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| Garden Letters Library: Maintenance: Lawn | ||||||
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 Q. I have a concrete well in my backyard. There is a wild maple tree growing next to it. Would it be a good idea to pull out the tree-roots and all-before it affects the well somehow? I have already had my share of well woes. Q. I need help with my sad backyard. The grass is very thin and there's a lot of moss. The yard is mostly shaded and on a steep hill. Do you have any suggestions? Q. How can we get rid of moles who have made our backyard a mess? Q. I planted several poinsettias in my flowerbeds with the expectation of having red flowering bracts for the Christmas holidays. I had heard you had to prune poinsettias back by a third in summer or fall, so I did. But none flowered for the holidays. I see them blooming in this area, so I know it's possible to have poinsettia blooms outdoors. Why didn't they do right? Q. I want to landscape a large portion of my backyard. When would be the best time to plant shrubs and trees-in the fall or in the spring? Q. One side of my home is shady, and the soil is constantly moist. Please tell me what kinds of plants could thrive there. Even my fescue has a hard time! Q. For several years, my husband and I have worked our red Georgia clay, adding sand, compost, and other things. Do you have suggestions to speed up soil conditioning? Q. Full sun and full shade seem obvious planting guidelines, but lighting conditions around a home are seldom so clear-cut. What would be the conditions against a north, south, east, and west wall with no overhang? Q. Our front yard has no privacy from the street or the neighbors. We are thinking of planting bamboo along the property line. Is there a kind of bamboo that will not take over the yard? Q. Is it too late to mow down liriope to freshen the foliage for spring? Q. I want to plant a cottage garden like the ones I see in your magazine. My garden gets sun all day. Can you suggest some good plants? Q. I recently purchased an older home with lovely but very overgrown grounds. When is the best time to prune camellias, azaleas, oakleaf hydrangeas, witch hazels, and roses? Q. This may sound strange, but I have little sinkholes in my garden. Water rushes in, erodes the soil, and eventually fills the holes, but it soaks in very quickly. Is an animal or insect making these holes? Q. We've had lots of rain lately, and mushrooms are coming up all over in my new centipede lawn. What should I do? Q. Is there an organic treatment for nutgrass in the lawn? Q. How do I get rid of pesky squirrels in my garden? They're digging up my plants. Q. My lawn is about 75% crabgrass. My lawn-care guy told me to use Roundup to kill it, wait 14 days, mow the grass very low, and then reseed. Is this a good idea? Q. The center of our yard has a dip that collects water. There is a spot with no grass where some kind of black stuff grows on the soil. It's a bright, sunny area. Can I successfully lay sod there? Q. Moss has made my brick walk slick and dangerous. Can you recommend anything? Q. I am getting ready to plant fall bulbs. I understand that there are some bulbs that moles and voles won't touch. Please give me a list. I am tired of spending money only to make the little buggers fat! Q. I am helping a friend plant new shrubs across the front of his house. He wants low-maintenance, slow-growing green plants that resist diseases and pests. Can you give us any suggestions? Q. Part of our backyard is shaped like a bowl. We're tired of weeding and mulching the slopes. What can we plant to cover them? Q. Our Norway spruce was 2 feet tall when we planted it in 1985. It's now at least 50 feet tall and smothering the six English heathers I planted around its base at that time. Should I dig up and move the heathers? Would that damage the spruce? Or should I remove some of the tree's lower branches? Q. We have a large silver maple in our yard about 10 to 12 feet from a wide path. Last summer, we noticed tree roots had begun to surface. Now there are dozens of 2-inch roots across the path, making walking uncomfortable. What can be done without removing the tree? Q. I am trying to establish a new stand of grass. Is it necessary to get rid of the weeds and bad grass that are currently taking over my yard? Also, what grasses do well in my area of East Texas? Q. Is aerating the lawn before planting grass seed really all that important? Q. Each spring, wild violets appear in my lawn. Can I transplant them? How can I encourage the ones growing where I want them to multiply? Q. We have a grasslike weed that has lots of stickers in our Bermuda grass lawn. What is it, and how do we get rid of it? Q. I want to kill the brush and weeds in my yard. But the land slopes down to a river, so I don't want to use anything hazardous or toxic. What do you recommend? Q. High winds recently brought down two of our large 'Bradford' pears. A tree specialist informed us that they had root rot and that our other trees would suffer the same fate. Is this true? If not, what can be done? Q. We have baby crepe myrtles sprouting in our yard. How can we move some to new locations and kill the remaining ones? Q. What can I do to get rid of wild Bermuda grass in my St. Augustine lawn? Q. I want to camouflage a 12-foot-tall retaining wall in an area that receives very little sun. Are there any large shrubs that would work? Q. Nothing seems to grow in the shade of two large water oaks in my front yard. Can you give me a few suggestions of things I could plant that would give this area some color? Q. Grass is invading my flowerbeds. How can I get rid of it easily? Q. The construction of our home took longer than we thought it would. Can we still lay new sod this late in the season? |
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