February To-Do

Tend Your Indoor Garden

Tend to the houseplant, inspect for pests, and determine the need for re-potting.

Clean-Up

During winter thaws, wander through the yard gathering wind-thrown twigs and hauling the bigger branches to the woods. That makes spring clean-up go quicker.

Cut Back Grass

Cut back perennial ornamental grasses to about six inches above ground. Cut back liriope and mondo grass.

Rake Moss

Decomposing fallen leaves feed moss over the winter, but rake them in mid-winter to reveal a welcome emerald green carpet.

Fertilize

Fertilize trees and shrubs very late in the month.

Repairing Fences

Now that your view of the fence and gate is unobscured by plants and flowers, you might see where repairs are needed. Nailing loose pickets into place, put on a fresh coat of paint, and consider replacing the latch on the gate.

Painting Porch

If your front porch shows some wear and tear, plan to repaint the porch floor—a dark color to hide imperfections—and the ceiling. It's the first thing—besides the fence—people see when they visit your home so you want it to look great.

Mailbox Plantings

Add flowers and plants around the mailbox to take advantage of one more planting opportunity, while hiding the uninspiring post.

Plan Research Trips

Begin planning your visit to the local garden and flower shows.

Start Planning

Begin planning how you will add and/or change the garden come spring.

Planning Side Garden

After concentrating a lot of effort on your front yard garden last spring, it's time to give your side garden some love. Think about ornamental grasses and interesting specimens for part-shade.

Work on Lighting Plan

Security lighting is top priority for your home and family’s safety, but consider working on a more comprehensive plan that incorporates lighting to highlight landscaping.

Shopping for Furniture

Since stores are making room for furniture to debut in the spring, look in February for outdoor furniture on sale as retailers try to clear out for new items.

Spring Cleaning for Bluebirds

Clean out your bluebird boxes and secure any screws that are getting loose. If squirrels have been gnawing at the entrance hole of any boxes, buy a metal ring to put around the hole to deter them.

Stock Feeders

Stock the bird feeders regularly. Without trees and plants in new bloom just yet, birds are in need of a dependable food source. It’s also fun sitting on the porch and watching the different types of birds who come to eat.

Watch for Bees

On warmer days, watch the beehives for bees taking cleansing flights.

Seed Set-Up

Place orders for seeds.

Plant Spring Vegetables

Begin planting sweet peas and spring vegetables unless you live in a cold climate.

Plant Fruit Trees

If your region is snow-free, this is a great time to get bare-root fruit trees in the ground.

Plant Sweet Pea

Toward the end of the month, plant sweet pea seeds. Try a variety called “Window Box Heirloom Cupid” that’s recommended for window boxes and containers.

Protect Camellia

There are those that bloom in winter, including Camellia japonica. Now is the time to spray undersides of leaves with dormant oil to reduce tea scale infestations for the rest of the year.

Tend Sempervivum

Hen and chicks sempervivum—along with sedums—are among the most cold-hardy succulents in any winter garden. Carefully remove any mushy stems and leaves to better enjoy the small textured plants.

Buy Hyacinths

Snap up small 4-inch pots of forced hyacinths when they’re on sale at the supermarket. You can enjoy the fragrance in your home and move them outside once spring arrives. After the leaves die in midsummer, store the bulbs (still in their pots) for fall planting.

'Spring' into Gardening this Year

Depending on where you live, spring takes place at different times of the year. In milder climates, spring-like weather may show its face as early as the beginning of March: quite a bit earlier than in colder climates. Regardless of when spring officially starts, there are plenty of things you can do to prepare your garden for the entrance of milder weather.

Energize the Soil

After a long winter, the soil in your garden needs to be replenished with vital nutrients that will help plants grow. Add moisture and nutrition to your earth by investing in a fertilizer or adding organic nutrition like compost or manure to your soil. Adding fertilizer and composts boosts the overall health of your soil.

Pruning

Late winter or early spring is a perfect time to employ a few spring gardening tips to prepare your trees and bushes for a season of healthy growth. Spring is a great time for this because of the milder temperatures. One effective task is pruning your bushes: it stimulates growth. Clip your trees and bushes to improve the shape and to get rid of cross branches. It cleans your garden and helps it to grow unfettered by limited space and excess branches.

