Whack-O-Matic

Written by Tammy Clayton


Continued from page 1

So there I stand with this super successful professional, a man of high learning, who wants to know how we can coax this spent row of 5 foot tall trunks and stems along his walk into growing more hair inrepparttar bottoms. He thinks that fertilizer cures all of man’s cruelty. (Remember that you must see things throughrepparttar 113337 eye ofrepparttar 113338 plant?) How am I to explain this to this person! My professional self developed a cunning approach. “A landscape has a life expectancy of about 20 years. Yours seems to be about 5 years overdue for replanting.” If this was not enough to convincerepparttar 113339 customer, I would go on to ask how longrepparttar 113340 wallpaper in their kitchen had hung there. Explaining that redecorating outdoors was just as necessary to variety in life than it was to keep up to date with their interior décor. But they wanted back what they had before it turned into bare branches! The issue of certain control may very well berepparttar 113341 answer.

Now I am not against hedges. I am not anti-evergreen. Pruning, thinning and shaping is of definite necessity to full and lovely shrubs and even some trees. Even every other aspect of life we look forrepparttar 113342 right thing to accomplishrepparttar 113343 task, but when it comes torepparttar 113344 plants we place in our yards we seem to fall short inrepparttar 113345 search forrepparttar 113346 proper element. Proper planning should berepparttar 113347 first consideration and whacking could become almost obsolete. It is good to know that plant breeders are busily developing new Arborvitaes and Yews that will stay in a nice little meatball shape without whacking. News that will lessenrepparttar 113348 maintenance you must forfeit your weekend to perform, alleviaterepparttar 113349 need to butcherrepparttar 113350 bushes and make allrepparttar 113351 hedge trimmer companies hold their breath over next year’s third quarter earnings.

As forrepparttar 113352 aspect of proper planning vs. constant replacement, ifrepparttar 113353 space is 30 inches wide, then it would be best to consider installing only those shrubs that will never exceed 4 foot in width. Remember, a little shaping is good and a harsh whacking is loweringrepparttar 113354 life expectancy ofrepparttar 113355 elements in your landscape. Proper planning is one ofrepparttar 113356 best tools in creating a low maintenance planting.

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Read more great Gardening articles at: http://www.lostintheflowers.com

Raised by a highly respected & successful landscape contractor in the metro Detroit area, Clayton wanted a career in anything but landscaping! Now an award-winning landscape designer, Clayton runs Flowerville Farms, a mail-order nursery in Michigan. Read more at LostInTheFlowers.com.


Concerning Mulch - PART TWO

Written by Tammy Clayton


Continued from page 1

Onrepparttar side of a beer bottled we have a warning fromrepparttar 113336 Surgeon General warning us not to operate automotive vehicles or heavy equipment and goes on to say that alcohol could cause health problems. Have you ever seen such a warning on a bag of mulch orrepparttar 113337 invoice you pay that nice young man from? While there is such a thing as natural death among plants, death without explanation is easily blamed asrepparttar 113338 trees cannot say:

"Hey! I am dying because I cannot breathe anymore because you have put way too much mulch around my trunk!"

Nope, no tree can scream HELP! They can’t tell you I need water, my toes hurt, its hot out here; they are helpless unless we know instinctivelyrepparttar 113339 problem. They can only get your attention if you WANT to hear what they have to say. Selective listening has serves no purpose when one deals with plants.

Where was I? Oh yes, this yearly freshening ofrepparttar 113340 mulch inrepparttar 113341 beds...if you were a tree, you would see instantly why this is not a good thing. Trees have a natural breathing ring (as well as many types of shrubs and other woody plants) that develops right atrepparttar 113342 point of their trunk where their "stem" andrepparttar 113343 soil meet originally upon their sprouting.

When you pull a weed, properly extracting it fromrepparttar 113344 soil, it is going to deposit dirt on top ofrepparttar 113345 mulch. The more soil that is mixed withrepparttar 113346 wood mulch,repparttar 113347 faster it will decompose and return to its’ previous state as soil. Remember what comes fromrepparttar 113348 soil returns torepparttar 113349 soil; it is a natural revolution no one can prevent.

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For more great Gardening articles, visit: http://www.LostInTheFlowers.com

Raised by a highly respected & successful landscape contractor in the metro Detroit area, Clayton wanted a career in anything but landscaping! Now an award-winning landscape designer, Clayton runs Flowerville Farms, a mail-order nursery in Michigan. Read more at LostInTheFlowers.com.


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