Planning

When buying bedding annuals this spring choose properly grown plants with good color. Buy plants that are not too large for their pots with many unopened buds. Plants that bloom in the packs are often root bound. Plants not yet in bloom will actually bloom sooner, become better established and grow faster.

Plan to attract hummingbirds to your garden by planting red or orange flowers. Monarda (beebalm) and Zauschneria (California fuchsia) are good perennials to provide nectar to these small birds.

Planting

Begin to plant seedlings of warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. You can also start your pumpkin and winter squash seeds now.

Sow beets, beans, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, sweet corn and radishes.

Plant herbs such as thyme, sage, parsley, chives, and basil.

Sod or sow new lawns, and overseed damaged older lawns.

Start planting warm season annuals such as impatiens, marigolds, petunias, sunflowers, zinnia, lobelia, allysum.

Finish planting summer-flowering bulbs such as tuberose, gladiolus, dahlia, and callas.

Plant chervil, coriander, dill, rosemary, and summer savory outside after the last spring frost date for your area. 50% probability of frost free after March 10 2012.

Plant dahlia tubers as soon as the danger of frost is passed. Stake at the time of planting to avoid injury of the tubers.

Plant clematis in locations that receive at lease six hours of sunshine a day. Use organic mulch or ground-covers to shade roots and keep them cool. Plant in rich, well-drained loam.

Hhydrangeas will transplant well into the garden after their flowers fade. When the weather warms, plant in well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Don’t be surprised if the next year’s flowers are a different color than the first year. Blue or pink hydrangea color is dependent on the pH of the soil. Alkaline soil produces pink flowers; acidic soil produces blue flowers. White hydrangeas are not affected by soil pH.

Many gardeners plant annual and perennial flowers to attract hummingbirds. Woody plants can also be added to the garden to provide nectar for these tiny birds. Some common trees visited by hummingbirds are buckeye, horse chestnut, catalpa, apple, crabapple, hawthorn, silk tree, redbud and tulip poplar. Shrubs include azalea, beauty bush, coralberry, honeysuckle, lilac, and red weigela.

Maintenance

Frost tender plants such as citrus, fuchsia, geranium, hibiscus, mandevilla, and bougainvillea can go outdoors when all chance of frost is gone

Start feeding potted plants every two to three weeks with half-strength fertilizer

If plants like citrus, camellias, gardenias, and grapes are chlorotic (yellowing leaves), spray leaves with a foliar fertilizer containing chelated iron.

Mulch soil to save water, smother weeds, keep soil cooler. Spread 1-3 inches of compost, wood shavings or other organic material under shrubs, trees, annuals and vegetables.

Thin vegetables that were sown too thickly, like basil, carrots, green onions or lettuce.

Prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees after bloom is over.

Fertilize everything right now, but do not fees spring-flowering shrubs like azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons until after then have finished flowering; then use an acid based fertilizer. They should also be pruned after blooming.

Now is the time to divide mint, chive, tarragon and creeping thyme

Control lawn weeds now through late May before they get large.

The lawn mower blade should always be sharp so as not to tear the grass. If you sharpen the blade at home, be sure to balance it too.

To determine if soil is ready to work, squeeze a handful into a tight ball, then break the ball apart with your fingers. If the ball of soil readily crumbles in your fingers, the soil is ready to be worked. However, if the soil stays balled it is still too wet to work. Try again in another week.

April is a good time to clean up plants and flower beds. Pick out dead leaves and twogs and prune dean limbs.

Cut flower stalks back to the ground on daffodils, hyacinths, tulips and other spring flowering bulbs as the flowers fade. Do not cut the foliage until it dies naturally. The leaves are necessary  to produce strong bulbs capable of reflowering.

Once new leaf growth begins on trees and shrubs, cut back to green wood any twigs affected by winter kill.
 

Weed and Pest Control

Keep an eye out for aphids and get them before they take over your plants. Use a strong stream of water or safe soap products.

Keep after slugs and snails!

