Lawn - Aerate

Aerating your lawn helps to air down to the roots and it opens up space for the roots to stretch. It helps to establish a healthy root system.

A local lawn care company quoted us $60 for a 1/4 acre lot. We found that we could rent an aerator for $20-$30 overnight (5pm to 8am). We did three lawns one evening. That makes $10 per lawn.

We also discovered that "wetter is better". Although you don't want it to be soaked it helps to have a damp lawn...it helps the aerator to get a good deep core out of the lawn.

Turn on your sprinkler system before aerating and mark sprinkler heads with small flags. This will help you avoid hitting your sprinkler heads with the aerator. If you hit one of those little fellows your job gets more and more expensive.

Gardening: Seeds

When we lived in Logan, Utah we fell in love with Anderson Seed and Garden. This company sells a variety of high quality seeds. What we love the most about them is all of the information. The owner and staff are well schooled in garden, soil, water and fertilizer. They can give all kinds of information and they are great at troubleshooting problems specific to your yard or project. Mark (the owner) does a garden radio show every saturday in the growing season on KSL radio.

Wherever you go we have found that bulk seed is the cheapest way to go. Also we have discovered that if you store bulk seeds in a cool dry place they will last for years. I heard once you can feed a family of 5 on $25/year in seeds. Not bad food storage if you have space and know how to use them.

Here is a link to their website: Anderson Seed and Garden, Inc.

We have also included their Seed list and planting guide below.

Gardening - Fertilizer

For gardens, perennial shrubs, perenial and annual flowers we have found that an all purpose 16-16-8 fertilizer has worked great. Apply as directed on the package.

For garden plants we ususally apply fertilizer twice in the season. Once at planting and once about 5 weeks into our growing season. For corn we make an exception: once afterthe plant puts two leafs out (about 2-4 inches tall) and once when the corn tassels start to pop out.