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Gardener: Tips for getting a jump on the gardening season, part 2 – Columbus Ledger

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Last week I discussed several simple methods to help extend your gardening season. This week I explore more options for giving you a head start in the garden. These methods work equally well at season’s end with the potential to provide a year-round garden.

Insulation is the key to keeping plants safe when cold temperatures threaten. Whatever you can find to trap and retain heat will go a long way toward defying the killing conditions of frost and cold that would otherwise bring an early demise to tender heat loving-plants. Blankets, plastic, buckets and the like all can serve to add critical protection on such nights. Be sure the covering protects the foliage and that it extends all the way to the ground. This ensures that warmth from the soil is trapped, which will add a few extra degrees under cover.

A cloche is an insulating cover made for such purpose. Perhaps you’ve seen these attractive bell shaped glass covers. Dating back to the early 1600’s cloches were and still are a common and effective method of protecting tender plants and food crops. A cloche substitute that I often use is to place plastic milk jugs with the bottom cut out, over my plants. A bamboo stake or stick helps hold it in place, and the lid from the jug can be removed the next morning to allow excessive heat to escape. Plastic soda bottles work just as well. It’s a simple and inexpensive way to protect tender plants through those nights when frost and freezing temperatures are likely. A milk or soda-drinking family can amass quite a collection of cloche-like covers in no time, plus they stack up well for storage when not in use.

Cold frames are perhaps the best and most popular methods food gardeners use for insulating their plants from temperatures far lower than most plants can handle otherwise. Think of a cold frame as a mini greenhouse. The basic premise is a sturdy, insulating enclosure around the plants and a glass or plastic top or lid that allows sunlight in to heat the space. Because of its excellent heat trapping quality, all cold frames must provide that all-important way for heat to escape during the day. Cold frames can be constructed from wood, cinder blocks, hay bales and more.

A sufficiently insulated cold frame can provide an environment warm enough to allow tender plants to thrive all the way until spring, even in the harshest conditions as my friend and colleague Niki Jabbour, author of “The Year Round Vegetable Gardener” (Storey Publishing, $19.95), can attest. She gardens year round from her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she harvests more than 30 different crops – even in mid-winter!

Container-grown plants offer the benefit of portability in allowing you to maneuver plants away from “Jack Frost.” Having the ability to move plants to a protected area and back again can buy you several weeks or more of extended growing time. The trick to making this work for large containers or those too heavy or cumbersome to move easily, is to place them on top of rolling platforms. I’ve seen several designs in better garden centers marketed for such purposes or you can search online. You also can easily make them yourself.

Microclimates are another technique commonly used to take advantage of pockets of warmer conditions. Think of microclimates as nothing more than small areas or unique growing environments that tend to stay a bit warmer their surrounding area. Typical reasons these areas exist is because they are often protected from wind, driving rain, frost or snow, or because they benefit from heat radiating off a building or protected area. When planted or placed near a brick or stone wall, heat absorbed and retained during the day is released at night. Plants in close proximity will benefit from this exchange. This mini environment can potentially allow plants to survive outdoors when otherwise they could not.

There is a season for everything, but it doesn’t mean you have to delay or stop gardening just because of cooler temperatures. Extending the season is an exciting and rewarding endeavor made easier by knowing a few easy-to-apply techniques.

Joe Lamp’l is the host and executive producer of Growing a Greener World on national public television, and the founder of The joe gardener� Company, devoted to environmentally responsible gardening and sustainable outdoor living.

Chelsea Flower Show 2014: introducing the Telegraph garden

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A sophisticated garden

It was fellow Italian Arabella Lennox-Boyd, one of the UK’s leading garden
designers, who offered him his next job. “I was a bit snobbish at first
about the idea of working on private gardens, but in fact with Arabella I
found my vocation. I worked for her for 10 years on many different projects
in many different countries, and it was brilliant. She taught me a great
deal, especially about plants.”