Michal

Planning

If you are buying bare-root trees, look for ones with large root systems in relation to top growth. It is not necessary to purchase a very large tree to get a quality plant.

Planting

Dig, divide, and replant crowded summer and fall flowering perennials like Agapanthus, Garden Phlox, Astilbe, Aster, Bleeding Heart, Coral Bells, Daylilies, and Shasta Daisies. Perennials perform best in well-drained soil with plenty of humus. Astilbe, Hosta, and Bleeding Heart bloom in the shade.

Plant spring-flowering annuals such as Forget-me-nots, Dianthus, Englich Daisy, Sweet William, and Viola.

Set out nursery plants of warm-season edibles.

Wait until the end of the month to set out frost tender plants.

Repot house plants that have grown too large for their containers. Cut back leggy plants to encourage compact growth. Root cuttings in moist media to increase your supply of plants.

Bluebells are good for naturalizing in the same manner as Daffodils but prefer a shadier location and will bloom even where they get no direct sun.

Accurate information on the longevity of flower seeds is hard to find. Based on limited observations, the following should be considered as short-life (one year) seeds: Aster, Candytuft, Columbine, Ornamental Onion, Phlox, Salvia, Strawflower, and Vinca. Some common flower seeds viable for more than one year if stored properly are Alyssum, Calendula, Centaurea, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Marigold, Nasturtium, Petunia, Salpiglosis, Scabiosa, Schizanthus, Sweet Pea, Verbena, Viola and Zinnia.

Maintenance

Fertilize plants that are starting to grow actively like annual flowers, berries, citrus, roses and established trees and shrubs with a balanced fertilizer like 15-15-15 or a 5-5-5.

Early spring is the right time for two special turf treatments, if needed: vertical cutting or thinning to remove thatch and aeration or coring to reduce soil compaction.

Wait until later in the month to fertilize lawns.

  Michal

Recent summer and winter visits to Seabrook WA have inspired me to investigate the New Urbanism community planning movement. New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use strategies. New Urbanism is strongly influenced by urban design standards that were prominent until the rise of the automobile in the mid-20th century; it encompasses principles such as traditional neighborhood design and transit-oriented development. It is also closely related to regionalism, environmentalism and the broader concept of smart growth. The movement also includes a more pedestrian-oriented variant known as New Pedestrianism, which has its origins in a 1929 planned community in Radburn, New Jersey.

Defining elements of New Urbanism (all exemplified in Seabrook, WA):

• The neighborhood has a discernible center. This is often a square or a green and sometimes a busy or memorable street corner.
• Most of the dwellings are within a five-minute walk of the center.
• There are a variety of dwelling types – usually houses, rowhouses, and apartments – so that younger and older people, singles and families, the poor and the wealthy may find places to live.
• At the edge of the neighborhood, there are shops and offices of sufficiently varied types to supply the weekly needs of a household.
• A small ancillary building or garage apartment is permitted within the backyard of each house. It may be used as a rental unit or place to work.

• There are small playgrounds accessible to every dwelling – not more than a tenth of a mile away.
• Streets within the neighborhood form a connected network, which disperses traffic by providing a variety of pedestrian and vehicular routes to any destination.
• The streets are relatively narrow and shaded by rows of trees. This slows traffic, creating an environment suitable for pedestrians and bicycles.
• Buildings in the neighborhood center are placed close to the street, creating a well-defined outdoor room.
• 
• Parking spaces and garage doors rarely front the street. Parking is relegated to the rear of buildings, usually accessed by alleys.

More about New Urbanism can be found at http://www.newurbanism.org/

These native plants thrive in the Seabrook landscape:

Dwarf Western red cedar. Thuja plicata ‘Excelsa’ is a narrow cultivar used at Seabrook as hedging or specimens.

Pacific wax myrtle. Myrica californica is the most-used plant at Seabrook, as evergreen shrubs or clipped hedging.

Red-twig dogwood. Cornus stolonifera is used as screening or trimmed hedging; it can take sun or shade, wet or dry conditions.

