Off topic

Now is the time to gear up for spring, before the rain comes. Turn the compost over in your garden beds, spread manure on your lawns, after aerating, and beds and prune those unsightly branches or shrubs, especially the evergreens. Also for propagating or layering perennials start looking around for specimens to propagate before they start budding and possibly flag them so that you remember where they are located. You can fertilize your garden beds too. I suggest Espoma@ espoma.com. The fertilizer they sell happens to smell so don’t be alarmed. I use Scott’s “Turf Builder” on the lawn, because I haven’t found anything better that greens up a brown lawn although if we get heavy spring rains the fertilizer could wash through the soil faster. I use to start my vegetable seeds indoors this time of year, but if you don’t have the proper location or heat underneath you’ll get frustrated like I did, and you will get long leggy seedlings. I start my cucumbers and squashes in the garden and always use bonemeal. When I was in college they taught us to use Super Phosphate when transplanting but I found it can burn the roots. If you burn wood use the wood ash in your garden beds or on your lawn.