Watch Paul and Tommaso discuss their plans for the Telegraph garden

By contrast, Paul, 49, was an enthusiastic horticulturist from a young age. “I
was very precocious, telling everyone when I was 10 that I was going to be
an orchidologist.” A German-speaking American, with a grandmother who was a
passionate vegetable grower, he was brought up in Brooklyn and Long Island,
where he entered all the local produce shows “And won!”

Torn between studying art or horticulture, he decided to combine the two and
read landscape architecture. “For part of the course I came to Europe, which
was a second home to me, studying in Denmark, and coming over to England to
look at the gardens.”

After working for a spell in Manhattan, he moved to London, where he was also
employed on big commercial schemes first by Clouston and then Gillespies. He
knew Tommaso socially, and a chance encounter with him on Portobello Road
while he was job-hunting resulted in an offer to join Lennox-Boyd’s
practice. Two years later, in 2000, he and Tommaso decided to set up their
own studio.

“We knew we would work well together,” Paul tells me. “It wasn’t so much that
our strengths dovetailed, but that we had a mutual love of the same things –
a similar aesthetic.”

A modern town garden in Blackheath designed by the pair

“There is a bit of the German-Italian thing going on,” adds Tommaso. “Paul is
very methodical and thorough. I am more bish, bash, bosh – less interested
in the engineering and fine detail.”

They don’t impose a particular style on all their gardens, they told me, but
there are certain motifs. “We like a strong, simple, logical structure with
clean lines,” explains Tommaso. “Nothing too fussy. And with plants
softening the lines.” Layouts are often formal, and their planting veers
more to the traditional than the new-wave naturalistic. “What we love is to
take historic elements, like pleached trees and woven basket beds, and put
them into a contemporary context.”

I wondered how the work was divided. “In the early days, when we were building
things up, we shared all the jobs and talked through everything together,”
says Tommaso. “We still show each other our work and are always aware of
what the other is doing, but mostly we do our own separate projects.” A team
of six works in the office with them.

They have worked on an impressive array of gardens, ranging from Mick Jagger’s
former home in Berkshire and Ronnie Barker’s former home in the Cotswolds –
which sported a red telephone kiosk and much other quirky architectural
salvage assembled by Barker – to a massive chateau in the south of France
with a maze of formal compartments. The Bamford family, owners of JCB and
Daylesford Organic, have been clients for a number of years, and Tommaso has
been advising on the landscape around their home in Barbados, originally set
out by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, which boasts pleached tropical fig trees and a
pergola cloaked in jade vine.

It was Lady Bamford who invited Tommaso and Paul to create their first and
only previous Chelsea garden in 2008 – though Tommaso had worked with
Lennox-Boyd on some of her Chelsea designs. The garden featured a modern
kitchen, wheat fields, and vegetables grown in wicker baskets, and earned a
Silver-Gilt medal.

A quirky backyard space, typical of del Buono Gazerwitz

For the Telegraph this year, they are creating what they describe as a
“contemporary Italian garden”. It will be a green garden, “reinterpreting
traditional Italian elements” says Tommaso, “with a strong axis line,
controlled shapes, pots, roof-trained trees, and a modern version of a
grotto in the form of a water wall.”

At their own homes in London, Paul has a small garden and Tommaso has a
terrace, but for the past five years they have been time-sharing a cottage
in Suffolk together, alternating weekends and surprising each other with new
plants. It is an unusual but rather appealing way to run a garden – given
two people with such similar tastes. However, Paul is reluctant to show me
any photos. “It is a work in progress,” he laughs. Like Chelsea.

A preview of the Telegraph garden 2014

The 2014 Telegraph garden combines some of the guiding principles of Italy’s
great horticultural tradition but reinterpreted for a 21st-century design.
Inspiration for the garden has come from revisiting the components
traditionally found in celebrated historical Italian gardens, to create a
bold and uncompromising modern garden.

