Doug Bunn — The Honey Do Husband

I have been writing about this for several months but it is time. UNC-TV is having their winter/spring festival to raise money so it is time for you to hit the yard or garden. There is a lot of work to do out there so don’t waste these beautiful days we have been having. You should have put fertilizer on your cool season grass on valentines day and it should already be making your grass greener, maybe even requiring you to mow it. If you have been mowing or if you will start soon try to mow it before it gets too tall and don’t bag it. Mow it and let the clippings lie on the ground. They are full of the expensive fertilizer you just put on that grass. If you leave the clippings they will break down and fertilize the grass again. If you bag the clippings and send them to the landfill, that will be such a waste.

It is time to cut your ornamental grasses and put them in the compost pile. You still have time to prune the hardwoods in your yard. If you have the time you need to rake last years leaves out of your garden areas.  It is also time to fertilize your garden and then top coat it with compost, pine straw or leaf mold. I personally don’t care for pine straw. It takes a long time for pine straw to break down. It is also hard to dig where there may be several inches in the soil. So stick with compost or leaf mold. I agree that triple shredded hard wood looks nice but I have written about that earlier. Just look down the page and you will see my post. I have trimmed all my grasses and they are in the compost pile now. Speaking of compost, do you? I know I am obsessive about compost but when it breaks down it looks SO good. I top coated several area in our yard today with compost. That rich dark black compost is last year’s (2008) leaf crop mixed with grass clippings gathered from donors located in the neighborhood. I also save vegetable scraps and coffee grounds from local coffee shops. Coffee grounds are considered nitrogen or “green” in the compost pile. Leaves are considered “brown” or carbon. My compost piles are a little larger than they should be making it harder on me to turn them. They need to be turned about once a month so that the moisture is spread and the turning allows oxygen to get mixed in. If the compost pile has the proper mix of green, brown, moisture, and oxygen the leaves or carbon will break down in about 8 weeks. If the pile is not turned the pile will eventually break down anaerobically, without oxygen. I prefer the pile get turned and if you need lessons in compost pile turning I conduct classes free, here at my home. I promise if you take the course you will get a passing grade and you will sleep well that night. For the sleeping well some individuals may need some nsaids for the pain and tired muscles. But most people will get over it quickly. Call soon and make an appointment for compost training.

I am looking forward to cleaning our banana plants. They really look unkempt but I have been told they stand a better chance of surviving our winters if they are left alone since the killing frost and freezes from last fall.

I am really surprised that more of the thousands of you that read these tidbits don’t comment more. Maybe I am surprising myself because I explain this information so well that there is nothing left to question. You know I don’t charge to answer questions.