Plant Hardiness during our Inevitable Winters

This is a typical design which I’d settle for, if I could uproot the front lawn, for minimal maintenance of weeds, watering. When replacing a lawn for native plants, and with the large amount of snow that gets transferred to…

Is alyssum back to my garden?

I planted alyssum seeds, that said annual, in several pots and transferred them to sunny garden. They bloomed so beautifully and lasted until mid of fall. This spring I planted the seeds again. Then I noticed that when they sprouted…

Lawn into Garden with Wood Chips

Good Morning, I have the opportunity to garden on my neighbors lawn this year. The area is 30×25, so I am planning on having 5×30 inch beds separated by walkways. The only problem is that I just got permission now,…

Repairing a poorly planted lawn

I live in midtown Toronto and have a small, west-facing front lawn about 15 x 25 feet in size. The lawn gets plenty of sun in the afternoons. The lawn covers an area that used to be an interlocking brick…

Overseeding Established Old Lawn

Hi and thank you for this resource and helping home owners. I have 3/4th of my backyard with established thin lawn and 1/4 badly weedy and bare patches. I have seeded and applied starter fertilizer and by July mid it…

Swamp White Oak

Hello everyone! We were gifted two Swamp White Oak saplings from a nursery two days ago. I am not sure of their age but I can tell you that, for each of them, the acorn they sprouted from still sits…

Ground cover for a hill in bright sunlight

Hello Master Gardeners In 2012 I re-graded a 3 level terrace back into a sloped hill and covered it with grass. However, since that time, I had left a portion uncovered due to its steepness and potential difficulty with cutting…

Mulch

Hello, I wonder what your opinion is on using cedar mulch in perennial beds to retain moisture and deter weeds. I just put fresh mulch down (about 2 – 3 inches thick) on one side of my garden and last…

Groundcover Under a Japanese Maple

I have a gorgeous Japanese Maple tree. Underneath, to discourage weeds, I have planted ground cover which is doing well. Should I have done this – is it a detriment to the tree? If so, should I just put mulch…