them.  Disrupting the plant roots will interfere with their ability to take up water and recover from the aerating process.  Aerating mid-summer requires more careful observation of moisture levels.

It is not a bad idea to hire a professional with a punch-core aerator to aerate the lawn for you.  Most equipment rental places do not have core-aerators that actually remove the core.  Before the professional arrives, however, you need to do some prep-work.  Mow the lawn to a slightly shorter height and give the lawn at least one inch of water two days prior to aerating.  This will loosen the soil and help the lawn recover.   After aerating, continue giving the lawn 1 inch of water twice a week.

Aerating  your lawn at the right time with the proper equipment can ensure that you have a beautiful yard, every season of the year.

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