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At some point, you’ve driven by or visited a house that just grabbed your attention the moment you saw it. I’m not talking about the look of the house itself per se. I’m referring to the overall good feeling or karma you experienced as you took in the view. You can give “curb appeal” credit for that.

Curb Appeal is just what the name implies. The appeal of a house and landscape as you view it from the street or curb. It has nothing to do with the size or grandeur of the house. Instead, it relates to the sense of balance and harmony of the landscaping with the house; call it the ying and yang. It’s often a personal experience, sometimes difficult to put into words. Many times what gives a house curb appeal are the collective subtleties throughout the landscape. But here are some specifics to help you zero in on making your own landscape more curb appealing.

Scale
When plants and trees are of an appropriate size to the house, they are “in scale”. They are neither too large nor small. They fit with the overall structure. Trees and shrubs don’t overpower the house, yet at the same time, you don’t have to strain to notice them.

Balance
I refer to balance in a landscape as visual weight. You don’t have to have a mirror, symmetrical image of the right side plantings with the left, although in a formal landscape this is often the case. For most homes, an informal landscape is more appropriate and inviting from the street. Yet, symmetry can still be achieved in an informal way by placing trees and shrubs or even flowers so that generally what’s on one side mimics the other, through size, form, layers, texture and color.

Curves
As you face the house, what’s more inviting, a dead straight walkway leading from the house out to the road or sidewalk, or one that has a gentle serpentine curve? For most homes, the latter is more inviting. The same goes for bed lines. In a formal landscape, straight lines are the norm rather than the exception. But curb-appealing homes most often are characterized by soft eye pleasing curved walks and beds. They seem to say, stroll on up here, have a seat and stay a while; you’re welcome here. Conversely, (to me anyway), straight lines say, hurry up, get your business done and move on. Now I realize that seems a bit harsh, and it is an over generalization but it makes my point.

Odd Numbers
When planting beds, especially when using shrubs or trees, think in terms of odd numbered quantities.  From a design standpoint, our eye tends to be more comfortable with odd numbers of plants such as 1,3,5…9,etc. In most home landscapes, a more informal, asymmetrical look and feel is appropriate.  Odd numbered plantings help to accomplish this. The exception would be a formal landscape design when you are deliberately trying to achieve symmetry in which case, even numbers and mirror images work best.

Color
One of the easiest ways to help create curb appeal is by choosing plant colors that compliment the house, without being distracting. In fact, in a house with curb appeal, the landscape plants blend together seamlessly with the house color scheme. Don’t place much weight on flower color. That is fleeting. Instead choose plants for their foliage color, and remember to consider their fall display.

Layers
On the theme of casual balance, layers mimic nature and nature is the best case of curb appeal on a grand scale. Layers abound, from groundcovers up to the tallest trees, up to seven layers total. Don’t feel like you must include every layer in your curb appealing landscape but its not hard to do and the variety will make such a positive difference.

Variety
Speaking of variety, landscapes that are pleasing to the eye do so by mixing it up. Having said that, you can easily overdo it. Just like with loud colors, too many plant types can be confusing and distracting to the eye. A few groupings of different plants, trees and shrubs, provide enough change without overdoing it.

If you’re ready to add some personality and charm to your front yard start by asking yourself, what’s not working in the current landscape? Then apply the concepts above and you’re on your way to having your own curb appealing landscape.

Worms, birds and bees, these are a few of my favorite things. As a gardener and nature lover, I can’t imagine life without these three creatures. Each plays such an important role in creating healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. Without them, life wouldn’t be the same or possibly even exist. It sounds like a bold statement I know, but take the bee for example. It is single-handedly responsible for one third of the food we eat, including coffee and chocolate. Bees are directly responsible for the pollination of the plants that make them. What would I do without my bees?

Yet honeybees are in grave danger. A yet unexplained phenomenon known as “Colony Collapse Disorder” is decimating honeybee colonies around much of the world. The source of the problem has yet to be determined but it is strongly suspected that pesticides play a significant role.

