DIY Life

Your front yard doesn't have to be perfectly manicured or professionally landscaped to look good. It is, however, your public face -- of sorts. Plus, your neighbors are forced to look at whatever you put out there!

Be a good neighbor: banish the following items from your front yard.

1. Plastic foliage. I'm talking anything you got from a craft store. Like this, for example. Plastic ivy. Faux dried sunflowers. Silk chrysanthemums. Plastic wreaths. Fake autumn leaves strung into streamers. Shudder.

Plastic flowers are tacky in the garden. They're unnecessary. After all, you have Mother Nature at your disposal! Why choose fake flowers? Finally, they evoke the cemetery. Enough said.

Summer vacation keeps rolling along. How long until your kids go back to school? Are they spending too much time lounging on the couch? Here are a bunch of summer projects to trick your kids away from their air-conditioned sanctuary and out into the great outdoors of, er, your backyard.

Okay, okay. So the backyard is not the great outdoors. True. But the main thing is to get the kiddos out in the fresh air, learning about nature, and learning about the noble pursuit of maintaining a garden.

Getting their hands dirty
1. Ask them to help with the weeding. Pay them a small amount of pocket money for their time.

Weed block is good stuff. It has a myriad of uses, from keeping weeds down to backing a wall, to stabilizing soil, to, well, a bazillion things -- more than you'd think; we'll get into them. It's a material that will keep weed and grass seeds from germinating while allowing air, moisture, and nutrients to pass through to the soil and nourish the roots around your plantings.

Mowers, edgers, leaf-blowers. Sod, plug, aerate, de-thatch. Irrigate, seed, fertilize, weed.

Phew! Makes my head spin just thinking about the stuff you're supposed to do to maintain a lawn, at least according to certain yard-care experts. If you follow the recommendations of lawn-care service companies, you can spend hundreds of dollars each year on your lawn. Many people do exactly that, just because they think it's necessary for a nice lawn.

Well, guess what? It's not necessary. Okay, if you must have a picture perfect lawn that's smooth, flat and green year-round like a golf course... well, that's going to require some work. However, if you're like me and just want some nice, healthy grass, then the trick is to work... less. Yes, less!

In fact, everything you really need to know can be simplified down into three tips: 1. Mow less. 2. Lay off the chemicals and 3. Opt for low-maintenance landscaping. Need more detail? Read on!

From observing successful gardeners at work, I've learned that one key to joyful gardening is this: stick with what grows. It's about choosing the path of least resistance--encouraging plants that stay lovely with little or no care. Equally important, however: good gardeners don't hesitate to relocate plants that aren't thriving.

Now, I've made my share of mistakes when choosing plant sites. I'm also dealing with a few bad choices made by previous owners of this property. In either case, relocation was the only way to save the plants involved. For example, I recently transplanted a dozen Japanese Holly Ferns from a dry, sunny spot in my front yard to a moist and shady location in back.

Those poor ferns had been struggling for survival. These shade- and moisture-loving plants were in a hellishly unsuitable locale, dotted around the bases of two pine trees on an exposed and drought-prone slope. Last summer's severe drought nearly spelled the end for them. One thing was clear: they would never thrive in such an unsuitable spot.

I promised myself that if they made it through the winter, I'd transplant them in spring. And so I did! I'm confident that the move will transform them from surviving to thriving. Read on to see how my relocation project went. Don't forget to check out my photo gallery, too!

Want colorful flowers this spring? No time to read that 500-page gardening book you got for Christmas? Well, time-pressed gardener, here's how to grow masses of beautiful pansies in 10 easy steps.

1. Know your zone. Is now a good time to plant? The answer depends upon your zone. Check the USDA's plant hardiness map. Pansies are grown as annuals in zones 2 to 11 (i.e. most of the US) during spring and fall. From zone 9 south to zone 11 (south Texas and most of Florida), they will grow right through winter. North of zone 9, they may die down during winter, but come back in Spring. Further north, the cold will kill them stone dead. Bottom line: if the weather is warming up for Spring and you don't expect any really hot weather anytime soon, you're probably good to go.