Baldhip rose. Rosa gymnocarpa is a hardy, small rose with a delicate flower and bright red fruit.

Douglas spirea. S. douglasii is a casual, airy, small shrub.

Coast strawberry. Fragaria chiloensis is a glossy-leafed spreading groundcover with small flowers.

Streambank lupine. L. rivularis is a prolific flowerer that grows quickly from seed.

Western sword fern. Polystichum munitum is an evergreen, textural classic fern used as a filler or accent plant.

New Urbanism offers a sense of community when you want it and privacy when you don’t. Quick and easy access to shared features like parks, playgrounds and commercial areas forgoes reliance on the car. Seabrook is an enjoyable example of this movement where shared public spaces and a sense of community have developed in a sustainable environment.

Michal

  Slug and snail control
Snails and slugs have been the bane of gardeners for generations. And while over time, many methods  have  been developed to control these slimy pests, some methods work better than others.  The goal in creating this “Definitive Guide” was to show all the different ways to kill snails and slugs, or simply control them.  You can choose which method, or combination of methods, will work best for you in your particular garden or situation.  The snail and slug control methods listed below are not in any particular order, but all of these methods are organic, except one, (and you’ll see its drawbacks when you read it). The basic fact is that all these methods work to varying degrees, and will make it easy to implement something quickly. Won’t it be nice to have healthy, uneaten plants once again!

Quick Identification First
Before we get started, let’s take a quick look at the difference between slugs and snails which is probably apparent to you, but let’s take a quick look anyway. It is always easier to get rid of a pest when you understand it, its habits, and its lifecycle.

• Description
  Adults are soft-bodied, land-dwelling mollusks. Snails have coiled shells on their backs and are 1 to 1-1/2 inches (2.5 to 4 cm) long. Slugs are without shells. Garden slugs are 1/8 to 1 inch (3 to 25 mm) long (longer when stretched out); banana slugs may be up to 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) long. Most slugs and snails are dark or light gray, tan, green, or black; some have darker spots or patterns. They leave a characteristic slimy trail of mucus behind them. Eggs are clear, oval, or round, and are laid in jelly-like masses.
• Plants Affected
  Any tender plant or shrub.
• Damage
  Both slugs and snails feed mostly on decaying plant material. They also eat soft, succulent plant tissue and rasp large holes in foliage, stems, fruit, and even bulbs. They can completely demolish seedlings and severely damage young shoots and plants. Snails, and sometimes slugs, can climb into trees and shrubs to feed. Both have higher numbers and cause most damage in wet years, and in regions with moist conditions, or high rainfall.
• Life Cycle
  Adults lay egg masses in moist soil, or under rocks or containers, or garden debris. Eggs hatch in 2 to 4 weeks. Slugs grow for 5 months up to 2 years before reaching maturity; snails take 2 years to reach maturity.

1. Hand Picking
Hand-picking and disposing of slugs and snails (including stomping on, throwing in the street, dropping in a bucket of salt water, etc.) does work, because if you gather up all the adults before they reproduce, things will get dramatically better, because the tiny ones you miss, don’t do the most damage.

You can do this by day, or go out at night with a flashlight and gather slugs by hand and drop in soapy water in a container they can’t climb out of.

2. Beer or Yeast & Honey Mixture
Snails and slugs are attracted to the scent of stale beer or a mixture of yeast and honey.

• Put out a saucer filled with stale beer, or the yeast and honey mixture (listed below)
• Sink it into the ground so the top of the saucer is at ground level
• Slugs and snails will get into the mixture and drown.

Keep in mind this will only reliably kill slugs if the trap is deep enough so that slugs can’t reach over the top to get out. So in the case of slugs, use a deeper trap like a yogurt container, or a deep plastic cup. Something that is too deep for a slug to climb out of, so it drowns in the beer.

Check the container daily to make sure a frog or something else hasn’t accidentally fallen in, and also empty and refill every couple of days.

Yeast & Honey Mixture:
Now, if you normally don’t have beer around, a very effective alternative is boiling some yeast and honey in water. The proportions aren’t very critical, just mix some up.