All the plants in the garden are both appropriate and suitable for the
conditions typically found in the north of Italy, a climate very similar to
Britain. The garden will be enclosed on two sides by a bay hedge (Laurus
nobilis) and shaded at both ends by the canopy of 12 roof-trained lime
trees. The sunken lawn at the heart of the garden will be punctuated by domes
of clipped box and Osmanthus x burkwoodii. The formality is softened by a
range of herbaceous plants in deep blues and lime green with a touch of deep
pink. Modernist touches include stylish outdoor furniture and a dramatic,
glittering wall of water at one end of the garden, to calm the hubbub of the
show.

Greeley Tribune Home & Garden Show underway

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The Greeley Tribune Home Garden Show kicked off Friday with close to 200 vendors and a big crowd before the doors even opened at the Island Grove Events Center and Exhibition Hall in Greeley.

Sharon and Frank Fronek of Greeley have attended the show for more than 20 years and say they always look forward to it.

“This is fabulous,” said Sharon. “A few years back this is where I found where to buy my new windows and this year we are looking for upgrade ideas for our bathroom and kitchen.”

It might be hard to attend the show and not find what you are looking for when it comes to gardening and home improvement.

Furthermore, you can be surprised to find products you didn’t even know existed, like 4×4 side by side ATVs powered by electricity or fuel.

While the focus is on home decor and gardening, the show features everything from health checks to weight loss products, pet products, and more.

The Greeley MOMS connection group, which uploads weekly blogs for the Greeley Tribune, was there Friday to show support for the community.

“We are here to let mothers and fathers — mainly the younger ones — know the different resources available in Greeley. We at times can even entertain them and in a sense show them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said John Daly, one of the seven blog writers in the group.

Admission and parking are free. The nice weather Friday made it more enjoyable for those who had to park far away because of the crowd.

Landscaping companies take advantage of the large turnout the event is known for to build relationships with potential customers and close business with one or two.

“This show sets our whole work year schedule and gives us good recognition,” said Jeff Fisher, estimator and designer for Fisher Landscaping, Inc.

He said Fisher Landscaping, Inc., is a local family owned and operated business that has been part of the show for 22 years.

This year they exhibit a 60-by-50 foot area in the Event Center that features an outdoor living space that took three and a half days to construct.

If they were building it in a backyard, Fisher said, it would take them two to three weeks.

With inlaid bricks, natural flowers, stones, grass, and water features, the exhibit creates the feel of an outdoor backyard ready for a barbecue or a garden wedding.

For vendors, the show is all about reaching out to attendees and promoting the best features of their businesses. For attendees, its a time to explore the gardening and home market as well as to prepare for the warm seasons to come.

Bryan Reynolds of Greeley said he has been coming to the event since it began 31 years ago.

“We love to come here,” he said. “It’s a time to see the new products and meet with whoever is out and about — we always find friends here.”



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Water conservation on the table for Merced – Merced Sun

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The Merced City Council will hear several options today for saving water. Some of them would be recommendations and some of them would be mandates.

A study session with a focus on water conservation is planned at 6 p.m., just before the regular meeting of the council at the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St.

The city has had some water conservation measures in place since 1992, including a watering schedule that allows sprinkler use three nights a week and only from 7 p.m. to 11 a.m. There is also an ordinance that prohibits using broken sprinklers.

Leah Brown, the city’s water conservation specialist, said the city has taken a mostly educational approach and rarely writes citations for violations. The citations range from $50 to $150.

“We want to encourage people to be as conservative as we can,” Brown said. “We have a stable supply, but our aquifers are still dropping.”

Brown will be involved in the presentation to the council, which is looking at ways to reduce water use. “We don’t live in a bubble. We’re still part of California and need to be very cautious about our usage,” she said.

Gov. Jerry Brown has called for a statewide reduction of 20 percent by all water users. He made the announcement when he declared a drought in January.

If the council decided to implement a greater effort to conserve, it wouldn’t be alone. Leaders in Livingston and Atwater have adopted efforts to do so this year.

Some ideas being floated in Merced include shrinking the watering window with the cutoff two hours earlier, or 9 a.m., and reducing the number of watering days, particularly in summer. That could lessen the amount of water wasted through evaporation.

