With the price of gas these days, it pays to create an ‘at home’ space that feels like you are in your special retreat! The dormant period is a great time to look at making changes in your garden.

Design trends are leaning more and more towards bringing more style and art into our outside living areas. After all, these are places that should give us a sense of peace and fill our needs for personal space as well as offer a place to entertain family and friends.

Arbors, beautiful statues, bird baths and sitting places along a garden path have become a very pleasing trend among garden designers. A piece of statuary or large fountain can set the mood for an area and give you a framework in which to create that ‘get-away’ outdoor area you have always wanted. Colored pots can add dynamic form and structure to a garden space.

Bring in a photo of an area you would like to work with and talk with one of our garden mentors and let us help you create that special space that fits your idea of the perfect retreat and the only mileage you will rack up is carrying a nice glass of ice tea from the kitchen to your private Shangri-La.

Compost, compost! Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!

Speaking of compost, you can make your own!

You’ll need something to hold your compost in. Some ideas include a simple piece of wire fencing wrapped in a circle with something on top to keep excessive rain from getting the pile to we, an old trash can with lots of holes poked in it, or you can purchase some great compost holders at your local hardware or garden store.

• Compost decomposes quickly when there is a balance between the dry and fresh materials.
• There should be more dry supplies, like chopped straw or shredded leaves, than green matter like vegetable scraps and grass clippings.
• Layer the dry and green materials and mix in garden soil or previously finished compost, or buy a small bag of compost and add this in. This step gets the organisms into the pile that will go to work on decomposing your refuse.
• You don’t want your compost pile to wet or to dry. So keep the pile covered during heavy rain and sprinkle with water when dry. The right dampness is comparable to a wrung out wash cloth.
• You will need to aerate the pile often by either poking holes in it with a garden fork or by turning the pile over.
• Finished compost is dark in color and light in texture. When you can no longer recognize the things you put into the compost pile it is ready to use!

Dirt is good! And good dirt is better!

Autumn is a wonderful time to improve your soil. Here’s a helpful tip: any improvements made to your soil now will continue to be worked in during the winter by worms and soil microorganisms.

One way to improve the quality of your soil is to utilize your leaves that fall off the trees: add them to a compost pile; gather them into their own compost pile to decompose into leaf mold; or mow them over and pile onto flower beds.

Need Compost or Mulch…we’ve got it!

Check Out our Organic Compost!

This is an all-purpose natural compost and is excellent for all soils. If you have heavy, wet, clay adding compost will loosen the soil, improve drainage and texture. If you have loose, sand soil that has difficulty holding moisture, adding compost will improve the soil’s ability to retain water and nutrients. Mix one part compost with two parts native soil. Its dark brown color also looks n ice when used as mulch on your garden beds and it contributes much more to your soil than some other mulch choices will.