Once that is made, continue as above. Bury a dish up to the rim in your garden and fill it with this mixture. You’d be amazed at how well this works. The snails and slugs will glide right in and drown themselves. We’ve also heard old grape juice works well, but we have never tried that.

3. Dry Dog or Cat Food
Another good food to lure snails and slugs away from your plants is to use dry dog or cat food.

• Get a tin foil pie pan and cut a few notches along the rim so that when you set it on the ground you have created a few “doors” for the snails to come in
• Pour some dry cat or dog food where you want the snails to come
• Put the tin foil pan upside down and weight it down with a rock
• Next morning, you can scoop up the snails, put them in a bag, and toss it in the trash

4. Copper Deterrents
Snails and slugs cannot tolerate copper; it gives them a slight electrical shock on contact. Knowing this is great, but keep in mind that it creates a barrier only. It won’t kill them; it will only keep them out of an area that doesn’t already have a problem.

This can be very helpful for raised beds, trees, containers, flower pots, and other areas in your yard or garden.

After you have applied the copper to the desired area, finish by bending the exposed vertical strands outward. (see pictures)

Examples Where Copper Works Well:
Tree trunks: Apply a copper band around the base
Flower pots: Apply a copper band around flower pots and they will not cross it
For cold-frames or raised beds: Attach copper flashing to the frames
Greenhouse benches: Attach 3 inch (7.5 cm) wide copper bands around edges   Now obviously, putting a copper barrier around an entire garden is not going to be practical, but it is an excellent method for protecting very sensitive seedling beds or small containers.  Copper screen or copper flashing can surround a raised bed, or for small planters, copper foil (such as Snail-Barr) can be used to wrap the entire container. Shrubs can have a band of copper around the lower trunk.  In order for the copper to continue to work, it needs to be cleaned periodically with vinegar or it will tarnish and no longer work.

5. Scratchy Things
Scratchy things such as crushed eggshells, sandpaper, cinders, wood ashes, and diatomaceous earth (this will need replacing if it gets wet), work well as a barrier. Again, this method will not kill the snails and slugs, but it will slow them down.  Another scratchy material they don’t like to cross is sandpaper. You can make sandpaper collars to put around your plants if you have the inclination.  Cut doughnuts from sheets of sandpaper, or use used sandpaper discs from orbital sanders. Cut a slit to the center of each circle, and slip the collars around the stems, laying the sandpaper discs on the ground.

6. Natural Predators
Possums, chickens, ducks, turtles, tortoises, rats, some birds, and snakes, will prey on snails and slugs. Most people that have chickens and ducks hardly ever see a slug or a snail.

7. Predatory Snails
A predatory snail called a Decollate snail (Rumina decollata) will feed on young snails and may be worth a try, but they also may nibble on young plants.  It takes a little time to get an established group of Decollate snails, but many people have been pleased with the results.  These snails are semi-tropical and don’t thrive in temperate or cold gardens; and in some places where they would thrive, they are banned as potentially invasive species. They are however, physically attractive snails, and when they do the work effectively for some gardeners, they should be encouraged to keep doing so.  If you want to try these, make sure to avoid any kind of snail bait, organic or other, because it will affect these snails too.

8. Organic Baits
Two of the best organic snail and slug bait products on the market are Sluggo and Escar-Go which contain iron phosphate. They are safe to use around pets, humans, fish, birds, beneficial insects, and mammals.  For several other organisms, including earthworms and certain ground beetles, no harmful effects are known. You can also safely use iron phosphate around food crops, ornamentals, lawns, gardens, greenhouses, and berry gardens up to the day of harvest.

Iron phosphate is an organic compound that is found naturally in the soil, and if the bait is not consumed by a slug or snail, the material breaks down into fertilizer for your soil. Iron phosphate is not volatile, and does not readily dissolve in water, which minimizes its dispersal beyond where it is applied.  It is applied to the soil as a pellet that also contains bait to attract snails and slugs. When the pests eat the pellets, the iron phosphate interferes with calcium metabolism in their gut, causing the snails and slugs to stop eating almost immediately. They die 3 to 6 days later.

