LandscapExperts Tip of the Week, June 24

Draining containers without drainage holes

Go ahead and plant those lovely ceramic cache pots without drainage holes! Even if your container does not have the recommended drainage holes, you can easily tip the water out after a heavy rain with this tip.

Before filling the container with potting soil, cut a slender drainage pipe as long as the pot is tall. Cover  the bottom end of the pipe with some nylon net. Insert the pipe down the side of the pot, then fill with soil and plants.If it gets too soggy, tip the pot sideways and the excess water will drain out through the pipe.

LandscapExperts Tip of the Week, June 17

Use toothpicks to mark direct-sown seeds. Having trouble recognizing seeds and seedlings of newly sown Zinnia, Cucumber, Squash or Zucchini? Push in a toothpick beside each large seed when sowing to mark the spot and avoid "weeding up" the new sprouts.

LandscapExperts Tip of the Week, June 10

Edible Landscaping! Ever consider a vegetable for foundation plantings? The ferny foliage of Asparagus makes a great backdrop for annuals in season. Perennial plants like a well=drained, slightly alkaline soil provided by the foundations of most homes. After a few years start-up, enjoy the shoots for a few weeks each spring, and the asparagus ferns all summer. They turn a golden yellow in autumn, before dying back each winter.

LandscapExperts Tip of the Week June 3

When patching fescue turf with a little extra seed, try mulching with cheesecloth instead of straw. It looks neat, does not add any foreign weed seeds, allows more light to reach the grass seed, and conveniently rots away after the patch has grown in. Peg the cheesecloth with short lengths of thin bamboo stakes, which are also temporary and disappear in a season.