Another idea is to require carwash fund-raisers to take place where the water can be captured, such as on grass, instead of running into gutters.

Proposals include incentives, such as a “cash for grass” program in which the city would give a rebate to residents who replace their lawns with approved landscaping that needs less watering.

Other incentive programs could include rebates for installing water metering or low-flow toilets or washers.

Of those who use the city’s aquifer, UC Merced is the “biggest customer,” according to Director of Water Resources Michael Wegley. The university announced this week it has cut water use by 43 percent since 2007 with low-flow devices and limited watering, among other practices.

On the council’s regular agenda is a request to pay $62,865 in closing costs and a 3 percent real estate commission for the sale of the former Pepsi bottling plant. The money will come from the proceeds of the land sale, according to a city press release, and not general fund money.

Turlock-based Sun Valley Nut, LLC bought the West Avenue plant for $1.14 million. The almond processor plans to employ 75 people in the 134,304-square-foot facility.

City Council meetings are shown live through an Internet link at www.cityofmerced.org, and are broadcast on Comcast Channel 96.

Sun-Star staff writer Thaddeus Miller can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or tmiller@mercedsunstar.com.

From Holland to Wisconsin and the top of the cheese world

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THORP — Seven years ago at a cheese contest in Green Bay, Marieke Penterman and her husband, Rolf, sat down at a banquet without knowing a soul there.

As they spoke to each other, their accents tipped off a man nearby that they might be those Dutch people who had just earned a gold medal for the first batch of cheese they ever made commercially four months before.

“He said, ‘Are you guys from Thorp? Don’t you know you’re the talk of the conference?’ ” said Marieke Penterman, who had made the cheese with milk from the family’s farm in northwest Wisconsin.

Seven years later, Penterman and her family are still the talk of the cheese world in Wisconsin and beyond. Since that first award, Holland’s Family Cheese has taken the industry by storm, racking up top awards, racing to keep up with demand for products and opening a new creamery operation with the goal of making it a tourist attraction in a rural part of the state.

All because a savvy new immigrant to the state wanted to accomplish something before she turned 30.

As the World Championship Cheese Contest comes to Madison this week, Penterman is in a position to do something that hasn’t been done since 1988: bring a world championship to Wisconsin.

The last time the biennial contest was held, her smoked Gouda was one of 16 finalists out of 2,506 cheeses, and last March her “mature” Gouda took top honors out of 1,702 cheeses at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest in Green Bay. She jumped for joy, as did many people in Thorp, population 1,621, for the attention it would bring to the community.

“Marieke’s enthusiasm is contagious,” said Ken Monteleone, owner of Fromagination cheese shop on Capitol Square. “You can see the passion come through when she talks about what she’s doing and her plans for her business. She’s definitely a very driven woman who has some great ideas.”

The ideas range from new spices to mix into Gouda to ways to educate people about dairy farming. It all comes together at the new Holland’s Family Cheese facility that opened on the southern end of Thorp last month.

Cheese isn’t new to the Pentermans’ part of the state. Twenty-six miles to the east of Thorp is Colby, the town where Colby cheese was invented.

But Marieke Penterman has carved a niche with a cheese that’s familiar to her: Gouda, a creamy, nutty semi-hard cheese that is traditionally made in the Netherlands. Holland’s Family Cheese ages it anywhere from two months to two years, and adds flavors ranging from cumin and fenugreek to red wine and burning nettle.

Doing it for herself

The cheeses bear the name of their maker, Marieke (pronounced mah-REE-kah).

“It’s truly authentic, and it’s local,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

Penterman, 37, became a cheesemaker almost by happenstance, although she had a dairy background. She grew up on a dairy farm, and was a farm inspector with a degree in dairy business. But one night in 2002, a friend of hers called and asked her to come over for a cup of coffee. It was Rolf Penterman, who was about to join his brother in a dairy operation far away.

“He said, ‘You’ll have to come quickly because we found this beautiful farm in Thorp, Wisconsin, and otherwise you’ll never see me again,’ ” she said. “It was very dramatic.”

