Soil Aeration and Compost Top Dressing Your Lawn

by Randy Watson

Much of San Antonio has dense clay soils that begin heavy and may be further compacted from heavy use from play, sports activities and pets. Roots require oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water. Compacted soils reduce the amount of air and water within the soil. This results in poor top growth and lawn deterioration. Core aeration is recommended to maintain a healthy lawn and can benefit your lawn by allowing for the increasing water, nutrient and oxygen movement into the soil. From personal experience I can also say that aeration and top dressing with compost kept my lawn much healthier through last summer's drought and a healthy lawn helps choke out the weeds,…

A Matterhorn of Mulch

by Celia Hayes

We were walking the dogs the other day when we saw a bucket truck parked in front of a house down the road. There was a worker with a long rope and a chain-saw, busy taking down some higher branches. When we got closer, we saw that there were already the remains of a great many large tree limbs piled up in front of the house. And that the bucket-truck was actually one of those covered dump-truck arrangements used by tree services, with a portable industrial wood-chipper hitched to the back of the truck. One of our neighbors was obviously having a great deal of work done on the trees in their yard – only one of which was a…

What's That?

By Julia Hayden

That sprinkle of damp stuff, seeming to fall out of the darkest clouds in the sky  . . .  oh, yeah. They call that stuff rain – that is, when there is slightly more of it than fell on Saturday morning, courtesy of a few stray clouds from the weakest tropical storm ever to hit the South Coast of Texas.  We were watching the weather reports all this week, looking at the charts and radar, and licking our lips, thinking 'Rain – glorious rain! This weekend, Saturday morning at the earliest! Maybe even Friday evening! And no, if it comes with high winds, it's cool – we can adjust  . . .  as long as it brings rain!"  I swear, if the alphabet for tropical storms weren't already established, they could have called…

Reviving the Garden

by Julia Hayden

Gardening with me comes in fits and starts, and it depends on a lot of things – is it too blazingly hot to spend much time out of doors? Are the various native plants relatively thriving? Was there enough rain to keep everything relatively well-watered without having me spend a lot of time out there with a garden hose? I did myself a favor a good few years ago, by taking out the grass and doing xeriscape, but that was something done in gradual stages, and as soon as it was done I sold the lawn mower to a neighbor for 45$. Month in, month out, all the way around the year, the water bill runs about 30$, and the yard usually doesn’t look too bad. At it’s very best, of course – it looks darned good. Alas, it…

Annual Festival of Flowers

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May 29 (Sat) 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

The 13th Annual Festival of Flowers is San Antonio's most exciting gardening-exclusive event. Presented by SAWS (the San Antonio Water System). The SAWS-sponsored event features a plant giveaway, landscaping workshops, and plant sale. Also, get landscaping ideas and expert advice on gardening and outdoor living environments. Don't miss out on the cooking demonstrations and wine tastings.

It's a day of informative seminars and shopping for plants, landscape materials and gardening accessories. It's a time to swap plants and seeds at the City-Wide Plant Exchange — the largest exchange in the state.

See…

Created Thursday, 19 April 2007 20:24

Rainwater Harvesting

Written by Randy Watson

 In a moderately dry region of the United States, the collection and storage of water can be a wise precaution for all Texans to undertake. A very cheap, effective form of doing so is rainwater harvesting. While the term practically explains itself, rainwater harvesting is simply the act of collecting and storing rainwater off of a roof or any other surface catchment, storing it for later use. This method, which is widely used in countries such as China and India, can be used to supply water for both human and material consumption.

Since rainwater harvesting can be used for a wide array of purposes, overpopulated places that suffer from poverty find this…

Created Monday, 09 April 2007 08:47

Xeriscape

Written by Randy Watson

Xeriscape landscaping is a revolutionary, comprehensive way of conserving water and protecting the environment. The dwindling supply of high quality water and it\'s inefficient use in Texas has placed the future prosperity of the great state into question. In South Texas, roughly 25 percent of the water supply is used for either landscaping or watering gardens. Increasing population, limited water supply, droughts, and fluctuations in rainfall have all contributed to this critical issue.

While more traditional landscaping techniques address a couple of water conservation concepts, the Xeriscape method incorporates seven basic principles that all have the precise intention…