Ok, so I planted all my type III clems along my fence. Most of them I got from Koi Garden Club and I couldn't be happier with my choices. I decided to go with the green vinyl coated wire - doesn't stand out like I thought it would and I'm really happy with the results. I've planted clems mostly three per panel - from left to right: Prince Charles, Venosa Violacea, Huldine, Polish Spirit, Purpurea Plena Elgans, Etoile Violette, Bonanza, Gypsy Queen, Warsaw Nike, and Alba Luxurians. By my garage next to my Purple Leaf Sandcherry I planted Viticella Minuet with Alba Luxurians. Next to our patio I'm planting Madame Julia Correvon - beautiful!! At the base along the fence, I basically planted what I had in my yard so far... my yellow daylilies and iris....I've removed all the grass from the base since this picture was taken and I plan to add a border of some sort so I can mulch and keep it in place to keep the roots cool. I'm also planning on planting bulbs this year along the fenceline - tulips and daffodils (at the advice of those on this forum). I'm so excited I can hardly wait for these to fill out. I think it's going to look stunning. And, we just added a patio this year, so what a nice view as we relax in our yard...

I like the idea of doing all the prep, cutting and measuring (not to mention making the mess) in one shot to make meal prep easier. I would like to try chopping all the veggies for soup and stews ahead of time. This time of year is great to get veggies cheaply at the Farmer's Market too. I was wondering if you need to blanch the vegetables before you freeze them? The vegetables I would probably use are: onions, celery, carrots, peppers?, and possibly green beans. If blanching is needed, should they be blanched before or after the chopping or doesn't that matter? Thanks for the advice and good ideas!! Pat

Taking care of your own lawn will result in a nicer lawn that you have confidence in. You'll know what's going on and why. Also you won't waste resources or damage your environment. Sod is a good idea in the spring. When you seed in the spring you get a lot of weeds coming in with the new grass. Further, new spring grass does not develop good roots before the hot weather hits. The end result is you have crabgrass in those spots by July. If you want to begin mixing Kentucky bluegrass into your lawn, that will help keep the bare spots to a minimum. KBG spreads to fill thin areas whereas fescue and rye grasses do not. Apply preemergent when the forsythia begins to bloom in your neighborhood. Spot spray weeds in April. Fertilize in late May (Memorial Day) Fertilize in early fall (Labor Day) Fertilize again with a high N (low to 0 P and K) fast release fertilizer after your grass stops growing in late fall but before the frost takes it to complete dormancy. The idea is to get nutrients into the roots without stimulating new growth that late in the season. This is "winterizer." It will help the grass come out of dormancy in the spring. In addition to, or in place of, one of the fertilizer drops, I would use an organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer works differently from chemical fertilizers. The organic will improve the health of your soil as much as helping your grass green up and grow. Mulch mow at your mower's highest setting for your lawn. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. You should not get a disease following this plan. Most bugs you see in the lawn are beneficial. There is always a chance of getting bugs that are not good. Usually you would see the damage in August, so the time to inspect the lawn for them is in late June. If you don't see a lot of Japanese beetles swarming your porch lights in May or June then you probably won't have a grub problem. Good luck taking this on. As you can see it is fairly straight forward and not hard.

Have you actually seen what a KBG seed looks like? Think grain of sand. Go to the beach and fill a bag with sand and then submerge it in a 55 gal drum. You'll have a wet bag of concrete! I don't know how you would broadcast wet seeds, even if they were a reasonable size, when wet. It isn't like you can dry them out and then spread them. Did you say what part of the country you are from? I think susan has it right. Just get it down on the ground and do the best you can. When I did it I bought a $30 timer that you can connect two hoses to and water several times per day for a few minutes. That way if you have good water pressure you can water a pretty good area with two or more sprinklers. If you want to go nuts you can hook up those oscillating sprinklers in series and do two or three. I've never done it like that so I don't know how it works for your pressure. Bottom line I wouldn't bother with presoaking them. Just do it when it cools down.