Stay On Top Of Yard Maintenance

Just as we fit in a haircut before a job interview, you should trim the lawn and shrubbery regularly  to help make a good impression. A tidy, regularly manicured lawn gives the impression that you care about and value the appearance of your landscape. However, yard maintenance doesn’t just end with the lawn, trees, shrubs. Other ornamental landscape plants will not only benefit from regular pruning, trimming and deadheading. These little tasks help put a nice frame on your garden.

Create Inviting Paths or Walkways

There is something compelling about paths or walkways. They draw the eye up them, urging us to follow.  When guests arrive at our home, it should be obvious which entrance they should go to. Nothing works better at guiding people in a certain direction than a clear path or walkway. You can create paths leading to your preferred door to the home.

Bordering walkways with flowering plants will soften the edges of concrete and pavers. As with the lawn and garden, a clean and clear path or walkway is sure to make a better impact on our guests than a path filled with crumbling concrete and stone or hazardous debris that can hurt or harm someone. Keep paths clear of overgrown plants, yard waste or equipment, as well as messes and clutter from children or pets to prevent inconveniences and injuries.

Mind Your Fences

Gates, fences, arbors and other structures in the landscape can add charming accent to your landscape. Covering these kinds of structures with climbing vines is a great way to add a little more curbside appeal.

Define That Picture Perfect Entrance

An important  touch to creating a great curbside appeal is decorating the actual entrance of your home. Bold and bright colors for doors, trim, welcome mats, and other décor, stir feelings of excitement and warmth to most people, while neutral colors and soft or muted tones, can convey a message of comfort and security. Either way, it makes your home look more inviting from the sidewalk.

Add complimentary colorful pots of long blooming annuals and scented herbs. Create vertical interest with hanging baskets.

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

It goes without saying that one of the most important things that the Bedford Garden club is looking for is flowers. While many modern landscapes are designed to look nice with minimal plants (and therefore maintenance), a truly award winning front garden will have flowers to add color, texture and pop.

With your perennials, plant various kinds of flowers that bloom at different times so that your front garden is never without a little color.

If you are having trouble lining up your perennials’ blooms, there is nothing wrong with supplementing with annuals.  Annual flowers will bloom all spring, summer and fall long and add long lasting color in the garden.

Your Personal Touch

Last but not least, add a bit of your own personal flair, so the judges have no doubt that they have arrived at your place. A little whimsy or unique decorations can help take your front garden to the next level that the Bedford Beauties are looking for.

Start planning now on how you can improve your garden in time for the Bedford Beauties. And if you don’t win this year, don’t give up! A truly attractive garden can take years to cultivate. Keep improving and you will end up with a Bedford Beauty sign in your yard.

The post Tips and Tricks To Help You Win a Bedford Beauty Award first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

How Do I Know If I Have A Drainage Problem?

Some telltale signs of landscape drainage problems are flooded basements, water lines on a home or structure, areas of the landscape where water or ice always accumulate, bare, exposed tree and shrub roots, areas where the soil always feels spongy when walked upon, and obvious eroded areas which may look like natural streams or path. Some of these issues may be more serious than others, but all are good indicators that your home’s landscaping is not working with the natural landscape.

What Can I Do If I Have A Drainage Problem?

When water accumulates in a basement or lower region of a structure, it can be the result of bad elevation or a sewer line issue. First, call the Bedford Service Department at (440) 735-6583 and have them come and take a look for free. They may be able to snake sewer lines connected to your home and help prevent water building up in your home.

If that does not work, take a look around your property. In many older homes like we have here in Bedford, a flooded basement may merely indicate years of erosion, overgrown landscapes or gutters and downspouts. While in some cases the solutions may involve hauling in more soil to regrade and a total over haul of the landscape, other solutions may be much simpler and less expensive.

With older homes and landscapes, again landscape beds or retaining walls around the home can impede the proper drainage of run off. Most professionally installed retaining walls will be designed with drainage in mind. It’s important to do your homework on drainage before taking on any major DIY edging or retaining wall projects. Before building up new berms for ornamentals, be sure to consider whether their placement will help your landscape’s natural water flow or interrupt it and if you are just shoving your drainage problem off on a neighbor.

Should I Add More Soil To My Yard To Correct A Drainage Issue?

In many cases, building up is not always the best solution for water problems. Instead, many water issues in the landscape can be resolved by removing soil. Areas where water tends to pool or rush can be dug out to create rain gardens, bioswales or dry creek beds which collect or divert water naturally. These landscape features are usually planted with hardy, tough native plants, which can tolerate times of wet feet, but also hot dry periods. Many native plants also have strong, deep roots that can penetrate tough soils, opening them up to the proper exchange of water and oxygen, and also pulling up deep nutrients. As these native plant tissues dieback and decay each year, they condition and restructure the soil. New gutter downspouts and sub-surface drains can be added to the landscape to run water away from the home and into one of these natural water features.

