Home & Garden

344 Pembina Hwy. • 204-284-5950 Store Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00-5:30 Saturday 9:00 - 3:00 www.accuratelawn.ca Yes! We are open in spite of road construction! 2 YEAR BUILDING WARRANTY BUILDING GAZEBOS FOR 25 YEARS! GAZEBOMAN is the only gazebo manufacturer based in Manitoba. We manufacture our own kits, right here in the province, using only the highest quality materials. info@gazeboman.net 204-485-4411 www.gazeboman.net BEAUTY BY THE YARD EXPERT ADVICE ON LAWN AND GARDEN CARE A s soon as the first blades of green grass spring forth, many homeowners are eager to head outside, roll up their sleeves and get down to yard work and gardening. We asked two local landscaping and gardening experts — Carla Hrycyna of St. Mary's Nursery and Garden Centre, and Chad Labbe of Shelmerdine Garden Centre — to share some advice on how to get your lawn into tip-top shape, and bring more beauty to your yard all summer long. The first thing, they warn, is not to start on your lawn too early in the season. It's tempting to dive right in to address common issues such as browning, snow mould and damage from tiny rodents, but tackling the job too soon or with too heavy a hand can leave your greenspace worse off. "The frost needs to come out in order for the top layer to dry out enough so that when you use your thatch rake on it, you're not pulling all the good stuff with it. You should be able to walk across the surface without (it) feeling really spongey, or soft, or wet," explains Labbe. Once the ground is dry enough, use a light fan rake to remove any detritus left behind by Old Man Winter. "That gently lifts up that snow mould, gets rid of the mould and opens up the grass that's been matted underneath so that we get some good air circulation around it," Hrycyna says. After some light thatching, repairing bare areas of a lawn requires a combination of seed, soil and water. Seeding in the early spring is ideal because a lawn needs about 21 days of moisture for grass seed to take root. Hrycyna and Labbe both suggest adding peat moss, to protect the grass seed and allow it to germinate. You may also want to mix in the mineral vermiculite to nourish the lawn or an organic herbicide to help protect new growth from dandelion germination. When it comes to weeds, a healthy lawn is your best defence. Don't water too often, but when you do water, give your lawn a good long drink to encourage deep root growth. And don't mow too closely to the ground. Cutting the grass to a height of about three inches will help discourage weeds. Borders, shrubbery and garden beds need a bit of tending in the spring, as well. For gardeners looking to refresh existing flower beds, Labbe says the best place to start is re-cutting the edges to give them a clean, crisp look. "It's like taking a bold line around the beds and just kind of highlighting them," he explains. He also recommends doing some maintenance pruning — removing dead branches and cutting back existing shrubs to get them to flesh out with new growth. "(It) really invigorates the existing material without needing to spend any dollars." Small changes can breathe new life into unexpected places. Hrycyna proposes adding statuary or a pot for a pop of colour in a landscape. "Decorative pots can be beautiful accents, by the front door to create a statement piece or in places you can't otherwise grow, like the shady areas underneath evergreens. The heavy acid conditions that those older evergreens give us are not conducive to planting underneath. Try a beautiful collage of containers, pop it with colour and grow in a container instead," she says. Hrycyna and Labbe are seeing a lot of interest in container, small-area and low-maintenance gardening. Succulents and ornamental grasses can meet all three of those criteria. Grasses provide texture and diversity, and they can extend the life of a garden well into fall and even winter. Homeowners are also increasingly embracing gourmet gardens — herbs and vegetables that can be grown in containers and enjoyed throughout the season. Pockets of containers can provide splashes of colour throughout a yard, and maintaining them is easier on the knees than working in a traditional garden bed. When you're planting flowers, plant perennials in the ground, where they'll continue to grow in subsequent years, and consider placing annuals in containers. You'll save time and money with a bit of advance planning before you begin planting in a particular area. Consider how much sun it will receive and whether nearby elements — a neighbour's tree or a garage, for example — will cast shade throughout the day. Seeking out expert advice helps amateur landscapers know where to start, how to add on, and how to avoid potential problems as greenery matures, such as planting too close together or too close to house foundations. POCKETS OF CONTAINERS CAN PROVIDE SPLASHES OF COLOUR THROUGHOUT A YARD, AND MAINTAINING THEM IS EASIER ON THE KNEES THAN WORKING IN A TRADITIONAL GARDEN BED.

• Cover