Jean Terry

The grass is always greener in your neighbors yard...or so it seems. Doing your yard work yourself and knowing what to do may be two different things. To ensure that you are on your way to a lush lawn, consider the following.

Just as you use a sweeper for indoor cleaning, apply the same idea out doors . Before your lawn can blossom, you will need to remove dead leaves, twigs, and debris that have gathered.

As the seasons change, you may see subtle bumps and groves-in your lawn. Rolling the lawn at the start of the season is important for proper fertilizer and grass seed application.

Thatch is a layer of problem material that hides between layers of soil. Thatch build-up can spread harmful pest and disease.

Aerating should be done at the beginning of the season to improve oxygen circulation, reduce weeds and help absorb fertilizer.

To give your lawn a boost and repair seasonal damage, re-seed at the start of the season. Using a spreader for even distribution to ensure the lawn grows evenly.

Once your grass reaches three inches tall, begin mowing. The first mowing will help remove old, damaged grass and reveal a green lawn you can enjoy for the remainder of the season.

Have fun, I will.

Gardeners know you need sun, water, soil, seeds, and plants to make a garden grow. Plus you also need a few garden tools. There are many different types of tools to use in the garden. A newbie gardener often has a hard time deciding what to get. I think there are certain tools that are essential for large or small gardens, no matter what you are growing.

Long-handleed three pronged cultivator. If there is one tool I could not do without, its a three pronged cultivator for digging ability.

Long-handled shovel for digging holes and moving mulch, soil, and soft amendments, there is nothing like a shovel.

Hand trowel. Most small task in small gardens and containers can be managed with a hand trowel.

Hand pruners, if you have shrubs, roses, and woody perennials in the yard, then hand pruners are a must.

Garden cart. If you have a 1/4 acre sized yard or larger, you will need some form of a garden cart or wheelbarrow to move plants and materials

This weekend I picked up a couple of buyers, from my SOI, and maybe I am not so lucky. Yesterday we worked only by phone, as they were out riding around, finding homes and calling me to check on pricing. Today we preview four homes, and they did not agree on any one of them. They have already called this evening to check pricing on two more houses. Unless the two of them agree on a lot of things, this could be a long time to closing.

Today in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina, it was a picture perfect day, weather wise. The temp was in the low seventys with clear skies and a gental breeze blowing. It was truely a day to be out of doors. The buyers were out and about also judgeing from the way my phone was ringing. But soon the rains will be back, but we sure did enjoy it while it lasted.

The news this evening is more rain and thunderstorms for tonight in the upstate of South Carolina. We have several areas in the upstate that are having flooding and some people are even having to leave their homes. We have so much to be thankful for, a dry, warm place to sleep tonight. We need the rain, but please not all at one time.