Replacing traditional gutters and downspouts with new efficient gutters and sunken downspouts and drains can not only eliminate water problems in the home but can also save you money on water and irrigation systems. Rain run off can be directed to rush down the roof, through the drains and run into specific garden beds, such as your vegetable garden.

This spring, as you rush out into the mud to take advantage of the nice weather, examine your yards landscape for potential water problems. Take note of areas where water pools, puddles or rushes. Consider what solution would work best with the natural landscape around your home.

The post Natural Solutions For Landscape Drainage Problems first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Plan Your Garden and Buy Seeds

The first step is to know what you want to grow. Stake out an area in the garden so you know how much space you’ll have. Pick a sunny spot and plot the rows for different types of veggies. When you’re ready to buy seeds, be sure they come from a trusted source and are high quality.

When to Start Seeds

A good general rule is to start seeds between four and six weeks from the date of the last expected frost date. The last frost of spring in Bedford,  Ohio can happen as late as the end of May so you want to count back from the last day of May.

Cold-weather vegetables can be started earliest—start broccoli, cabbage, and lettuces as soon as ten weeks ahead of the last frost. Start seeds for warm-weather tomatoes, peppers and eggplants about six weeks in advance, and for melons and cucumbers, four weeks is adequate.

Prepare Soil and Containers

Start seeds indoors to protect them from frost. You’ll need just a simple container and a quality potting mix. Any old plastic container will work, even used but clean yogurt cups. Just be sure that there are drainage holes in the bottom. If you saved transplant containers for annuals from last year, these make good seed trays as well. And, of course you can buy seed trays online or at a garden store.

Plant and Seeds and Keep them Moist

Wet the soil mix before planting the seeds. The soil should be moist but not soaking. Once the seeds are in the soil, cover the containers with plastic wrap to keep the moisture in. Add water if necessary to keep the soil damp.

The depth and spacing of seeds will vary depending on the plant type. Check the seed packet instructions. In general, you can plant a seed to a depth that is about two or three times the width of the seed. Plant them too deep in the soil and they will never emerge.

Watch for Seedlings and Provide Light

Keep the seed tray or small containers in a spot that is neither too warm nor too cold. Temperatures between 65F and 75F are ideal. A soon as you see leaves emerge from the soil it’s time to remove the plastic wrap and provide some light. You can place the seedlings in a sunny window or provide artificial overhead lighting.

Thin and Harden off Seedlings

Thin the seedlings once they are a few inches tall and have two definite leaves each. Remove the smaller seedlings. Once the last frost has passed you can plant your seedlings outside, but move them gradually. First, put the containers outside in a sheltered area for a couple of days. This helps harden the plants but also gives you a chance to bring them indoors if there is an unexpected temperature drop.

The post Starting Seeds Now for a Summer Vegetable Garden first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

What to Prune Now

Early spring is the right time to prune summer-flowering shrubs and fruit trees. They will blooms on this year’s new growth, so trim back the old wood now. This is also the time to prune other deciduous shrubs with insignificant flowers, no matter when they bloom, and your evergreen shrubs. Most deciduous trees can be pruned now too, before they start leafing out. The exception to this is an oak, which should only be trimmed in late fall or winter. 

Pruning Roses

Early spring is the right time to prune all varieties of roses. This is an essential chore for roses, as it is the key to increasing longevity. The timing should be just as the bushes come out of dormancy. You’ll see new growth of about a half-inch long. 

For the colder climate of the Midwest, rose pruning should focus on cutting back dead and damaged wood from the winter. Trim back branches all the way to green wood and remove any suckers sprouting below bud unions. You can add a little bit of white glue to the cuts to protect against disease. 

Managing Overgrown Shrubs

March is also the perfect time here in Bedford to tame those shrubs you have ignored for years. Even those that flower in spring, like lilac, will ultimately benefit from a big overhaul now if they have been neglected. They may flower less for the next couple of seasons, but the major trim will help them recover and become healthier and more productive in the long run. Prune these shrubs heavily now, and get results later. 

Pruning Tips

Pruning is a little bit of an art, and with practice you’ll develop a good strategy. But here are some tips from pros to get you started: 

• First remove any obviously dead, diseased, or damaged branches and twigs. 
• Remove water sprouts and suckers. These are the small shoots that come up from the ground at the base of a shrub or tree and that sprout upright on branches. 
• Now you can start to prune to shape and thin out your shrub or tree. Remove branches that cross each other, for instance. 
• Remove some of the branches from the interior. This allows light in so that inner branches remaining can develop more leaves. 
• To promote branching, trim a branch just over a healthy bud. Make the cut at 45 degrees, facing in the opposite direction of the bud. 