2. Buy smart. Don't be sucked in by the brightest blooms. Instead, buy dense, sturdy-looking plants with lots of healthy, green leaves and buds. These will give you more blooms in the long run once they get established. Another buying tip: it's better value to buy whole trays of baby pansies rather than pint-sized pots of mature ones. Be patient and those tiny plants will soon grow to full size.

Each week, Diane Rixon brings you Avant Yard, a look at all your lawn and garden could be. Diane shows you how to give life to everything inside your fence. We promise that your yard will be the greener "other side" and the neighbor's envy to boot. Alright, we don't really promise, but you get the idea.

Is there a dead tree in your yard? Let it live on -- repurpose it! Here are a bunch of suggestions, with an emphasis on projects that are both easy and inexpensive.

LEAVE IT ALONE
1. Leave it standing. If it's not a danger to people or structures on your property, of course. Let it be a home for birds, bugs and assorted critters.
2. Leave it standing and turn it into yard art -- hang colored bottles from the branches or string it with colored lights that change with the season.

CUT IT UP
3. Use planks for fencing.
4. Build a big brush pile, which is a fantastic refuge for wildlife.
5. Use it for garden mulch. You will need to hire a mulching machine or mulching service for this, however.

I really like installing plants and trees; they add color, texture, and the ability to screen undesirable backgrounds. That said, there are several things you should know to ensure planting success.

Size-- shrubs generally come in 1, 2, 3 , 5, 7, and 15 gallon sizes (in the nursery business, gallons are abbreviated as #); trees will generally come as 7 or 15# sizes. All these sizes are suitable for homeowner installation; larger items are really suited to professional installation, as they may require mechanized equipment to install. Except for perennials, which usually come as 1 or 2# sizes, you should select the 3 or 5# shrubs, and 7# trees, to get the best value in size versus cost.

Selection--examine the plant to ensure sturdy growth (it shouldn't be leaning over in the container), good color and texture, and root structure (not pot bound or with roots that don't go to the bottom of the container--that indicates that the plant was recently "potted up" so as to be sold as a larger plant). That process will be easily accomplished with the smaller sized plants and, naturally, more difficult with the big boys.

Here's a good idea from the Canadian site Home Envy: make hopscotch stepping stones. Detailed instructions are found at Home Envy, but this project basically involves decorating and numbering ten paving stones, then laying them out in the garden in a hopscotch fashion. It makes a fun little walkway in the garden that the kids (or the young at heart) can use for play.

To prepare the stones for painting, sand them smooth. Then there's the fun part: decorating them. Here you can give your creativity free reign. Flowers, bugs, and hand prints are all cute motifs. Mosaic designs are more difficult, but also a good suggestion. It's recommended that you use acrylic paint specifically designed for patio stones or concrete. Follow with a coat of acrylic sealer.

Once you've laid the stones out in the correct order, you'll need to carefully prepare the surface of the soil, using sand if necessary, to ensure the individual stones lay completely flat. Then pack soil or mulch around the stones to raise the whole area up to the same level. This will help prevent tripping and "ouchies." Let the whole thing dry and cure for a few days before trying it out.

Do you save your old newspapers for recycling? Well, recycling your paper is fab, but repurposing is even better for the Earth. Here's an idea for gardeners to consider: mulch it. That's right. You can use old newspapers to mulch the garden.

Now, I know what you're thinking: old, shredded newspapers scattered around your garden beds will not endear you to your neighbors. I'm not suggesting you use newspapers as a top layer on the garden (although I have seen this very silly idea presented as an option in various gardening books). Instead, you can use them as a foundational layer, then top it off with a layer of regular mulch -- shredded pine or cypress bark, pine chips, or pine needles. Whatever floats your boat.