Iron phosphate is more effective than Metaldehyde-based chemical products (such as used by Ortho) because Metaldehyde ceases to work when it gets rained on, or if you water the garden, whereas iron phosphate remains active even with repeat wettings, for up to 2 weeks.  Some people will argue that Sluggo and Escar-Go are not as cheap as Metaldehyde-based products, but this isn’t necessarily true, because iron phosphate remains active longer, so it requires less to be used to kill more slugs, so in fact it is cost-effective.

What works best is to kill the adult slug and snail population early in the year before they lay their eggs. If you do that, you will be slug and snail free for the rest of the year without further applications.  The best time for long-term control is to treat the whole garden in the dampness of autumn. That way, in the spring, there will be very few adult slugs and snails to lay their eggs. Another application is useful in late winter or early spring, and again 1 month later. Three applications a year can do the trick.

How to Apply:
Iron phosphate products are used the same as other bait materials. Simply scatter the granules over the soil’s surface, (do not place in piles), where snails and slugs feed.  If the ground is dry, wet it before applying bait. The soil should be moist but with little or no standing water.  Once the slugs have eaten the bait, they immediately stop eating and crawl back under the plants to die. Iron phosphate is slower acting than the synthetic metaldehyde, but is active on the soil surface longer that other baits, and when ingested, the slug stops damaging your plants, which is the whole idea.

Some Basic Facts:
Sluggo and Escar-Go have a powerful lure that slugs and snails find irresistible. Repeated studies have shown that slugs and snails will eat these baits before they will eat nearby plants.  Iron phosphate disposes of snails and slugs without mess. You may not see the dead slugs and snails in your garden because they often crawl away to secluded places to die. But you will notice that your plants are no longer being eaten.

Iron phosphate controls in hard-to-reach areas. because it actually lure snails and slugs from their hiding places, which provides control in any area that slugs frequent, even in mulched beds.  The only thing beneficial that would be harmed by iron phosphate would be predatory, snail-eating, decollate snails (mentioned above in number 8). If a garden does have these predatory snails, do not use iron phosphate or any other bait.

9. Chemical Baits
Methaldyhde-based baits – A word of caution if you have been using a pelleted form of snail bait; it can be dangerous around pets as it looks like food to them. The finer granule type is much safer – but please be careful and read the label and use as directed.
Slug and snail baits with Metaldehyde are sufficiently toxic that such baits are not recommended for use around edible vegetables, and can be harmful to dogs, cats, and fish.  Baits with Metaldehyde work differently than the organic ones with iron phosphate, and since we have already given great detail about how iron phosphate works above, let’s look at Metaldehyde.

Metaldehyde poison dehydrates the snail or slug rather rapidly if it eats the poison. That is a good thing, but slugs and snails can recover from Metaldehyde poisoning if there is rainfall, or access to wet locations, where they will not fully dehydrate and die.   A slug can lose half its body weight and shrink to a third its size from Metaldehyde poisoning, or by covering it in salt, but if it can get itself to wet soil fast enough, or if it rains, it will recover.   Because Metaldehyde by itself sometimes isn’t as effective as it could be, some products like Ortho Plus include carbaryl to increase its toxicity. Carbaryl kills beneficial insects and therefore should be used with caution.  Another drawback is that after being dampened, Metaldehyde products no longer work, so that means every time you water, or it rains, you will need to re-apply it.  Many chemical-based baits do work, but be careful how and where you apply them.

10. Coffee Grounds
The alleged method of slug control using old coffee grounds, we think, amounts to gardening folklore because we have found it doesn’t work very well.   If, however, you are a person who uses this method and swears by it, by all means continue! No sense in stopping something that works for you.

11. Spray with Vinegar and Water
Mix equal parts vinegar and water. We have never tried this, but many people have sworn that spraying this mixture on snails and slugs solves the problem for them.