March is the time of year when you’re just about ready to see green in the garden. Before all that lush new growth comes in, take the time to carefully and thoughtfully prune. You’ll be rewarded with healthier shrubs and trees, more flowers, and better growth overall.

The post Spring Pruning in Bedford first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Manage leaves.

Raking and disposing of all the leaves in your garden isn’t necessary. Get most of the leaves off the lawn to avoid smothering the grass, but let the leaves stay in flower and vegetable beds to provide insulation throughout the winter. It’s also good for the local ecosystem, for insects and animals, to have some leaf cover in the colder months.

Clean up beds.

Wherever you have annuals planted, tear them out and add to your compost pile. The exceptions are annuals that self-seed. Leave them in place if you want new growth next year. This is also a good time to cut back perennials. Trim them back to just a few inches and use the branches and leaves for compost. You may want to leave some perennials in place for visual interest throughout the winter: ornamental grasses blue fescue, golden sedges, or sedum, for instance.

Mulch over delicate plants.

Any plants that are staying in the ground for the winter but that may be sensitive to the cold temperatures should be mulched. Strawberries, for instance, will need a mulch cover to survive the Midwest winter.

Remove and store any tender bulbs.

If you have any tender bulbs planted, such as gladiolus, calla lily, or dahlias, now is the time to get them into storage. Dig them up and keep them in a paper bag with dry dirt or sand. Keep them inside in a cool, dry location and replant in the spring. 

Clean gardening tools.

It’s time to hang up the tools for winter, but before you do, give them a thorough cleaning. Clean metal tools and let them dry completely. Then rub them with oil to prevent rust. This is also a good time to service your lawnmower and turn off outdoor water and bring hoses in to the garage or shed.

Provide for birds.

If you enjoy seeing birds in your garden, make sure you’re ready for the winter arrivals and those that stay year-round. You can leave some flowers in place that provide seed heads—like coneflowers and sunflowers—to help feed birds. Also keep your feeders full of seed and suet to provide extra energy for the colder months.

November is a time when the fruits of the garden are spent, but it’s also when the work we put in will pay off next year. Take the time to prepare your beds and lawn for a great spring and you’ll be rewarded in the new year.

The post Preparing the Bedford Garden for Winter first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

When to Plant Bulbs in Bedford, OH

To get pretty spring blooms you need to plant certain bulbs in the fall. In Bedford you can put them in the ground any time from the third week of September through November. As long as the ground hasn’t frozen yet, you can plant bulbs, but October is an ideal time right in the middle.

This is when you’ll time the blooms just right in spring. And, it’s still pleasant to be outdoors working in the garden. The best time for fall plantings of spring bulbs is about six weeks before the ground freezes and when night time temperatures are around 40 to 50 degrees.

Choose the Right Bulbs and Garden Spot

Before you put any bulbs in the ground, do some preparation. Find the right spot for spring-blooming bulbs, which is somewhere they will get full sunlight and where the soil drains well. Select your bulbs carefully too. They should be firm and not mushy or moldy. For each type of plant, choose bulbs that are larger, as these tend to produce more flowers.

Preparing the Ground and Planting the Bulbs

Once you have your bulbs and a good location, start digging the holes, one for each bulb. The hole should be about two to three times as deep as the length of the bulb. Also check packaging on the bulbs to determine specific depths because there are some exceptions. Mix a little fertilizer into the soil at the bottom of each hole.

Place each bulb in its hole with the pointy end facing up. If a pointy end isn’t obvious, look for signs of roots. That end of the bulb should go down in the hole. Fill in the holes with soil that you have enriched with compost. If you have issues with weeds, put a layer of mulch down over the bulbs. Water them right after planting to encourage root growth.

Protection from Critters

Several native species like to nibble on bulbs over the fall and winter. If you have burrowing animals, like moles or voles in the yard, you may need to bury wire mesh around each bulb. To protect from digging animals, like squirrels and chipmunks, secure mesh over the tops of bulbs. You can remove this layer in the spring as the plants emerge from the soil.