On a related note, our beloved backyard birds are a welcomed addition to our gardens and landscapes. Their brightly colored plumage and melodic songs are the perfect complement to the plants and flowers we enjoy so much in our gardens. But in addition to the pure pleasure they provide to us personally, birds too play a vital role in maintaining biodiverse habitats. Many of our native plants are propagated each year thanks to seed-eating birds that randomly disperse them through ecosystems across the world. Birds are also a wonderful natural pest control since they eat millions of pest insects each year from our gardens and lawns. Unfortunately, according to the National Audubon Society, about seven million of our feathered friends die annually across America from eating insects poisoned by pesticides.

And then there is the lowly worm. Not so lowly really if you consider all that they do. They provide some of the most essential benefits to what happens below the surface of any garden or lawn. Known as “nature’s plow”, earthworms create a network of tunnels and pockets underground that allow air and water to circulate and roots to grow. Moreover, their castings (manure) are five times higher in nitrogen, seven times higher in phosphorus, and ten times higher in potassium than ordinary garden soil. A single acre of healthy earth may contain over a half million worms. But that number can fall rapidly when salt-based, synthetic fertilizers are added to the soil. Worms are very sensitive to adverse changes in soil chemical or physical makeup and will relocate to more hospitable environments.

All this to say that we gardeners and weekend warriors hold the key to protecting some of the most important guests we can ever have visit our gardens and landscapes. In order to provide the most inviting and sustainable environment for these vital creatures, understanding what attracts, repels and harms them will have a great deal to do, not only with the health and vitality of our own little corner of the world, but collectively, with the health of the planet as well.

If you really want to get those gardening questions answered, ask a Master Gardener. We’ve all heard the reference before and many of us have utilized this valuable free service. But just what is a Master Gardener, and how does one achieve such a designation?

Master Gardeners are volunteers. Above all, they have one thing in common. They’re passionate about gardening and horticulture and want to share their time and knowledge with others. It might surprise you to know that most of them are not professional gardeners or horticulturists. In fact, many come into the program as novices. Others have been gardening all their life.

In the United States, Master Gardener organizations are active in 48 of them and in four provinces in Canada. Yet surprisingly there is no overall governing body or authority so the requirements vary. Each state or province’s university system is responsible for managing and administering its own program. Yet overall the guidelines are set up to provide a win-win for the volunteers and university system. In exchange for an extensive and comprehensive training program by University Staff and expert volunteers, Master Gardener candidates agree to give back between 25 - 50 hours of volunteer time each year. For many programs, a majority of those hours are spent manning the phones at their respective County Extension office to answer the plethora of calls that comes in on a variety of questions related to gardening.

Once volunteer candidates have completed their training (which includes subjects such as integrated pest management, arboriculture, vegetable gardening, pest and disease control and identification, wildlife management and more), passed a few exams and logged the requisite volunteer hours, they earn their official title as Master Gardener. To maintain ‘active’ status in subsequent years, Master Gardeners must continue to volunteer a required number of hours.

In addition to the invaluable resource they provide, the monetary value Master Gardeners return to the University system is staggering. When you add up the total time given back by volunteers, millions of dollars are saved by not having to hire staff to perform the same duties. Across the United States and Canada, Master Gardener volunteers perform a wide variety of services from answering questions, to installing and maintaining public and community gardens, hosting plant doctor clinics and putting on community outreach programs and so much more.

One would think, with all the volunteer time required to give back to the program, extension offices would take every qualified applicant. But sadly that’s not always the case. Due to limited resources for training, classroom space, and subsequent support, getting into the program can be a long and disappointing process. It was for me. Even though I had formal training in horticulture and a lifetime of experience, due to space limitations, I wasn’t even interviewed for my county program until I had applied for three consecutive years! But from the moment I was accepted, it has been one of the greatest associations that I’ve ever been involved with. To have the opportunity to learn from top experts, meet new friends, bond with kindred spirits and give back to the community through a subject you are passionate about, is as good as it gets. I encourage anyone who has a desire to learn more about the program to contact your local county extension service. And for everyone else, if you want a trusted friend to give you a knowledgeable answer to your question, ask a Master Gardener! You can find the number for the office closest to you by visiting this web site: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/.