Marieke asked Rolf if she could come and help him out for a week or so, and three months later she did just that. They hadn’t been dating back home, Marieke said, but she definitely liked the guy.

“I thought, ‘If he comes and picks me up, I’ll tell him how cute he is. If his partner comes and picks me up, forget about it, I’ll just do my work,’ ” Marieke Penterman said. “He didn’t pick me up, but we worked it out later.”

A year and a half later, Marieke returned for good. The Pentermans married and began their family with the birth of twin girls. Despite the girls being the first of five children, Penterman became restless.

“I wanted to do something for myself before I turned 30, and the clock was ticking,” she said.

The light bulb went off above Penterman’s head when she thought about how much she missed the cheese back home. In the land of cheese, she missed the kind she loved most.

“You grow up with certain foods and you’re just used to it, and I had a hard time adjusting to other cheeses,” she said.

Penterman returned to the Netherlands to learn to make Dutch Gouda. She got her Wisconsin cheesemaker’s license. On Nov. 22, 2006, she made her first batch of commercially produced cheese. On Dec. 18, 2006, the Pentermans’ retail store opened.

Ten days later, Marieke Penterman turned 30. It has been nonstop ever since.

Teaching about dairy

Holland’s Family Cheese now makes 40 20-pound wheels of cheese a day. All the Gouda comes from the same recipe, the differences come in how long wheels are aged and what zflavors are added. There’s now room to grow, and plans call for doubling the cheese production.

Expansion wasn’t the only reason the Pentermans wanted a new facility. Visitors were already coming to see their out-of-the way farm and creamery. When the Pentermans drove past a property for sale on the very southern end of Thorp, within the city limits just off Highway 29, they realized they could do something unique with it.

A creamery close to town could serve as an educational facility and a tourism draw for people to learn about cheese and dairy. Some residents were concerned about water and odor, but the majority supported the project.

“In reality, we’re a rural town surrounded by dairy farms and surrounded by cows,” said Thorp city administrator Randy Reeg. “Most people feel the project is going to bring good things to the community.”

The Pentermans got a conditional use permit granted the same week their mature (aged six to nine months) Gouda was named the best cheese in the U.S. They shut down operations at the old facility on Nov. 18 and started at the new one Feb. 24.

While the exterior and landscaping aren’t finished, much of the rest of the facility is up and running. The store is bringing in customers not just for Marieke Gouda but for products made by other Wisconsin cheesemakers and food businesses, Dutch groceries and souvenirs and even wooden shoes (in the form of slippers, refrigerator magnets and pen holders).

“I think this is going to tap into a new audience for us,” Reeg said, adding that most visitors to the area come for recreation such as snowmobiling or hunting.

The store is connected to the creamery, where people can watch cheesemakers at work and see the golden wheels of Gouda sit on Dutch pine boards where they are coated, flipped and aged. Upstairs, a conference room can host groups and a video will play that tells the story of dairy farming.

In a neighboring building, visitors can see 300 cows milked. The herd of brown Swiss, red and white Holstein and black and white Holstein is milked three times a day, and the morning milk is pumped directly into the creamery.

The product from the day’s other milkings is sold, creating a cash flow for the business beyond cheese.

Throughout the facility, signs will educate people about what’s happening there. Visitors can milk a fake life-size cow. They’ll also be able to sample wine and eat ice cream, which Penterman hopes to make one day, too.

“Those that were against us made us realize we need to have something where people can come and learn what happens at a dairy,” Penterman said. “Not every farmer has the opportunity to do that, but I bet most farmers would love to show you what they are doing. And if not, just come over here.”

Gardening Calendar updated March 16

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Specialty gardens pique imagination, creativity of young and old alike – Longview News

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Under the shade of a white kale, next to a river of iridescent glass rock, a fairy lounges alongside a wooden wishing well while a brown rabbit perches nearby.