Spring Bulbs for Bedford Gardens

First, make sure you choose bulbs for flowers that bloom in the spring. Then choose flowers you like, those that will grow well in your climate, and those that will stagger their blooms from early spring to early summer:

• Early-spring bulbs. Some of the first flowers to emerge after the snow melts are snowdrops, crocus, muscari, and early tulips and daffodils.
• Mid-spring bulbs. For the next round of blooms, plant hyacinth, mid-season daffodils and tulips, and narcissus.
• Late-spring bulbs. To enjoy ongoing blooms for the spring be sure to include some English bluebells, late tulips, allium, ranunculus, lilies, and Dutch iris.

The work you put in now to get bulbs in your flower beds will pay off come spring. If you choose bulbs with a range of bloom times, you can count on a continuous show of color throughout the spring.

The post Tips for Planting Spring Bulbs in Bedford first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Pick up the Leaves

This classic fall chore is a must-do for healthy grass. By letting leaves stay put on the ground you smother the grass, blocking light from getting to it. The leaves can also trap moisture, which encourages disease. Rake or use a blower, but pick up the leaves and dispose of them regularly as they keep coming down throughout the fall.

Continue Cutting and Watering

Keep cutting your grass right up to the first hard freeze of the season. Keep the length between two and a half to three inches for optimum health. Too short and you’ll damage the root system, too long and mold or mildew may grow. If it’s not raining about an inch a week, keep watering the grass right up until you start getting frosts.

Seed Thin or Bare Areas of Lawn

Fall is a great time to seed your lawn. With cooler temperatures and more moisture, now is when new grass will thrive. If you have some bare patches or areas where the grass is then, seed it with an appropriate type of grass for your conditions. Make sure you water the areas of seed as needed to keep the ground moist.

Weed and Feed

Fertilizing now will give your grass roots the boost they need to grow stronger and longer. This will help grass come back greener and lusher in the spring. Your grass will most benefit from an infusion of nitrogen and potassium. A 24-0-10 fertilizer or a light spreading of compost are good options. This is also a good time to manage weeds, and you can find a weed-and-feed product that will combine both chores in one.

Aerate Every Few Years

Aerating the lawn loosens up the soil and helps more water, nutrients, and oxygen to get to grass roots. You only need to do it every few years for a healthy lawn, but the best time of year to do it is in the fall. Spring aeration can promote the growth of weeds. Rent an aerator at your local hardware store or call a lawn company in to get the chore done quickly. 

Manage Thatch if Needed

Another chore you don’t have to do every year is manage thatch, the layer of dead grass on top of the soil. Take a plug of grass out of the lawn to determine how thick the thatch is. If it measures a half an inch or less, you don’t need to do anything now. If it is thicker than a half inch it’s time to dethatch. Rent a power rake to cut the thatch and then hand rake and remove the debris.

For healthy, green grass in the spring, fall lawn chores are necessary. Take the time now to do these chores and you’ll reap the benefits next year with a healthier, thicker, and greener lawn.

The post Fall Lawn Care in Bedford – How to Keep Your Grass Healthy Heading into Winter first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

What to Harvest Now

Many of your vegetables will begin to ripen and be ready to pick in August. Some, like green beans, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers, will even produce a greater yield for longer if make regular harvests. Here are some of the veggies and fruits to start harvesting this month and how to know they’re ready:

• Tomatoes. Let larger varieties ripen on the vine for optimal flavor. They are ready when deep red and firm. Smaller tomatoes, like cherries, may crack if ripened on the plant, so pick them when still quite firm and not fully red.
• Peppers. With peppers, you can harvest when they are still green, as they begin to show color, or when fully colored. The longer they stay on the vine and change color, the sweeter the fruits will be. The same goes for spiciness in hot peppers.
• Beans. Timing is crucial for picking pole, bush, wax, and green beans. Just a day or too late will result in woody, tough beans. Harvest them when the beans are the right size, about as thick as a pencil, and before the beans inside are fully developed and visible. When ready they should easily snap off the plant.
• Cucumbers. Cucumbers for pickling can be harvested when they are just a couple inches long. For fresh eating, wait until they are seven to nine inches long. Any bigger and you begin to lose flavor.
• Summer squashes. Zucchini and yellow summer squash, like cucumbers, are best harvested before they get too big. Those larger than six inches long will begin to develop a thicker skin and a bitter flavor.
• Eggplant. Eggplant will grow heavily and ripen in August. Harvest eggplants when they are at mature size and the skin is shiny and glossy. For purple varieties, the color should be deep and dark.
• Melons. For cantaloupes, look for the rind to change color from green to yellow or light tan. There should also be a stem crack and it should separate readily from the vine. Watermelons must ripen on the vine. They take about two weeks to ripen, so keep an eye on them. Signs of ripeness include a hollow sound when thumped, yellow on the bottom of the melon, and stripes with little contrast. Use a knife to harvest watermelons.