Forcing Branches

Forcing branches help young flower buds to bloom. Start by finding branches with flower buds on them that are a half inch in diameter. Cut them and put them in a bucket with a floral preservative in them. Make your own preservative by adding a tablespoon of Listerine or lemon-lime soda to a quart of water. You will soon see the flower buds become more colorful and begin to sprout.

Landscape Makeovers for Older Homes

Many people love having the great house with the large garden. Where once was a rarely used, tired space, is now a welcoming, colorful and relaxing place to spend time. Lavish landscaping is out, working with the local environment is in. The decorating theme you choose will narrow down your choices in several different areas. With creativity and a sensible budget, you can breathe life back into any older home. You can keep the original structure, shape, and character of your home intact while dramatically improving the exterior.

Landscaping touches do not have to cost a lot of money or require a lot of time. Landscaping is often considered as an investment of time, energy and money. With a significant investment in time and money, you want to make sure your vision get’s executed and that your expectations from inception are met.

You can choose from more dozens of plants to add to the landscape around your home; however, you need to plan properly before planting any flowers, bushes, and trees. Consider the climate of your area, how much sun or shade your yard gets throughout the day, and the quality of the soil. There are reasons why people choose artificial grass instead of natural grass; maintenance and year-round greenery are the most popular.

Your landscape patio design is an essential part of an enjoyable and functional outdoor living area. There is something to be said for a landscape design that focuses on less instead of more. Your outdoor living area should be just as beautiful, functional, and enjoyable as the inside of your home. Outdoor furniture can cost a good chunk of money, so being able to refresh what you have can really help you save.

The benefits of adding water features to a landscape design are many. A small backyard should not deter you from creating the kind of landscape you have always dreamed of. Low-maintenance landscaping can be used to help conserve water, time, and energy in maintaining the landscape.

Your landscaping will be in the dark if you do not have the right type of lighting. To successfully complete a project, the proper tools are imperative. You can talk to Green Landscaping about having lighting installed throughout your landscape so you can enjoy your yard even after the sun goes down.

Pondless Waterfalls

Water features can be the extra touch that makes your landscape stand out among all the other yards in the neighborhood. Fish ponds and fountains are fine, but a waterfall is something special. Most people say the tranquil sound of running water is the number one reason they choose to install a waterfall. The sound of water cascading down stones is far more natural than a pump in a fountain.

Traditionally, waterfalls used to feed into ponds where you could keep fish. Not everyone wants the chore of having to feed the fish, change the filter in the pump, and scrape the algae off the sides of the basin. If you’re one of those people who wants all the aesthetic advantages of a water feature without all the upkeep, you might consider a pondless waterfall. This is also a great option if you’re worried about children and small pets falling into a pond.

At Green Landscaping, we can custom design and install your pondless waterfall into your pre-existing landscape or as part of an entire yard renovation. A simple reservoir and pump system is all you need to make your waterfall functional. Our pondless waterfalls can be small enough to fit cozily in your front yard, or big enough to bring much-needed character to an empty slope on your property.

To install a pondless waterfall, we have to excavate for the reservoir, stream, size and shape. Next, we cut and lay a flexible liner, followed by positioning the stones for the waterfall. The water can cascade out between flat rocks or through a stone with a drilled hole. Since a pond is not included, you have the freedom to arrange shrubs and flowers around the waterfall that are best suited to your climate. We can even include above-ground or underwater lighting for that extra flare.

A waterfall from Green Landscaping will undoubtedly be the most beautiful and favored feature in your water garden. Every outdoor water feature will be unique to the landscaping and sensitive to your budget. We guarantee you’ll love your custom pondless waterfall!

Landscape Maintenance Fast Tips

• The proper maintenance of shrubs will enhance the overall appearance as well as the health and vigor of the plants. Diseased plants may need treatment or may need to be removed, depending on the species. All plants benefit from having a full growing season to establish before next winter.
  
• Fertilizing gives your grass nutrients to grow strong and healthy.
  
