Do you want to get some work done along with play? Well, the ingenuous solution is to make lawn care a combined family activity. There are numerous benefits of doing this. You, as a family get to spend time together and that too in a productive way. When you involve your kids in lawn care along with you, it is a great way of establishing rapport with them. Also, by giving them lessons on how to build a beautiful and clean lawn, you are instilling valuable lessons of responsibility in them. Kids anyways yearn to help parents with outdoor tasks as it makes them feel grown up. If you present lawn care as an exciting venture, you will have a devoted bunch to help you whenever you want them to.

However, even though the idea seems great, is it as simple to put in operation as it sounds? Well, it could be if you put some thought in to it. Family lawn care can become a problem if you are always neck deep in your work and do not find the time to spend time together with your family. To get rid of embarrassing situations later, the best idea would be to go in for some planning. Begin by delegating particular tasks to everyone and also fix schedules which you can follow with your work. This way, you won’t have to bear the stigma of broken promises later.

east February

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about house plants, landscaping and gardening. Much of it unfortunately, you will hear on the radio or TV and read in newspapers. This is especially true in connection with some of the advertisements of concerns that are more interested in money than in satisfied customers.

Remember the most reliable source you have of garden information is your county agricultural agent, who gets his information from the Agricultural Extension Service and the Agricultural Experiment Station of your own state university. They know your local conditions and plants adapted to your locality.

As new gardening experiments are carried out, even the professionals have to change their ideas and recommendations from time to time. Despite these changes, many people are still gardening as their grandparents did. We might take note in passing (just to start an argument), that so far scientists have never found any connection between signs of the moon and the proper time to plant, sow seed and harvest. The condition of the soil, temperature, and moisture are far more important.

Our town, is in an area heavily forested with pine trees, but my two lots and others to the north and south are what would be called a clearing in most forests. The reason, the soil too thin over an impervious underlayer for trees to grow, save one and its the problem in my story.

I have always been an enthusiastic gardener but I shied away from roses. They were more trouble than their worth, pruning, spraying, etc. After moving to Oregon I acquired by purchase a house, two lots and a few scraggly rose bushes. All I knew to do for them was to give them water (not enough though I later learned).

After a long period of neglect they responded so slowly that I said in disgust, “Im going to dig’em up and plant a lawn.” Next spring came and they suddenly took off and I found myself a rose grower.

Not many of the original planting remain. I learned by trial and error which would and would not grow (for me, let us say). White and most of the red varieties are best left alone.

Some kinds of seeds must be sown soon after ripening or they will not grow. Others retain their life (viability) from one year to another depending on the conditions under which they are stored. A test for germination can easily be made before planting time by cutting a circle of flannel or paper towel to fit the bottom of a plate.

By marking the material in four divisions, four different kinds of seeds may be tested at one time. The cloth is moistened and ten or 25 seeds placed on each division.

Cover with another plate or with a pane of glass to hold in the moisture. Label each kind of seed planted including the date planted. Inspect the seeds from time to time. Count the number that sprout. If none germinate and the seeds are choice ones, test a second time.

Hardcoated seeds are slow to germinate. Kicking the seeds slightly may enable them to grow. Some seeds may require a period of cool or freezing temperatures. If none grow after giving them ample time for germination, the seeds are probably no good and it would be useless to plant the remainder of the lot.