Fairy gardens, the latest trend to hit the world of landscaping, provide an outlet for “people to be creative and to reconnect to the outdoors,” said Dawn Whittington, marketing director for The Home Garden Center in Longview.

Fairy gardens, or gypsy gardens, are miniature landscapes created in almost any kind of container you can imagine, out of almost anything you can dream up.

These whimsical dioramas can feature fairy or gnome figurines and a variety of woodland animals.

Regina Dyer-Smith introduced fairy gardens to her son and daughter last summer as a means to keep them busy during school holidays.

“They will actually play with them like they’re dolls or action figures,” she said.

Tony, 8, and Bella, 6, have a sports-themed gnome garden and a fairy garden with six or seven sprites in colorful dresses.

“Bella’s all about the bling,” Dyer-Smith said, laughing.

For the sports-themed garden, Dyer-Smith originally cut a wedge off of an old basketball and filled that with dirt and some cactus plants, but Tony quickly outgrew the small container.

“Honestly, now it’s in an old tray,” she said.

Bella’s fairy garden required a bit more work.

“I distressed an old dresser drawer and painted silver swirls on it,” she said. “Then we filled it with dirt and river rock, and topped it off with glass rocks.”

That fairy garden also has pink chiffon canopies for the fairies, Dyer-Smith said.

Begun as a basis for container gardening, fairy gardens sometimes house a resident fairy and sometimes just provide an idyllic setting to attract a fairy to come live there, Whittington said.

“Some people like to believe that if they create it, fairies will come,” she said with a smile.

Brittany Humphrey is the Fairy Garden Coordinator for the The Home Garden Center.

“I didn’t think I’d get into it at first, but now I’m addicted to doing these,” she said. “They’re so much fun.”

You can purchase pieces for your garden and put it together yourself, or Humphrey can create a custom landscape based on your ideas.

She’s done a beach and tea party themes, and she’s even created a fairy garden in a rusty old wheelbarrow.

“I have so much fun. I feel like a kid when I do them,” Humphrey said.

She blends different textures of rocks, mulches and plants, creates dynamic heights with tall plants or ground covers, and incorporates the fairy elements in a way that is artistic and masterful.

You can use live plants or artificial, depending on your level of gardening expertise and where the fairy garden will be placed.

“There’s so much creativity and flexibility that goes into it,” Whittington said. “You can change it up, add, subtract, make multiple displays, use different accessories … the sky is the limit.”

In addition to the fairy garden, the gypsy garden is hugely popular.

“It’s basically the same thing, just with brighter colors,” Whittington said.

While fairy gardens tend to have a more organic, vintage feel, gypsy gardens boast bold colors such as fuchsia and lime green and sparkly features, such as tiny crystal chandeliers and bright accents.

Spring is a hot time for the fairy gardens, Whittington said, but it’s a hobby that can easily be changed on a seasonal or even weekly basis.

“We have people come in to buy new pieces each week,” she said.

The gardens are more than just a cute display.

“Gardening is such a forgotten art,” Whittington said. “It’s a great way to introduce children back to nature without having to use an app or a piece of technology. It’s also great common ground children and grandparents can enjoy together.”

Humphrey and Whittington have created fairy gardens to be featured at area businesses including Nanny Goats (complete with a goat and wine bottles), Lollipops and Lace, Mathnasium, Tiny Turtle and Ruffled Feathers Boutique.

Milwaukee/NARI Members Provide Spring Lawn and Garden Tips

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As the cold of winter comes to an end and we transition to the warmer temperatures of spring, now is the perfect time to begin your annual spring lawn and garden maintenance according to members of the Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council, Inc., the area’s leading home improvement and remodeling industry resource for 52 years. Members share advice for inspecting your property for wind and snow damage and provide tips for making necessary repairs and proper upkeep.

“The heavy snow cover and extremely high winds have caused a great deal of breakage of limbs on existing trees and they will need to be pruned out along with any other normal pruning that one might want to do in the late winter or early spring,” said Tom Auer of The Ground Crafter, LLC in Milwaukee. “Remember that many flowering shrubs and trees bloom on last year’s growth, so pruning will sharply reduce the number of buds. The flowering crabs, magnolia, and forsythia are a few species that will suffer a reduction in bloom.

