'Chip' your tree instead of chucking it, recyclers suggest

Monster Tree's Jim Parsons was recently featured in a segment on KSL titled, "'Chip' your tree instead of chucking it, recyclers suggest". The segment discusses the benefits from recycling your Christmas trees into mulch which in turns gives you the provides you a healthier environment for your other plants. Click here to view the segment or watch below.

Preparing Your Garden for Winter

Winter is coming and preparation for the cold weather is key. We found a great article on Better Homes and Gardens titled, "Preparing Your Garden for Winter" which offers up some expert advice on how to protect your gardens' plants, how to winterize your roses and making leaf mold. Click here to read the entire article or begin below.

"Preparing Your Garden for Winter"
By Better Homes and Gardens.

Putting the garden to bed for the winter is mostly a matter of cleaning up and covering up. As fall progresses and temperatures drop, those planes that aren't killed outright by frost prepare for dormancy. Clear out the blackened stems and foliage of annual flowers and vegetables to prevent the possibility of their harboring disease pathogens and insect eggs over the winter. The cool weather is good time to make a cold frame, dig and box raised beds, and make general repairs.

While it appears as if all activity in the garden has stopped, there's a lot going on under the soil until it freezes. Newly transplanted trees and shrubs, division of perennials, and hardy bulbs are all growing roots, drawing on soil nutrients and moisture around them. Earthworms and various microbes in the soil are still processing the organic material they're finding. Most likely, the organic mulch you spread to protect the soil during the summer months has substantially decomposed. It's important to spread new mulch now -- a thicker winter layer -- to protect plants and soil over the winter months. 

Click here to read the entire article.

Prepping the Garden for Fall

With Fall approaching, sooner than we'd like it, we thought it would be a great time to look at some tips to prepare your garden for the fall months. We found this fantastic article on www.thriftyfun.com titled, "Prepping the Garden for Fall". The article provides numerous tips for prepping your garden throughout the months of fall. Click here to read the article or begin below.

"Prepping the Garden for Fall"
By Ellen Brown

As summer turns to autumn, it's time to take stock of this year's growing season and start shifting our focus to prepping the garden for fall. here is a to-do list of seasonal chores for the lawn and garden:

Keep Up With Watering

As temperatures begin to cool and grass growth starts to slow, it's easy to back off on watering the garden. Sending your plants, trees and shrubs into the winter season thoroughly hydrated, however, helps to protect them over winter and will give them a good start to next year's growing season.

Clean Up & Compost

Compost fallen leaves and remove and compost annuals that have gone past season. Wait a few weeks to cut back perennials. Dried stalks give gardens visual interest and seeds may provide foot for migrating birds. Remove dead foliage and leaf litter now to eliminate potential winter hiding spots for hibernating insects. Make sure to throw diseased plants in the trash, not the compost pile.

Aerate the Lawn

Plentiful rains make early fall a great time to aerate the lawn and over-seed any problem sports discovered during the summer. In the fall, grass plants focus their energy into root growth. If necessary, apply a slow release fertilizer now to increase the likelihood that nutrients will be used for root growth. Good strong roots are the best way to stimulate and support vigorous leaf growth in the spring.

Click here to read the entire article.

How to maintain your trees in Summer

We have found this great instructional video on about.com offering tips on how to maintain your trees during the hot Summer months. Michael Landers from Tagawa Gardens in Centennial, Colorado guides us through some very valuable tips to maintain your trees during the Summer months. Click here to view the video on the about website or view below.