DESIGNING YOUR EXTERIOR SPRING GARDEN

Spring is in the air and it’stime to plan your garden.

The exterior of your home isas important as the interior, and now with the warm weather coming, it’s timefor appreciating the outdoors.

Whether your goal is tolounge, entertain, dine or simply escape, create your ideal outdoor space.

Create a green welcome with simple plant solutions. Fast-growing vines or flowering plants will quickly cloak walls and soften a wooden gate.

A shady green part of the garden seems a world away eventhough it's really just a few steps from the kitchen and all the hubbub of thebackyard play area.

 A welcoming green entrance is always important, whether it's a cottage or a modern home.

 Here’s a useful springtime gardenchecklist from Better Homes & Gardens:

▪               Prep the beds.Remove winter mulch or, if well composted, work into the top layer of the soil.Work in some leaf mold or well-rotted manure, too.

▪               Prune. Nowis the time to trim your fruit trees, if you didn't prune in winter. Prunebefore buds begin to break into bloom or you'll stress the tree and get a tinycrop (or possibly none).

▪               Perform basic maintenance. Checkyour stonework for frost heaves. Check and clean the deck now so you don't haveto do it later; make any repairs.

Start seeds indoors. You'vespent the winter reading seed and plant catalogs, now it’s time to startplanting.

▪               Plant veggies. Hardyvegetables, such as onions, potatoes, artichokes, and some lettuces, should beplanted now.

Divide perennials.Before plants have begun spring growth is a good time to divide manyperennials. 

Here's Julianne Moore's New York City Garden!

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Have questions? Just ask above or contact me directly at andrea.halleywright@gmail.com.