“There will likely be a great deal of heaving of stone patios and some other garden structures this spring,” Auer said. “Homeowners should be patient, as the thaw of ground frost can take quite a long time, especially a northern exposure or other areas that might be shaded by trees or buildings. Wait until at least May 1 to make any adjustments to base layers, edging, and surface elements.”

“Once the snow begins to recede, you can begin to make an assessment of your lawn, trees, and bushes,” said Gary Urban of Hawks Landscaping Co. Inc., a Division of the Hawks Nursery Co., Inc. in Wauwatosa. “Check for mole and vole damage by looking for the signs of burrowing into the ground and eating at the roots of trees and bushes. You would also notice narrow dead tracks in the lawn.

“The landscaping cure for damage to your lawn is to rake out dead grass and later in the spring to add soil and seed,” said Urban. “The soil needs to warm up, because if the ground is too hard, the seeds can’t grow. We usually wait until early May to do seeding.

“Rabbits can cause damage to tree trunks and even lower branches due to high snow fall levels,” Urban said. “For burning bush, a type of shrub, rabbits eat at the bark searching for food during the winter. If more than three quarters of a branch is damaged, you need to prune out the remainder.”

“Inspect perennials to make sure the cycle of freezing and thawing has not caused these plants to heave,” said Auer. “If you discover a plant that appears to be pushing up out of the ground, gently step down around plant to keep it rooted until growing conditions improve.

“Evergreens, such as spruce and boxwood, will undoubtedly show signs of wind damage from the winter,” said Auer. “The dehydration resulting from the wind will cause needles and leaves to brown. A very light shearing can remove some of this damage and allow recovery and new growth.

“Patience will be key this spring, so give existing plantings time to recover before deciding to take them to the compost pile,” said Auer. “Many species will die down to the ground during such a harsh winter, but often the crown and roots have survived and will flourish if left undisturbed while Mother Nature works her magic.”

As winter comes to a close, we have a few more minutes of daylight each day and the temperatures become more bearable. Consider the following additional tips from Milwaukee NARI that you can add to your spring maintenance to do list:

• Make sure gutters, downspouts, or inlet basins for sub-surface drainage systems are clear of debris before the normal heavy rains in spring. Not only is this critical to protect your home, but standing water and flash flood-like conditions can also harm plants and cause ruts in your yard, washing away valuable topsoil in the process.

• As the snow melts and reveals all the elements of your landscape, don’t forget to get outside and inspect the “hardscaping” features on your property too, such as trellises and decks. Make repairs now while waiting for more ideal gardening weather.

• If you are reusing certain supplies from previous years (like pots to grow seeds in), make sure to disinfect them. Pruning tools should also be disinfected. The UW-Extension recommends using a 10% bleach solution to disinfect your tools and supplies.

• Clean, sharpen, and lubricate your garden tools such a digging shovels and pruning tools. Well-maintained equipment will last longer, make your work a lot easier, and is better for your plants and soils.

The Milwaukee/NARI Home Improvement Council was chartered in July 1961, as a Chapter of the National Home Improvement Council. In May of 1982, the National Home Improvement Council merged with the National Remodelers Association to form NARI – the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

The Council’s goals of encouraging ethical conduct, professionalism, and sound business practices in the remodeling industry have led to the remodeling industry’s growth and made NARI a recognized authority in that industry. With over 740 members, the Milwaukee Chapter is the nation’s largest.

For more information or to receive a free copy of an annual membership roster listing all members alphabetically and by category, and the booklet, “Milwaukee/NARI’s Remodeling Guide,” call 414- 771-4071 or visit the Council’s website at www.milwaukeenari.org.

REALTORS® Home & Garden Show awarding $5000 room makeover

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For those looking to put the wow factor into their home, the 90th REALTORS® Home Garden Show, presented by Unilock, has a solution that is right on the money. Celebrity designer and television’s original home stager, Roger Hazard of AE’s “Sell This House,” is coming to the rescue of one lucky homeowner.

