Lawn fertilizer for winter
Preparing your yard for the winter will take some time on your part as the home owner. There are different flowers that you will need to pull up, bulbs that need to be planted before the first frost and also plant your last minute vegetables to have storage for winter. As you prepare your yard, you will also need to prepare your lawn for winter. Turning off your sprinkler system is a must; remember to flush out the lines so they do not freeze over the cold months. Also apply a winter fertilizer that will allow your lawn to become dormant in the winter and flourish bright green in the spring.
Many homeowners are ready to take on the challenge of landscaping their own yard, but often unsure of where to start. This problem becomes even more confusing because there are so many variables in do-it-yourself landscaping, such as budget, skills, the climate of your region, your personal design tastes, how you'll be using your yard, etc. However, there are some tips for do-it-yourself landscaping that can help guide you along the way to a beautiful yard. 
When you are landscaping your home, its easy to make mistakes, the good news is that today, there is plenty of information to help you avoid doing this. Before putting out big bucks to landscape your home, you can take the advice of those homeowners who have gone before. By knowing what mistakes to avoid, you can put in that landscape you really wanted with a minimum of stress. Here are the most common landscaping mistakes and how to avoid them-
You've planned your landscape, decided what type of sprinkling system you want to use, and planned the system around you landscape design. You can save on your landscaping budget by installing your sprinkling system on your own. It is relatively simple to do and doesn't take a lot of skills to complete as long as you can follow instructions.
Not everyone is blesses with a natural ability to have a green thumb. There are many of us who think that we know the basics of gardening and landscaping, but when it comes down to it, we draw a blank. Of course, we can explore many options. There are plenty of qualified landscapers and outdoor designers that you can hire to make your landscaping vision a reality. However, most of us do not have the resources to hire out all that work and there are many who enjoy the process of landscaping and the resulting satisfaction of doing a job themselves. So where can you find do-it yourself landscaping advice that will help you to stay on track as you improve your home? Here are some of the more popular options...
After the long winter season, you are more than ready to get outside and get moving. Once spring and summer hit it is time to get the outside of your home cleaned up so that you can invite friends and family over for social gatherings, but also so that you can have a great looking yard. Here are some tips that you can follow to get your yard ready for the warm summer months that are coming soon.
Just because you have limited space doesn't mean that you can't have a great garden. Even if you only have access to a deck, patio or a porch you can still enjoy a beautiful garden during the spring, summer, and fall months. All it is going to take is a little planning and a creative mind.
Trimming your hedges may not be the most entertaining chore you have around the yard, but it is necessary for a well-manicured landscape. Hedges that are even and neatly trimmed make your yard and home look well-taken care of and put together. 
If you are limited on space and want to have an herb garden the good news is that herb gardens can thrive in limited spaces. You can even plant an herb garden in a container and it will flourish. Planting a successful herb garden in a small space is great for people who like to cook because they can have fresh herbs at a moment's notice.
The trick to a beautiful yard is to have fertile soil. But there is actually a delicate balance that a person has to reach to make sure that their soil is just fertile enough for their grass and plants to grow without adding the pollutants in the earth's water system. This article discusses fertile lawns and soil for a beautiful yard.
Even if you have a small space for gardening, you will need to have compost for your garden. Compost will add vital nutrients to your soil that will help encourage your plants to grow. One of the best things about compost heaps is that you can build them in small or large spaces. All you have to do is find out about the different compost heaps and choose the one that works best for the space that you have available.
Watering plants is a task that may seem simple, but you may be surprised to find out that 80% of gardening problems are due to overwatering. Overwatering not only drowns and kills your plants, but it also wastes water, especially if what you are overwatering is on an automatic watering system. Sprinkler systems are not perfect. Automatic timers and sprinkler heads are difficult to maneuver in just the right way to ensure that every drop of water is being distributed to where it is needed most. However, there are automated systems that you can buy that consider the specific needs of your lawn, calculating slope, water absorption and systems that even include a wireless download of weather conditions to determine how much water is necessary for your lawn. All this information is then translates into directions given to your sprinkler system. By determining you specific watering needs and cutting back when watering isn't necessary, it is estimated that you can cut your water usage by as much as 30% and still maintain a beautiful and healthy lawn and garden area. If an entire automated watering system is beyond your reach, they now make standard sprinkler heads that you attach to your hose and that use a programmable disk to avoid watering driveway or deck. The sprinkler simply works off the pattern that you give it.
Plants can be boring or they can be beautiful. They can also be low or high maintenance. Fussy planting is never fun for a homeowner, though some of those plants that need lots of trimming and watering can be breathtaking when showing off your yard. The trick is to find a balance between beauty and the work you put into it. If you want to design a high-impact but low maintenance summer garden, some of the ideas below may be helpful.
As part of your overall landscaping plan you will want to determine if you are going to use hardscaping. Basically hardscaping is anything that you put into your landscape plan that is not plant material. Hardscaping includes, pavers, concrete, benches, water features or even a fully developed living room and kitchen. Hardscaping serves to make your landscaping more functional and appealing. Keep in mind however that falling in love with hardscaping is extremely easy and can be extremely expensive. 
While many people would love to start gardening they are often put off by the numerous items that are found in the gardening section of their local home improvement store or garden center. The gadgets and tools seem to go on forever and can cause a beginning gardener to reconsider whether they really want to take up gardening. But the good news it that while there are essential tools that you must have for gardening they are not as numerous as you might expect. So be sure to check out our list of must haves for gardening to get you started and you may then find that you love it so much that all those "extras" suddenly turn into must haves as well. Here is what you really need to begin gardening-
If you live in an area of the country that has ever experienced a drought, you well know how tough it can be to get water to your plants. Many cities are often limited to watering to one or two days a week, which can be the kiss of death for some plants. Putting in a drought tolerant landscape can be the solution to this problem and best of all reduce your workload if you are looking to lighten your landscaping maintenance. Putting in a drought tolerant landscape consists of a few different components. These are using drought-tolerant plants, harvesting water wherever possible and using efficient irrigation practices.