12. Herbal Repellent
Putting mint or sage in your mulch is reported to do a good job of repelling them. We have never tried this, but many people have sworn by using this mixture to repel slugs and snails. It won’t kill them; apparently it just acts as a barrier.

13. Ammonia

Another method found very useful is 1 part ammonia to 4 parts water in a spray bottle. We have read that the ammonia is not harmful to the plants and have found no ill effect in using it on plants. It literally dissolves the slug or snail when sprayed on the critter. There is some satisfaction in this method when you discover a precious plant chewed to pieces and the culprit is dissolving before your eyes. It is very easy to carry a spray bottle with the rest of your garden supplies and I have found it to be effective. Another recipe calls for mixing in a hand-sprayer bottle 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) ammonia, 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) Murphy’s oil soap, and 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) water. The soap helps the tonic from running off of their bodies. It is safe to over-spray any area where activity is seen. Something to keep in mind is that ammonia is not bad for your garden.

14. Cornmeal

A method that works on Banana Slugs: Gather up some glass jars and put a tablespoon (15 ml) or two or three of cornmeal in each one. Lay them on their sides near the plants where the slugs are dining, making sure to provide easy entrances to the jars. They crawl inside, chow down, and die. Empty the residual mess into the trash in the morning.

Michal

It’s winter in Seattle and so where can one go for warmth and great art…how about St Petersburg….Florida. Yes that one. The new Dali Museum is opening there this month in an amazing building by HOK Architects of London and set in a landscape designed by Graham-Booth Landscape Architecture to remind visitors of Dali’s summer residence in Cadaquez in Spain.

The grounds are full of colorful flowering shrubs, palms and trees that represent the coastal character of Spain, and over one thousand tons of Florida limestone boulders, (some as big as cars) are placed throughout the site to suggest the landscape of Dali’s Catalonian home. The rocks in his landscape paintings are referencing this same landscape.

At the entry a 20-ft. tall man-made boulder supports one corner of the massive cube and a living wall has plants in pockets and flowing water that weeps out of crags and crannies. A misting system gives the whole area a mysterious and cooling effect before visitors enter the museum.

Large boulders were split in half to define the steps, a spiral labyrinth invites exploration, a bench morphs into a pocket watch, entry gates disappear into boulders, this is a site as much fun to explore as one of Dali’s paintings. On the roof solar water heaters heat water for the bathrooms, LED lighting lowers energy use and passive solar addresses cooling. As it is built in Florida the walls are 18” thick and the glass specially designed to resist hurricane force wind speeds, and all the art is on the third floor, keeping it above any incursion by storm surge. Now doesn’t that take your mind off Winter?

Vermiculture or vermicomposting is the practice of using worms to aid in the breakdown and disposal of waste into viable, useful material.  The end product of vermicompost is vermicast; worm casting or manure created from the digestion of materials.  This process takes material that is not readily useful to either soil or plants and turns it into a nutrient rich and water soluble plant fertilizer.

Residential worm bins can be made out of several materials.  The least common is metal; these transfer heat too readily and can be prone to rust.  Wooden bins are okay but over time the wood will rot.  Even resilient wood like cedar has its drawbacks; the resinous oils that prevent decay can actually harm worms.  Bins made of used or recycled plastic tubs are durable, easy to work and are fairly inexpensive.

After some research and many alternate designs, I decided on a fairly simple worm bin system for my garden.  It employs two plastic bins with lids, one must be able to completely fit within the other with room for a few bricks at the bottom of the larger bin.  The inner (smaller) tub houses the worms and the bedding (a mix of shredded newspaper and soil).  Before adding these I drilled small (1/8”) drain holes in the bottom of the bin and drilled larger (1/4”) vent holes in the lid.  In the larger bin, I placed four bricks at the bottom and sat the smaller bin onto them.  The main purposes of the larger bin is to protect the inner bin from excess moisture (rain), extreme temperatures, and to catch the liquid run off from the inner bin (often called ‘worm tea’).

