Icy Sidewalks and Mulches

Icy weather can be challenging, but there are a few things you can do to prevent damage to your plants and to your home. Salt may injure plants near walkways if used to thaw ice. Coffee grounds may stain your carpets and crushed rock can get into your lawn area and could damage your lawn mower next summer. Sand or sawdust is the best solution. If you use sawdust that has manure in it, you will not need to worry about it robbing nitrogen from the soil in order to decompose. The manure supplies the nitrogen that the sawdust uses when decomposing.

When mulching, keep the mulch away from getting too close to trunks of trees. If mulches around trees or shrubs become a soggy mass, sometimes they can prevent needed air and water from getting through to the root system. Keep a little space so that they can breathe. Make sure your mulch is not packed down too tightly around plants.

Live Christmas Trees are Good For the Environment

Every year, millions of trees are cut down and displayed in living rooms around the world with wonderful decorations and lights. They bring joy to the family as gifts are stuffed underneath them and unwrapped on Christmas morning. What happens to those trees by the end of the year? They are put out on the curb or ground into mulch and the cycle is repeated the next year.

Consider now the advantages to a live Christmas tree (roots and all). Many garden centers offer live trees in pots that can be decorated and enjoyed through Christmas and then planted in the ground and continue living long after the year is over. You will have a tree that is a reminder of that Christmas for years to come and that will also continue to help the environment. You can even decorate it as it grows every year!

It's Not Too Late to Plant

Many people think that late fall is a time to stop gardening, but this is the perfect time to be thinking ahead. Winter and spring blooming bulbs should be planted now through November with bulb food, and by following the instructions for planting. They actually need the over-wintering to flower in the spring. Just think about the surprises you will have when they begin to burst from the ground with color in the spring after you have forgotten all about them through the winter! If you can't wait for color, plant pansies over the top of them for winter color.

There are many cool season vegetables that you can plant as well, such as broccoli, cabbage, garlic, onions, along with ornamental cabbage and kale. For fall color, look to heucheras and mums to spice up your garden.

This is also the perfect time to do cleanup in your garden. Doing this now will help prevent problems next year. Prune dead branches from trees and shrubs. Rake your leaves and pick up falling fruit that can harbor insects and pests and to keep away garden diseases.

As always, if you are unsure about when and how to plant or take care of certain areas of your garden, you should ask your local garden center!

Landscaping Improves Your Home's Value

In these tough economic times, we are all looking for ways to save money. One of the ways you can protect yourself is by increasing the value of your home. Did you know that by doing some simple landscaping you can increase the value of your home?

Two studies, one by Mark S. Henry of the Department of Agriculture and Applied
Economics at Clemson University and another by Robert L. Degner of the Florida Agricultural Market Research Center, University of Florida found that landscaping contributed to higher resale values in single residences. Interestingly, Mark Henry’s study, "The Contribution of Landscaping to the Price of Single Family Houses: A Study of Home Sales in Greenville, South Carolina," pointed out not only did homes with excellent landscaping sell 4 to 5 percentage points higher, but homes with poor landscaping in neighborhoods with excellent landscaping sold for 8-10% less.

Planting trees and shrubs helps, and so also can paving areas of your property. You may not be able to afford or have the ability to build a deck, but paving areas with flagstone or paving blocks can have a similar effect with less cost and labor. If you spread bark products or gravel in certain areas you can make them more uniform and attractive. A little landscaping can go a long way!