As I was working on trimming the grass along our sidewalk this last weekend one or our neighbors came over and gave me a tip I thought I would pass along. I was using our tiller with a sod trimming blade on it to remove the extra growth of grass that insists on narrowing our sidewalk. Once you have trimmed the sod along the edge of the sidewalk you are left with that small strip of sod. In a perfect world that strip of sod pulls away without any extra work at all but since this has never really been a perfect world (at least from my experience) that little strip needs some extra persuasion. I started out using a shovel to do this work but then my neighbor suggested using a stirrup hoe, just run the edge of the hoe along the cut line and the base of the hoe along the sidewalk. This will put the strip of grass in the middle of the hoe. After doing the remaining 90% of the job in the time it took to do the first 10% I decided this was the way to go. For those of you who don’t know what a stirrup hoe is I have included a picture. Good Luck.

Thought I would share a co-workers picture with everyone. He lives in the Tri-Cities and as such things are a little ahead of the people in the Spokane area but this was such a great shot that I thought you would enjoy it.

Congratulations to the Spokane Community College PAS team (Postsecondary Agriculture Students) on their very successful trip to the National Competition in Idaho Falls.  All students that attended placed in the top 3 of at least one of their competitions, many in more than one – WooHoo!!

I hope you’re all enjoying that fabulous sunshine, but remember, don’t get too excited yet – we could still be in for some frosts.

Sorry folks, long time no blog. Although it is too early for most of us to start digging and planting, most local nurseries are well on their way to starting the new season. And since this is not only a passion, but a career choice for me, I have been elbow deep in potting soil all week [I'm so happy! ]

The biggest topic on my mind along personal routes is starting seeds. I’m choosing fairly simple plants and flowers this year, and most don’t need but a few weeks to get going. But I’ll expound on that in a few weeks, along with some common methodologies. I am waiting until the 19th or so to get mine started, mostly because I am leaving next week and don’t want to burden our housesitter with new seedlings -or miss all the excitement of the new arrivals!!!

In the meantime, don’t forget to thoroughly water your outdoor plants, esp trees and shrubs. This time of year when we have repeated freezing and thawing is when most winter damage occurs – the result of dehydration. Any water reserves that were left in the soil are surely used up by now, and just because the plant is still dormant, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still need water.

For those of you that have indoor houseplants, now is a good time to start a fertilizing regimen. A low dose of a watersoluble fertilizer once a week will help give plants a boost to get them out of the winter doldrums. Remember: Weakly weekly. Also, carefully read labels, many commonly available fertilizers are high in salts, which can damage the roots of the plant and the soil health, so I encourage you to seek out organic brands, and be wary of any products that promise “miracles.” If you need to repot houseplants, give it a few more weeks yet.

How many of you have noticed the crocus and grape hyacinths poking up? I think I’ve been seeing a few daffodils as well – spring is definitely on the way!.