Hi Proudgm, My advice is to put down newspaper before mulch - I did that this summer & noticed a HUGE difference in the grass being able to work it's way up. I will never put just mulch again - I may top it up every other year, but every couple of years, I will definitely start again with newspaper, then top with mulch. I did both options you asked about - I just put the (wet) newspaper then mulch around my already established plants, but there were big bare sections too. So, I layed down the newspaper & mulch, the pushed aside the mulch, cut through the paper (easy when it's wet), then planted. If the whole garden is bare, I would put all the mulch down then plant the seedlings in. It's much easier then already established plants/seedlings. As for how deep, I had access to lots of chipped up trees, so I made it 3 or 4 inches or more. I use fallen logs out of our woods to edge the beds, so I tried to top it up to the top. I felt the deeper, the longer my weed prevention would be. Best of luck! Gail

Too cold, except I did pull up all my garpe vines. Cant enjoy them as they are too high in potassium and always seem to get leaf fungus. One less thing to infest the garden I say. Pulled up the heavy steal pipes my dad drove into the ground to act as trellises too. Planted some shallots in that location now. Haven't even started a single plant indoors yet. Must start very soon for most flowers. Then watermelon and broccoli seeds. Outside I will hopefully be able to till in a few more weeks, and put down blood meal, feather meal, and some fish meal. My N is very low this year. Iron is right up there and Phos is always very high, as I never add any. Potash is fine too. I was hoping the winter rye would give some N, but most seeds either got eaten by birds or just didn't sprout. I think its old rye seeds they sold me at Agway, as its the second year of poor green manure cover crop. My apple trees are really looking good, and soon the buds will be popping there and on the peach/apricot/plum tree. For the tree climbers, I used a paper tree wrap and coated the outside surface with tangle trap sticky goo. Its really nasty for any animal to attempt to climb. The sticky stuff cannot be directly applied to the trunks, so I wrap with that brown stretchy tape and its snug against the trunk.

With grass that nice in March, you might like to leave it and use your patio for container gardening! :-) But for your question, I agree as Allen says. Map out your sun directions and with the houses looking quite close together, be aware of any shady spots throughout the day. Afternoon shade is still OK so you'll just need to decide which corner or side of the yard that you want to use. You also mentioned shrubs and such, so my assumption about veggie or flower gardening might not be what you're interested in. However, the same idea of mapping out your yard will still apply when you decide on trees, shrubs, flowers, or veggies.

They can be a terror! You didn't mention if you have small children or pets..but if you don't, there are commercial poisons sold..the most effective I've found is peanut butter flavored bait blocks. Just put a chunk near the hole..They will also attract squirrels, dogs, maybe even cats..so think about it before you just throw that stuff everywhere. In my case, I buried a glass jar with the bait inside, with a hole in the lid just big enough for them to get in..(those long skinny green olive jars are perfect!)bury it in their tunnel, or at least where they've been digging..then place a stick in the ground so you remember where it was..wait a few days, clear off dirt, see if bait is gone..if it is, add more bait..keep doing this until they're not coming anymore. You may have to place several in several areas if you're that over run with them..If you live in an area where the homes are close, ask your neighbors if they have problems, too..but be careful..you can quickly make an enemy by mentioning that you're going to put poison out.. at any rate, keep at it, then after that it's just keeping an eye out and jumping right on it if you see a sign again. Those chunks of bait blocks last a long time..it only takes a little to kill a mole or vole...you don't have to put out huge chunks all at once.