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Mulch is a good addition

GARDENING on a budget? No problem. There are plenty of options to help beautify your yard inexpensively.

GARDENING on a budget?

No problem. There are plenty of options to help beautify your yard inexpensively. The simplest and most cost-effective product anyone can add to their garden is mulch; lots of it everywhere and apply it at least five-to eight-centimetres thick over the entire bed, right up to the base of the plants. Be sure to weed before mulching.

Aside from the many soil fertility benefits that mulch provides, it does two very important things: it suppresses 95 per cent of the weed growth and it dramatically improves presentation. Simply put: mulch is the canvas that unifies the painting.

The cost is relatively low, but some sweat equity is required to install it. Do not install plastic or landscape fabric before applying the mulch because fabric, and especially plastic, prevents air exchange with the soil, prevents water infiltration into the soil, and fabric is a nightmare to work around if you have to replant.

The type of mulch you choose depends on your taste. Bark mulch is the cheapest and lasts the longest, but there are other options, including the black-looking, composted bark mulch, but it grows weeds quicker than regular bark mulch. Wood chips are good

if you can find them. Shredded leaves are good for woodland gardens and veggie patches. Animal manure is good for veggie gardens but it does grow weeds. As for the use of rocks as mulch, they look oddly out of place in our northern climate, and if you want to grow weeds, rocks are the best matrix to get weeds growing.

Planting annual flowers in pots and baskets is also an inexpensive way to add colour and cheer to the yard. A few wellplaced pots at the front door and a basket hanging over the deck or patio can quickly brighten up the place and your disposition. My favourite summer annual for our rainy climate is Calibrachoa. It is a semi-trailing plant available in several colors, and it produces many small and brightly coloured flowers all summer long. The flowers do not go mushy during our sometimes-rainy summers, and the plant is drought tolerant so it's ideal for pots. Some people prefer to use perennials in pots to avoid having to spend money every year on annuals.

There is a perennial for almost every location in the sun or shade. Remember to choose a pot big enough to accommodate a few years of growth so the perennial doesn't end up dried out and dead in the first or second summer. Bold statements can be made growing perennials in pots, and combining in a few annuals can really spice up your yard.

I would like to tell everyone how to improve their lawn, but I would rather explain how to rototill the lawn into something useful like a food garden, some ground cover, a patio, or a children's play area, which would be more interesting to children than grass. In an upcoming column, I will discus how to deal with chafer grubs. However, the simplest change anyone can make to their lawn is to develop strong, crisply defined edges to delineate the lawn from other features and make the lawn stand out.

If growing plants is not your thing, then placing some type of sculpture, a colourful pot, decorative fencing or perhaps a birdbath may suit you. Pots don't have to be full of plants. I have seen many lovely pots sitting in gardens that are meant to provide interest without plants. Sculpture or garden art is a very subjective thing to most people, and for many yards there are limited places to install them that make sense. However, almost anyone can build a simple trellis or garden obelisk from scrap wood, paint them with left-over paint, and place them in the garden with or without plants.

There are many wall hangings and other colourful widgets and trinkets that can be purchased from garden centres and home improvement stores to place in the garden. And with the current trend in repurposing and restoring old things, there are so many items that can be placed in the garden. I have seen old port holes installed into fencing; used pallets made into short barriers stuffed with flowers; restored iron-

works made into privacy screens and directional barriers; and so much more that surely anyone could find a way to re-purpose or recycle old things and other antiques into the garden.

Probably the best advice I can offer for gardening on a budget is to be creative, re-purpose things and don't be held by other peoples' conventions of what is correct or acceptable. Individuality is the genesis of creativity.

Todd Major is a journeyman horticulturist, garden designer, writer, consultant and organic advocate. For advice contact him at stmajor@shaw.ca.