May 2014 - Fivestar Landscaping

Jump Start your Spring Gardening

Sometimes it seemed like the winter of 2013/2014 would never end but believe it or not the days are getting warmer and longer and the official start of spring is just around the corner. Northern growing zones start to come alive in May, and now is a great time to get back out into the yard and lay the foundations for a great looking yard for the rest of the year.

Before you even think about doing anything in your yard, it’s important to give the ground time to dry out. You don’t want to put pressure, even your own weight on wet soil because it’s so easy to compact. Take a handful of soil and squeeze it. If it sticks together in a ball, it’s still too wet to work. If the ball breaks open and crumbles, the ground is dry enough to work and you can get out and rake your grass and dig around in your beds.

Early spring is a good time to cut back old growth on your perennials – just be careful not to remove any of the basal foliage that’s just starting to come up. Perennials should be cut back to 6 – 8 centimeters. Woody perennials can be cut back to about 15 centimeters.

Soil preparation is vitally important for successful gardening. Soil is made up of clay, silt, sand, and organic material. Soils rich in clay retain water while sandy soils won’t. Plants that need damp roots don’t grow well in a sandy soil. Add organic material like compost or manure into your soil regularly. If you haven’t already done it, now’s a good time to have your soil tested to determine its composition and if it’s acidic or alkaline. You can either take steps to change the composition of your soil, or select plants that are best suited for your growing conditions.

Want the best looking yard on your block? Contact 5 Star Landscaping for professional yard care services in Calgary and surrounding area.

May Gardening Tips

“It is shaping up to be a soggy Victoria Day weekend in Calgary and southern Alberta but that likely won’t stop a legion of hopeful green thumbs from descending on garden centres.”

Have you been wondering which plants to plant now and which ones to plant later? How about vegetables? Shrubs? This article from CBC News has gardening tips you need and more to help your plants survive a wet Calgary spring.

The World’s Strangest Gardens

California Academy of Sciences’ living roof

Do you want to do something unique with your garden this year? The 18 strangest gardens in the world should provide some inspiration! These gardens, ranging from living roofs to the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, provide a unique outlook on just how much you can create with your plants. You can find the gardens here.

10 Great Spring Gardening Tips

In Canada, the May long weekend traditionally marks the unofficial start of summer.

It won’t be long before we all start to break out the gardening tools and yards and gardens around Calgary are alive with colour once again.

Here are 10 great tips for creating a beautiful and healthy yard this year:

If salt deposits have formed on your clay pots, spray them with a solution made from equal parts of water, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol. Scrub with a plastic brush and let dry before you plant anything in them.
A constantly breaking gas trimmer line can be incredibly frustrating. You can reduce breakage by spraying trimmer line with vegetable oil.
Turn your shovel or other long handled yard tool into a measuring stick. Lay it on the ground and mark out meters and centimetres with a felt pen so you can use it to space plants and rows.
Put a ball of twine in a small clay pot and stick the end through the drain hole. Place the pot upside down in your garden and you’ll never lose your ball of twine again.
If you don’t like the look of wooden plant markers, write the names of plants on flat stones with an indelible marker and place them at the ends of your rows.
When you boil vegetables, don’t dump the water down the drain. Let it cool and use it to water potted plants. They’ll love the vitamins and nutrients in the broth.
The acidity of soil can be increased by sprinkling coffee grounds or tea leaves over it. Plants like azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, and gardenias thrive in acidic soil.
Do you have a herb garden? If you want to dry your herbs, lay them in a single layer on newspapers placed on a seat in your car. Close the windows and doors and the herbs will dry quickly and make your car smell nice at the same time.
Young seedlings are often killed off by any number of fungi that thrive in damp soil. Add chamomile tea to the soil around young plants or use it as a foliar spray to control damping off fungus.
Cows eat weeds, sheep don’t. Mixing sheep manure in your soil will make it more fertile without introducing weeds.

For more lawn and yard care tips and full landscaping services, contact 5 Star Landscaping in Calgary.