Where abouts in central Jersey? I live in central NJ and this is what I have done the past 3 years and have had great success. 1. kill all weeds with some sort of spray like Ortho makes. 2. in mid Sept, I begin cutting my grass shorter. Usually keep it at around 3.5 inches, but 1 week before I plan to overseed I cut it to 3, then a few days later to 2.5, then the day I overseed to 1.5 inches. It is not fun and makes a freakin mess, plus there is a lot of grass to get rid of, make sure you bag it, don't mulch it. 3. I then pull my core aerator with my ride on lawn mower and pull plugs of soil out all over the place. I criss cross, N-S, E-W, just about every way you can imagine to maximize the number of holes. 4. I then seed with my Earthway broadcast spreader. I have been using Scotts Premium Sun and Shade (see my post earlier, not sure if I am going this route this year). 5. I immediately then lay down Scotts Starter Fertilizer. 6. The key is to keep the seed and top of the soil moist. I found running my sprinklers for 10 mins anywhere from 2-3 times a day does the trick. 7. Try to hold off as long as possible to cut the grass so the new seedlings have a chance to survive. Then around Thanksgiving or so use a winterizer fertilizer. 8. Enjoy a nice, lush, green lawn and have your neighbors hate you. LOL Here are some pictures of mine I took this year. 3 years ago it was a freaking mess, previous owner did nothing. Amazing what a little work will produce.

I'm located in southern ny and have been working on a wildlife garden - heavily influenced by natives for a few years now. Most of my plants are used by pollinators - for nectar, or host. and the birds are quite fond of the fruiting shrubs. I have lots of shade, some deer and in one area black walnut trees (note: not all plants listed below are growing with the walnuts). I'll share what has worked for me: small to medium trees - both volunteers here: Celtis occidentalis hackberry Prunus serotina black cherry shrubbery - these were purchased: elderberry (sambucus), lindera - may get a nibble, but not decimated by deer. this year I added some ninebark starts. I've read that deer will nibble on these, but they will come back from it . I am also trying some cornus (red twig dogwood). many say the deer like these - I have some low-tech deterrents in place - branches and such. I am hoping they'll be okay until they get a bit larger. There seems to be some conflicting information online as to deer preference for the cornus - time where tell where my plants fit. I was debating these plants for a while, but figured I'd give 'em a shot this year. A somewhat protected Amelanchier (serviceberry) is doing well. and the deer seem uninterested in my itea - it is planted up close to the house, tho. flowers/perennials all volunteers unless otherwise specified: Since pulling out the garlic mustard in the area, I have a lot of the native annual jewelweed which the deer do enjoy. I mention it because I suspect they may be more interested in this than things they don't find as tasty. I do tend to pull some of this out as the season progresses - but between the deer and myself, there's still some flowering later on. The other annual i welcome (considered weedy to some) is three-seed mercury. deer don't touch this, and it always looks perky. other native volunteers for me that may be considered weedy by some - Circaea (enchanters nightshade), geum white avens, white wood aster, viola, virginia knotweed, and sensitive fern. these are the "rabbits" of my garden they are very assertive and help hold down the fort from garlic mustard and other nasties. of these, the circaea and asters do get a nibble - but the "pruning" makes for a lusher bloom. I also leave a lot of the poke weed that pops up - this too gets nibbled, but will still bloom and fruit. and how can I forget - jack in the pulpit. my solomons seal gets nibbled early in it's growth if unprotected (branches placed around it), but the deer seem to leave it alone when larger. I also have some deer tongue grass in the sunnier locations - deer leave this alone. purchases: milkweed - incarnata, and joepye weed can both take some shade. joe pye gets nibbled a little too, but I get the same results as with the aster - not decimated, just a bushier look. native geranium, celandine poppy, christmas fern, bloodroot, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, Agastache, and echinacea all seem un touched. vines: wild grape, virginia creeper, and poison ivy I think that about covers it - sorry for being so long-winded, but know what a pain it can be to constantly cross reference shade tolerance and deer resistance lists (I would still recommend checking to see if native to your area). I would suggest also posting in the native plants forum here. I think you'll get a greater response. another suggestion would be wildlifegardeners.org good luck Here is a link that might be useful: natives forum / gardenweb

Tom Tasselmyer (such a Baltimorean name) is reporting that January was the 8th coldest January in Baltimore history. The official records for Baltimore go back to 1871 though the records prior to 1893 are not catalogued at SERCC. The average IIRC was 27F. Coldest ever was 1977 at 22F. The Barnes Foundation Sequoia was planted in 1971 so it would have survived that. None of mine have 'tons of dieback' so far. I'd say it varies from minimal dieback on the largest one, which is about 7' - mostly snow burn near the snow line - to 30% needle damage on my smallest plant. 'Atlanta' might be a hair tougher than 'Chapel Hill'/'Swarthmore'. 'Soquel' has the least damage but it is the big one. Lows were 3F, several times during the month, and a couple 48 h+ stretches that stayed below about 15F. FWIW Pseudotsuga sinensis has similar burning just above the snow line. We had the longest stretch of powdery snow "lying on ground" as the Brits say, that I can remember. 95% of the time here, powdery snow will be mush within 3 days. It stayed cold for so long that a lot of things show a ring of damage where light was reflected by the snow. Even something as hardy as Cryptomeria has completely dead branchlets in that zone. I think I might have posted earlier that I was surprised by how little damage there was in the first freeze. Sadly, the 2nd and 3rd were just too much for various plants. Particularly the 2nd round of snow, which was accompanied by even stronger winds than the first. Maybe they were more brittle because of the earlier freeze, but all of my arborescent Ericas (hey, they kinda look like conifers) were totally destroyed, stems split clear to the ground. I've never seen that in almost 20 years of growing Erica arborea alpina, for example. Not 'alpine' enough, apparently. The foliage was fine though. It's sad to see the green foliage attached to broken stems and dying from the point of the break upward. Camellias are ok so far, including 'Aida' which is the hardiest C. X williamsii, I was lucky I didn't go below 0F as most points about 15 miles north of me in York and Lancaster Cos. did.

The fourth picture above is Yellow Wood Sorrel, "Oxalis stricta" a very common "weed" in any cultivated soil. Quite easily pulled by hand but also easily reseeded by birds. The first one could be a thistle and the third could well be spurge, a very prolific seed producer. Hand pulling, that gets all of the root, is the single best means of control. There is more and more evidence appearing that indicates any of the "weed" poisons are very detrimental to wee thingys such as toads and frogs and other of what is known as the lower forms of life.