The inner bin is the engine of the system.  Kitchen (vegetable) scraps are buried into the bedding and both lids are closed.  The amount of waste that your bin can handle ranges with temperature, food type (worms prefer different foods) and the species of worm one chooses.  A widely used species of worm is Eisenia foetida, or Red Wiggler (I found my worms on Craigslist but a Google search will point you in the direction of many local sellers).  These worms are voracious eaters and can handle the compact and hot nature of a worm bin. In contrast, our common earthworms need a cooler environment with the ability to migrate freely through a wide territory.  Using the right worms in a balanced worm bin has many benefits.  I have found that my bin is much less hassle than a compost pile (or bin), the breakdown is much faster and it creates a more concentrated useful fertilizing product.  Also it is very convenient; I keep mine in the basement with no noticeable odor. This indoor placement provides both temperature and moisture control.  Worms are most active with temperatures ranging from 55 and 75 degrees.  The soil should be moist like a rung-out wash cloth; if too much moisture the bin can take on an acrid smell.  Outdoor bins must be protected and can be susceptible to freezing, overheating; and flooding.  I have placed my bin outside and exposed my worms to all of these conditions, and the worms don’t fare well.

My worm bin has been going for nearly a year, in fact, I have split the one into two, but before this weekend I had never used the castings.  I have read of multiple methods of separating the worms from the casting and these fell into two basic categories- one being hunger driven and the other being light driven.  The basis behind the hunger driven is to stop feeding the bin and place a bin with food material on top to coerce the worms to migrate into the new space.  I chose the light driven method of putting the contents into piles on a tarp outside, the worms move down in aversion to the light, the top material is skimmed off and the worms are gently returned to their bin.  Although a little messy, this method of separation was quick and easy,.  Soon I was mixing the castings into a raised bed in preparation for the growing season.  Also, I diluted the worm tea collected in the outer bin and hit all of my edibles with a shot of home-made organic fertilizer.  If everything I have read is true, I can look forward to vigorous plants and a great harvest!

Although we often complain in Seattle about the amount of rain we get, water shortages are something we can, and do, experience. Our last drought was as recent as 2003. In response, citizens of the Puget Sound water shed have reduced our per capita water usage from 152 gallons per day (gpd) to 97 gpd from 1990 to 2007. Most of our precipitation occurs in winter, and highest usage is in summer. We are reliant on snow-pack in the mountains to act as our water storage system for summer use. Global warning is expected to cause more of our precipitation to fall as rain, rather than snow, and run immediately down to the lakes and Puget Sound. We need to continue to conserve water. To this end the City of Seattle has a water goal: To sustain water quality and quantity in support of human activity and the ecosystem by using our water sources efficiently and with care.

Rain barrels, rain gardens, drought tolerant plants, pervious surfaces, snow pack retention, salmon recovery, these are all terms we often hear in Seattle. More people are moving into our environment and development continues. One result of this “progress” is reduced infiltration rates — more water is being diverted into drains and piped away, and less water is absorbed into the ground to replenish groundwater supplies. Increasing infiltration rates would provide several advantages: providing bio filtration, slowing runoff and hence diminishing erosion, and lessening the need to upgrade storm sewer systems and water treatment plants. Here are some steps we can all take:

Slowing the flow of rainwater:

• Install a green roof. This may be too big for some to undertake but, installing a green roof on a storage shed could be a good start. The purpose of the green roof is to absorb the rainfall and slow its movement, lessening its speed and lessening its erosion of hillsides or streams.

• Install a rain garden. A rain garden gives the water from the gutters and downspouts a place to be detained. It slows down the flow and the water infiltrates into the ground rather than rushing down the street and into the storm drains.

Collect water for use later:

• Install rain barrels, cisterns, or underground catchments. All of these deliver the benefits of a rain garden or green roof and also allow the water to be used in the landscape at a later time.

Use gray water:

• Install an underground catchment and pump. This is water from (for instance your washing machine) which is filtered and then held in the catchment for later use. This water could be used to water your plants.