Roger and his partner, Chris, will reward one homeowner with a total room makeover, valued at up to $5,000. The step-by-step transformation, sponsored by CertaPro Painters, will be filmed March 30 – April 1 at one chosen home in the metro Milwaukee area and featured in a future episode of Roger and Chris Hazard’s new reality show, “Roger That!”

“Renovating a home to be comfortable with a style that fits the way people live is what I enjoy most,” Chris Stout-Hazard said. “Furniture and floor plans need to fit a homeowner’s style.”

Homeowners within the metro Milwaukee area can register for the opportunity at www.rogerthat.tv/register through Friday, March 28. Submissions should include photos of the desired makeover room along with a video from the homeowner on why they should be chosen.

Regardless if their home is selected, do-it-yourself designers can still score design tips from the duo at the REALTORS® Home Garden Show. Roger and Chris Hazard will be at the show’s Solutions Stage at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday, March 28, and 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, March 29. The pair will also be at the CertaPro Painters Booth #1104 before and after their presentations.

Design and garden tips from other renowned experts
Roger Hazard will not be the only guest speaker emphasizing the power of design. Throughout the show, seminars and workshops by area experts will offer space-saving tips for indoor and outdoor rooms.

Steven Katkowsky, author of “Danger Construction Zone: Your Guided Tour to a Successful Remodeling Project,” will offer ideas in kitchen, bathroom and patio upgrades from his more than 30 years of experience as a general contractor. Using an entertaining yet straightforward approach, Katkowsky will present “Kitchen Updates” at 11 a.m. Friday, March 21 and 12 p.m. Saturday, March 22, followed by “Designing Outdoor Rooms” at 3 p.m. Friday, March 21, 4 p.m. Saturday, March 22 and 12 p.m. Sunday, March 23. His last seminar, “Bath Updates,” is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday, March 21 and 4 p.m. Sunday, March 23.

Sure to create additional buzz will be workshops on urban beekeeping from CharBee of Beepods.com at 1 p.m. Friday, March 21, as well as home entertainment center design from Kathy Vegh at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 22 and energy-saving tips from master plumber Justin Castleman and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District at 12 p.m. Sunday, March 30.

Stein Gardens Gifts will sponsor gardening clinics with Susan Wilke of Karthauser Sons at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 22, Angela Pipito of Stein Gardens Gifts at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 23 and Nicholas Staddon of Monrovia at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30. Topics will range from miniature gardening and creating the perfect bird habitat to incorporating underutilized shrubs and perennials into a landscape. Other garden seminars will include Vermiculture, Perennial Garden Design, and Do-It-Yourself Fruits from UW-Extension’s Master Gardener Program.

A complete list of workshops, as well as cooking demonstrations at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Cooking Patio, can be found at www.mkehgs.com.

Discover sustainable solutions
Tour the latest energy-saving concepts and environmentally friendly landscaping ideas at the Sustainable Solutions Park by Breckenridge Landscape. Teaching homeowners that sustainability can be both aesthetically and financially pleasing, featured applications will include gabion walls, a bubbling water feature, native plantings and permeable pavers – put to the test with twice-an-hour rainstorm demonstrations each day.

Visit the gardens and enter to win $1,000
Last, but certainly not least, is a visit to the show’s Garden Promenade. Showcasing 12 gardens and more than 10,000-square-feet of living landscape displays and outdoor sculptures, guests are invited to tour these outdoor oases and vote for their favorite. People’s Choice voters will be entered into a giveaway that will award one lucky attendee $1,000 from The Equitable Bank.

When to go
The 90th REALTORS® Home Garden Show presented by Unilock will be at State Fair Park March 21 – 30 (closed March 24 and 25). Show hours are Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Wednesday and Thursday 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults, free for children 12 and younger, and free for active military with ID. To learn more, go to www.mkehgs.com or call (414) 778-4929.