Vegetables to Start in August

Extend the growing season into the fall by starting some seeds outside in August. You can directly sow beets, carrots, peas, radishes, kohlrabi, and turnips. All kinds of greens will thrive outside now as well: chard, collards, kale, endive, lettuces, spinach, and mustard.

August is when vegetable gardens shine. In addition to harvesting and sowing fall veggies, this is an important time to keep all plants watered, to weed beds, and to refill mulch as needed.

The post Planting and Harvesting in the August Garden in Bedford first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Watering in Summer

This is the time of year when heat and drought can strike Bedford gardens, wreaking havoc on grass, annuals, and vegetables especially. A good rule of thumb is to ensure all these elements of your garden get an inch of water per week. For most locations this means you cannot simply rely on rain. Irrigation and planned watering are necessary.

When watering your lawn or beds with a sprinkler, try this simple trick to make sure the amount is adequate: Set an empty can on the ground with a permanent marker line at one inch on the inside. When the water has reached the line in the can, you have watered to one inch. The best time to water vegetables, flowers, and grass is in the early morning. This allows water to soak in without too much evaporation and it lets leaves dry during the day to minimize disease.

Weeding Beds

Mid-summer is a time of major growth, but not just for the plants you want to grow. Weeds will also be thriving right now. To protect your plants and make sure they are not out-competed for nutrients and water, it’s necessary to keep up with weeding in the summer. Pulling by hand is the best way to do this chore, so that you don’t harm other plants or insects with herbicides. Do it early in the morning while it’s still cool out and after watering when roots are easier to remove.

Deadheading Flowers

Your flower beds should be thriving at this time of year, but they will also have spent blooms. They may start to look a little scraggly and leggy. Now is a great time to begin deadheading and pruning as needed. For flowers blooming now, snip off those that are past their prime to make the plants look nicer and to encourage ongoing blooms for the rest of the summer.

Annual flowers that look leggy right now can be pruned back by about one-third to one-half. This will tidy them up but also encourage some new growth so that you get more out of them for the rest of the summer. This is also a good time to add a bloom-encouraging fertilizer to flowering plants. Use it about every two weeks to get more buds and flowers throughout the summer.

Gardening in mid-summer is all about maintenance and watching all your hard work and planning pay off. Enjoy the garden, but don’t rest too much. Your plants need you now to continue to grow and produce.

The post Summer Chores in the Bedford Garden first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea

Also referred to simply as echinacea and known as an herbal supplement for boosting the immune system, coneflower is a native Midwestern flower. These pretty, cone-shaped flowers grow 16 to 20 inches tall and are sturdy enough to stand up without support. The classic variety is purple, but you can find new cultivars of coneflower in red, yellow, and other colors.

Penstemon, Penstemon digitalis

This pretty perennial will grow up to two feet tall and produce delicate white flowers. Also attractive is the foliage, which is green, tinged with burgundy. Penstemon prefers a sunny spot and soil that drains well.

Sedum, Crassulaceae spp.

There are hundreds of species of sedum, also known as stonecrop, and they do well in Bedford gardens. These are low-maintenance perennials that produce thick clusters of tiny flowers, almost like broccoli heads. You can find different colors, but a popular variety is ‘Autumn Joy’ because it changes from green to pink to deep red in fall, providing multi-season color.

Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa

This native prairie plant is no weed, despite its name. This is an easy perennial to grow, and it produces gorgeous clusters of red, pink, yellow, or orange flowers that attract butterflies. Butterfly weed resists drought and is vulnerable to very few pests or diseases.

Lenten Rose, Helleboros orientalis

Lenten rose, also called hellebore, is a pretty perennial that is also cold hardy. It thrives in shady spots, where you’ll struggle to grow other plants. The flowers come in a range of colors, including white and green and a shade that is nearly black. Look for the blooms to appear early in spring, even while there is still snow on the ground.

Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium

Not all perennials need to be flowers. Ornamental grasses make a bold statement in beds and even add color and texture to the garden throughout the winter. Little bluestem grows three feet tall and provides color through the entire growing season. The blades are blue-gray with touches of purple-red.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum

For a truly unique flower, but one that is actually native to the Midwest, try Jack-in-the-Pulpit. This plant produces pitcher-like flowers that are green and red streaked. This is a forest plant that loves moist soil so put it in a shady area and keep the ground well-watered but drained.

No Bedford garden is complete without beds of showy, colorful, delicate, and pretty perennials. There are many options to choose from, and once they’re in the ground maintenance is easy and mostly hands-off. Annuals can be lovely, but make room for perennials this year.

The post Great Perennials for the Bedford Garden first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.