• At least three inches of rock mulch or four inches of natural mulch will prevent weeds. Edging will prevent your grass from growing into your beds, and keep them both looking neater. Cut to the right height: the grass will be healthier, look better, and—most importantly—last through the season without dying out.
  
• Perennials and annuals will be removed from planting beds and the mulch layer raked smooth.
  
• Spring flower bulbs need to be planted in the fall. The types of shrubs and the colors you have to choose from are totally astonishing.
  
• Weeds are sprayed as needed and with each fertilizer application. Weed control is obtained by applying a spray liquid product. All fertilizer applications are completed using a slow-release granular product.
  
• One application of insecticide may not destroy grubs in every stage, so additional applications may become necessary if property is infested. You need the proper nutrition to stay healthy and so does your lawn.
  
• Fall pruning will be conducted one time in late fall

Landscaping Stones

There are many reasons why you should incorporate landscaping stones into your landscaping design. The main one, however, is for beauty. Pure aesthetic beauty.

For a landscaping design to look perfect, it needs to have layers. This can be a hard thing to achieve without the use of landscaping stones. Landscaping stones are not the only way to give your yard depth, but they are the easiest way. You could try changing the slop of your yard. You could dig lower sports and build up higher ones, but this could take forever and you would have to know a lot about landscaping to try tackling a job like that. Just think of the trouble you could get into with the drainage issues if you were to make a mistake! No, it is far easier to simply use landscaping stones to bring some depth to your yard.

You can use landscaping stones to accent certain portions of your yard; you can even place some plants in these landscaping stones. They look great round the patio and the fence and you can even get colored landscaping stones to bring more color into your yard. This kind of color is especially nice to have in winter when everything is so bare and cold-looking.

The fact of the matter is that you can transform the whole look of your yard with the simple use of landscaping stones. They are like jewelry only for the yard.

There are many different kinds of landscaping stones and they come in all shapes and sizes. The landscaping stones that are right for you will depend on the effect that you are trying to create with your yard. Different parts of the yard might require differently sized landscaping stones. You can get a wide variety of colors for your landscaping stones. In some cases, you may want to mix a couple of colors together to create a whole new and interesting look.

If you are planning to overhaul your yard this year, then you need to start looking into using landscaping stones in your design. These will bring the whole yard together and if they are used right, will add balance and harmony to your entire garden. You can get landscaping stones at your local gardening center and even some home building stores will carry them. Shop around and find the landscaping stones that suit your home and your needs best before you make a purchase.

Concrete Landscaping

Concrete landscaping can add so much character to your yard.

Hearing the word concrete, you may not think that it would be something you want in your yard, but in fact, concrete landscaping has come a long way in the last 10 years. Now, concrete landscaping is all the rage and it is very pretty too. You can use concrete landscaping for many different parts of your yard. Most people use concrete landscaping ideas and designs for the walkways and paths that wind through their gardens. This is more for those with larger yards, but even if your yard is small, it could do with some concrete landscaping. You could put down a lively patio where you and your friends sit and have drinks. There is nothing more fun than a little party out on the patio on a nice day.

Stone walls are another form of concrete landscaping that caught on like wildfire. Walls are what will frame the whole home. They are the gorgeous and steely frame to the glorious painting that is your front and backyard. Concrete walls are perfect for keeping your pet in the yard. If your dog is prone to running away, then look into this kind of concrete landscaping. These walls are also very good for keeping intruders out. The harder your home is to get into, the less likely burglars will be to bother trying. So look into this type of concrete landscaping today and talk to a professional about it.

You can also use concrete landscaping to keep your soil in place. If there is a part of your yard that is prone to slipping then you can build a retention wall expressly for this purpose. The best thing about concrete landscaping is that while it can be functional, you can make it look as if it is just there for aesthetics.

There is so much that you can do with concrete landscaping because concrete is easy to work with. You can use concrete landscaping bricks or you can use whole solid slabs. You can even get custom-made concrete landscaping stones that are in unique and creative shapes and patterns. Take some time and see what all is out there in terms of concrete landscaping. You might just be surprised!