Choose the right plant for the right place:

• Proper plant selection will save water. It can be valuable to have a professional design your landscape in order to save in the long run. The selections will include plants that thrive in the PNW, the right plants for the conditions at the site where it will be planted, and plants that are more resistant to pests.

Drink tap water not bottled water:

• Seattle residents use the equivalent of about 354,127 pint bottles of water each day. Production of this volume of bottled water requires use of some 40,719 barrels of oil each year, creating about 5,439 tons of greenhouse gases.

• Nationally, nine out of every 10 plastic water bottles end up in landfills — not in recycling bins. In Seattle, the recycling rate is closer to 49 percent, but those bottles still require huge amounts of energy to produce and transport.

As we move into fall we start to think about closing down our gardens for the winter, but now is the time to start planning and preparing for the next growing season. If you wish to add color to your garden, planting perennials in the fall allows the roots of those plants to develop and will result in a stronger plant. The soil is still warm from summer so there is little if any shock to the plant. Fall and winter rains assure that you don’t have to worry about the plant getting adequate water.

Many bulbs should be planted in the fall. They can be planted with the perennials to avoid perennial root disturbance. They will intermingle without a problem. You might also consider planting some annual seeds in the fall. Some varieties, such as larkspur and poppies, benefit from fall planting. You will be happy you did this when spring comes.

Nurseries are interested in getting rid of their stock before winter comes. You will likely be able now to find some good prices on many plants. It is true that the selection is not as plentiful as in the spring, but the likelihood of survival is greater.

Fall is also the perfect time for aerating your lawn, thatching, fertilizing, and over seeding. If all of that is too much to tackle, at least fertilize your lawn areas. Fall lawn fertilizing is important. It feeds the roots, allowing the grass to winter more successfully and start out on a healthy path in the spring.

As always, it is important to weed and mulch. Keep up with this now and there will be less work to do next spring, and your garden will look good all winter!

In the “before” photos below you will see a typical “Forgotten” back yard with weeds, awkwardly planted trees, a poorly sited utility shed, and grading issues. It all adds up to a space where the entertaining area is not attractive and uncomfortable to use.

A  modest amount of professional landscaping support who made just a few changes has opened up the yard and created various “use rooms”.  The “after” photo below demonstrates the effects of installing a simple gravel seating area, surrounded by planting beds.  The result is the creation of a tranquil reading and contemplation space while correcting the grading problems.  In this transformation process, the storage shed was moved to the underutilized side yard, leaving the relatively flat portion of the yard for a play lawn to be enjoyed by the household’s children. The transformed yard can now provide many activity choices for entertaining friends and family.

Do I Really Want All This Lawn?  Is Synthetic Turf a Viable Green Alternative?

Yes it’s true, by installing synthetic turf instead of lawn you are decreasing you carbon footprint. Less water will be used and therefore water will be conserved and your water bill will be lowered.

• Reduced use of fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides will result in fewer pollutants reaching our waterways.
• Reduced energy use will lower carbon emissions.  For example, it takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce fertilizer.
  And just one hour of mowing your lawn produces the same amount of emissions as driving a car 93 miles.
• But should we just replace our lawn with synthetic turf?  No. Synthetic turf is only one way to replace lawn.  The first step is to look at your property as a whole and ask yourself some questions:

*  What on my property works and what doesn’t?
* How do I want to use my space?
* Where do I want to entertain, how much space is needed?
* Where do the kids play and how much area do they need?
* Pet needs?
* Storage areas?
* Gardening beds?

Once you consider these questions you might discover that you want to make some changes.  Of course Lifestyle Landscapes, Inc. would be happy to help!

One of the first changes that many people could make is to remove lawn from the narrow side yards between your house and your neighbor.  These are generally just circulation paths from front to back or storage for the garbage/recycle bin.  The easiest way to handle these areas may be a gravel path.  It is a simple beginning that might lead to further changes and less lawn.

Lawn has an icon of the American Landscape since the mid-19^th century.  It is time to re-think that tradition.

Arlene