I have three rules to almost guarantee the success of any garden or landscape. First, put the right plant in the right place. Next, feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants. And finally, use mulch. It sounds simple and it is. But all too often we try and take shortcuts by not taking the time to learn about a plant’s ideal cultural requirements before we plunk it in the ground just anywhere. Or we try to solve every visible problem by throwing a chemical at it, especially fertilizer. And all too often, we skip the most important step (after watering) once the plant is in the ground, and that’s the addition of mulch.

For the purpose of this writing, let’s assume you’ve done your homework and know the ideal placement in your landscape for whatever plant you happen to be dealing with at the moment. And then you actually follow up and place it there. Now it’s time to make sure the place where this plant will live has the optimal conditions within the soil in which to thrive. How do you do that? From whatever conditions you start, add organic matter to the soil sufficient to cover the entire planting area.

What is organic matter you ask? Think of shredded leaves, ground bark, aged manure and compost and you get the idea. Although these examples are not a complete list, the more organic matter you can incorporate into the soil to a depth of six inches or greater, the better any soil will be. Accordingly plants will be happier too. But of all the organic matter I mentioned, I believe compost is the single most important ingredient we can include. It adds life and fertility to the soil, improves drainage while allowing the soil to retain sufficient moisture and it creates good soil structure, a critical element in allowing nutrients and water to be absorbed, and roots to spread.

The good news is you can make it at home for free with ingredients you already have around the house and yard. The bad news is, we can rarely make as much at home as we want.  Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to improve your soil. A little goes a long way. Once you inoculate an area with the beneficial microbes from compost, you’re well on your way to a healthier, more productive garden.

There are a few essential elements necessary for compost to occur.  They are: water, air, heat, carbon (brown matter, like dead leaves and twigs), and nitrogen (green matter, like grass clippings and vegetable and salad scraps).

To start a compost pile, you don’t need anything fancy.  A simple accumulation of green waste (10-25%) and brown waste (75-90%) will get you going.  Every week or so, try to mix up the pile so you add oxygen to help speed up the decomposition process.  Add a sprinkling of water, enough to give the pile the moistness of a damp sponge, and you will be well on your way to making compost.  Depending on the variables, you should be able to have usable compost in about four months to one year.

You can add many items to your compost pile or bin.  Almost anything from the yard or garden can be used but try to avoid adding limbs that are thicker than a pencil.  They’ll take longer to break down.  Also, avoid adding diseased plants.  The disease pathogens may not be killed in the composting process, and you can end up adding diseases into your soil.  I also choose not to include weeds if they are at or near the flowering state.  Weed seeds can persist for a very long time, and may survive the composting process.

When adding products from within the house, the biggest items to avoid are meat, fish, bones and dairy products.  They can attract outdoor pests.

Your compost will be ready to use when its dark brown, earthy-smelling and crumbly.  The end-result is undoubtedly the best soil food and conditioner available – it’s recycling at it’s best!

Q: How do I properly use my new edger to edge a planting bed?

During a recent interview, I was asked if I had a favorite garden. It was an interesting question but narrowing it down to just one is like trying to name your favorite child. I replied by saying that my favorite garden is always the last one I visited. And frankly, there was some truth to that. I find beauty in every garden I visit and there is always something unique that makes each one a special memory. But the question did get me thinking about what I really do consider some of my favorite things about being in a garden and the passion I have for gardening.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• The smell of healthy soil, along with how it looks and feels
• Compost
• Strolling a garden at sunrise with a cup of coffee
• Strolling a garden at sunset with a glass of wine
• The smell of fresh cut grass, tomato seedlings and the garden after it rains
• The sound that pruners make as they cut
• Hummingbirds and butterflies
• Solitude
• Companionship
• Wonder
• Freshly mulched beds
• Where time stands still
• Where time flies by
• The sound of tree frogs
• The look of sunlight through foliage, especially in the early morning and late in the day
• The juice of a ripe tomato running down my arm
• The look on a child’s face after eating fresh corn from the stalk or sugar snap peas, picked right off the vine
• The scent of fresh herbs on my hands
• Anticipation, serendipity and a new surprise every day
• The lessons of life are found here
• The first sight of daffodils breaking ground in winter
• Dirty clothes, a filthy body, and that “good tired” at the end of the day
• The connection gardeners have with each other and I with the earth
• The resiliency of nature
• The awesomeness of God 

