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A helping hand in your vegie garden

Mulching can help cut your weeding and watering time by half. By mulching your garden, you are shading the roots from hot days and slowing the evaporation time down. Cutting out the light on the soil surface stops weed seeds from germinating. Choose a biodegratable mulch that can be tilled in the following year. Leaf mold or wood shavings work well. Layers of newspaper can be used under the wood shavings for more aggressive control. It is always a good idea to wait until after a steady rain fall to ensure that the soil is moist before mulching. The thickness will vary, usually between 1”- 2” for a vegetable garden.

from the 6/5/2003 Hamlen's Helping Hints.
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Lawn care: mowing the lawn

There are many helpful hints that if put to practice, can cut down on weeds, insects and provide you with a beautiful green lawn. Mowing should be simple enough, but often people cut their lawn too short in the summer which results in a brown burnt lawn. Some people cut the grass too long in the fall and this allows fungus to grow in the root zone. On almost all lawn mowers, you can adjust the height of the blade. 2” is the normal length the grass should be cut to during active growth. During the heat of summer, do not cut as short and cut less often. The longer grass blades help shade the roots and help it to stay moist. During the fall, cut more frequently and cut at 1 1/2” length for the last cut of the season. Detatching can help benefit if there is more that 1/2” of thatch. Usually done in the fall, you can also top dress with a light layer of peatmoss, lightly racked in and watered thoroughly.

from the 6/19/2003 Hamlen's Helping Hints.
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