That's the usual recommendation, I think with the theory that it may be helpful and probably won't do any harm. Trees take up nitrogen during active root growth which begins at bud break. Testing the soil might be wise just to see what tendencies are as far as nutrient availability in your native soil. You need to be aware of your soils texture as well, as sandy soils don't tend to provide as much useful mineral availability fot a couple of reasons. I should mention pH, which should already have been tested and adjusted if necessary. Sometimes all you need to juice up growth in establishing trees is a handful or 2 of urea and you can rely on wood chips and some kind of compost for the rest or even your native soil. There are, of course, other ways as well to supply your trees with extra N.

No worst of times for me, except I wish Spring would get here. Best of times> A great breakfast with good friends and then the young man I met in the parking lot of the hardware store came by and he's great. I will have a 400sq.ft fenced and tilled, sod free, area to put my raised beds in by early next week ! Now to get a good dirt guy. By the way, who knows roughly how much a bed 12" deep by 6'6" x 3'6" might be when translated into cubic feet of dirt? Sheila

Right now I'm getting mulch down in the beds in front of the house. I'm also putting some in the walkways between the daylily blocks. I'm also going to put down some landscape mat between some of them and see which I like best. I need to spray out the early weeds in the daylilies and get the rest of the pre-emergent down. My daughter and I potted up around 200 pots of oriental and asiatic lilies Saturday. I'll sell them at the local farmer's market, local festivals and the open garden at the farm. There's plenty around here to do. I try to get some of the heavy stuff done before it starts getting hot. I don't sweat unloading bulk mulch out of the truck in Feb. and Mar. nearly as much as I do in June and July! Janet

Hi Donnaroe: Great question, I learned too as I looked up the info., from Buzzle "Lady bugs eat aphids. By the time a ladybug dies, it consumes about 5,000 aphids. The other bugs that it eats are boll worm, broccoli worm, whitefly, mealybugs, armored scales, pit scales, mites, tomato horn worm, and cabbage moth. They also like to eat eggs of other insects like moths. They enjoy eating pollen and mildew. You may even find some species of ladybugs that eat mushrooms and other types of fungus. There are over 5000 species of ladybugs on earth ... Its life span is about 3 to 6 weeks. In its short life span, one insect lays up to 1000 eggs. All ladybugs are born black. The larvae take only a week to develop into adults" Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-ladybugs-eat.html See below link for the cheapest place to buy lady bugs from Amazon, 1,500 bugs for $15. It has the instruction on how to release them .. this place has the highest rating. Once you click on the below link, scroll ALL THE WAY down to see the 227 reviews. Ed in Amazon wrote this: "1. If you release them in hot weather you will not see them EVER. These guys look for cool spots and will leave no matter what. 2. Sugar water does no good. If there is nothing for them to eat they are out of here. 3. If you have a aphid problem this is far the way to go. *** From Strawberryhill: When we first moved to our alkaline clay we had tons of lady bugs. When I had the most perennial flowers, I had the most lady bugs. But pink yarrow and bee balm are too invasive, so I killed them. We went from tons of ladybugs, to very few. The reason? Lady bugs can hide under flowers, to keep cool and to avoid being eaten by birds. Once I killed the perennial flowers, I destroyed their shelter. From eHow: Planting annuals and perennials to provide nectar for ladybugs will help make your garden an attractive place for both beneficial insects and humans. Choose annuals such as alyssum, baby's breath, calendula, cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers and zinnias, all of which grow easily from seed. Perennials such as bee balm (Monarda), goldenrod (Solidago) and candytuft (Iberis) also attract ladybugs. Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8248651_flowers-attract-lady-bugs.html#ixzz33aDO6BmW Here is a link that might be useful: Best place to buy lady bugs from Amazon This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 9:44