Spring Musings

By Cindy Poore

Spring is a time for new beginnings. It gets us all warmed up for a summer of fun and activities. Seeds are popping up all over. They are mostly weeds, but if you play it right, you can choose. Decide what you want your world to look like this year and get out there and sow some seeds of your own!

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
― Mark Twain

Spring is  big for…

• —Composting. If you are planning on planting, especially a veggie garden or fruit trees, now is the time to get your compost pile going if you didn’t do it in the fall. To speed up the process in your compost pile, shred your greenwaste clippings or straw in smaller pieces and keep the pile wet and turn frequently. Add some nice  amendments for your soil like oyster shell (calcium) and some store-bought organic compost to inoculate your pile to get is going faster. You could have a pile in as little as 6 weeks.
• —Pruning. Time to cut back the driedleaves, grasses and branches on those perennials.  Russian Sage will still look like it’s dead. Don’t believe it! It will be budding out and blooming very soon.
• — Planting. Now is the second best time to plant. While we can plant literally anytime here in Southern California,  some times are better than others. Fall being best and spring is a close second.
• — Weed Control. Still doing weed preventative spraying Call now to get on our schedule.

Embrace the lawn replacement!

The big push is on to get rid of our lawns. 🙁  It does not, however have to be rock!  AND it can be green and soothing while requiring much less water so we can still enjoy our yard and be responsible to the earth and the future of our granchildren.

There are  lots of ground covers that work really well as lower water use and allow us to be responsible and earth-friendly.  The plants on the list below all work in  different situations but all are beautiful and require a lot less water than a lawn.

Ajuga

Moneywort

Creeping Thyme

Sedums

And my favorite,……Carpet Junipers