…these are a few of my favorite things. I have more, but what about you?

JL

Remember the old nursery rhyme song…rain, rain go away, come again another day? I get the just of the words, but knowing what I know now, I’m not sure I can ever bring myself to sing that song again. I don’t know about where you live, but for many parts of the county, drought is a serious problem, including my state of North Carolina.

I’m also reminded of the saying we learned in elementary school, “April showers bring May flowers”. Yes, that is true, but where did those April showers go? Is your May flower garden showing the effects of so little rain? Sadly, this global crisis has been building for some time and it’s not getting any better.

I can’t do anything to change if and when it rains, but I have done the next best thing. When if does rain, I’m harvesting as much of it as I can. I do that with rain barrels positioned under my downspouts. Even with a quick shower, my 50-gallon rain barrel can fill to capacity. I especially enjoy the freedom having a harvested source of water provides. In my area, we’re under watering bans and restrictions. So irrigating my garden from a hose or sprinkler is rarely an option these days. With my harvested water, I’m able to use a ready source of fresh pure water on my plants and flowers whenever I need—and it’s legal.

I also collect water from inside the house as I’m waiting for the water to warm up in the sink and shower. Every minute that water runs from the faucet equates to gallons collected for use outside. It’s also a really good feeling to know that I’m not simply wasting that water either. After each bucket is filled I transfer the contents to one of many watering cans I have stored along the back deck. It doesn’t get any easier or more convenient.

So between my rain barrels and harvested water from inside, my May flowers and the rest of my garden for that matter, are doing just fine!

JL

I must admit, I have a pretty good job. Much of each year is spent traveling to all parts of the country, visiting the most beautiful gardens for the television show I host on PBS. Needless to say, I’ve seen some pretty awesome displays. So I was thinking recently, of all these amazing gardens, which one was most memorable to me?

That would be a hard choice as they are all spectacular for one reason or another. I’ve been to most of the large public gardens and many of the smaller ones. But as far as the most memorable, those massive gardens with a horticultural army to take care of them don’t surpass the small private gardens I have visited. No, they don’t have professional horticulturists on staff, nor do the owners rarely have the time to personally tend to their gardens as much as they would like. But, what always amazes me is what is accomplished in these special places, especially considering the limited resources that most home enthusiasts face.

These are the gardens I most remember. They are typically small and often made even more intimate by breaking up the space into garden rooms. With every turn, there’s a new surprise. These gardeners are passionate about their plants and how they fit into the landscape. Unlike large public gardens, they are an army of one. They eat, drink and fall to sleep thinking about their gardens and how to make them better. They read books and magazines, surf the web, watch gardening shows, attend lectures and join clubs, all for the purposes of absorbing even more horticultural know-how.

These gardens are designed with passion, courage and always with optimism. They’re prepped with the tenacity and vigor that only one so personally vested could muster. And that same person maintains them with meticulous attention to details.  The placement of a new plant is scrutinized for weeks before and after it’s finally put in the ground; another design is always on the drawing board of their mind and few weeds escape detection for very long.

I imagine that if you added up all the hours devoted mentally and physically by these dedicated solo gardeners, they might even rival those of larger public displays. But to me, what is ever apparent in the smaller, private garden is not that it is picture-perfect, as this is not always so. Rather, it is the passion of the person that brought it all together and their pride that shines as bright as the sun on a clear spring morning. These are the most memorable gardens to me.

JL