29 W 036 Butterfield Road

Warrenville, IL 60555
(630) 555-1062
www.emcp.net/butterfield
The People Who Care
Number 12 | Spring 2015

The difficult we do today, the impossible just takes a little longer

TO MULCH OR NOT TO MULCH

ON PLANTING YOUR
GARDEN
Besides preparing and paying your
taxes, what should you be doing to
prepare for spring? One thing you
can Besides preparing and paying
your taxes, what should you be doing
to prepare for spring? One thing you
can do is plan your garden. To help
you, we have booklets covering a
wide variety of topics. Some of the
booklets include:

Landscapes Gardening
Pruning Made Simple
Improving Garden Soils
Beautiful Roses
Beneficial Insects
Growing Perennials

*Printed on Recyclable Paper

Mulch can be any number of materialsfrom straw and leaves to bark, peat
moss and plastic filmwhich can be easily applied to protect the soil surface.
Consider the benefits of mulching. Mulch retains moisture during hot,
dry summer months, and repels moisture during periods of heavy rain.
Mulching helps control weed growth in the soil between plants, and keeps
the soil surface cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter by insulating
it from the elements. Good organic mulch, such as cypress, red cedar, cocoa
shells, or western bark also looks and smells great.
A three-step process is effective:
o First, prepare the soil by rototilling or spading, working in a good
fertilizer and/or compose such as peat moss or mushroom compost.
o Second, clear away the leaves, plant debris and litter from the soil
surface. Cultivate and rake smooth.
o Third, for affective week control either use a four inch layer of mulch or a
fabric week barrier covered by 2 inches of mulch.
Here are two examples:
1. You want to cover a rectangular area twenty feet by ten feet and control the
weeds. This will take 200 square feet of weed barrier and 17 bags (2 cubic feet
each) of mulch.
2. The area is circular with a diameter of ten feet. You will need 13 bags of
mulch (applied 4 inches thick).

GARDEN PARTICIPATION AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH

By Charlie Nardozzi

During unsettled times, people return to the garden. That adage appears to
be true, according to the annual National Gardening Survey, conducted by
NGA. In 2005, U.S. household participation in lawn and garden activities
increased by 11 percent over the previous year. That means 83 percent of the
110 million households in the country (91 million households) participated in
one or more types of do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities compared with
75 percent (82 million households) in 2004. Thats great news and the most
significant increase in gardening activity since 2002. Ninety-one million
households participating in lawn and garden activities is a new record,
topping the previous all-time high of 85 million households back in 2001 and
2002.

What type of gardening activities are people involved in? All types. Of the
16 types of lawn and garden activities measured on the survey, 14 showed an
increase in the number of households participating. The biggest increases
were in lawn care, flower gardening, container gardening, and shrub care.

In 2005, U.S. household participation in lawn and garden

activities increased by 11 percent over the previous year
ORCHESTRATING COLOR THROUGHOUT THE SEASON
By Patt Kasa

From early March when the forsythia first bursts into bloom, to around midOctober when the last anemone dies back, my garden is a constantly
changing flower display. I've often been asked, "How do you manage to have
a garden that is always full of colorful flowers?"

Contact Us
Butterfield Gardens
29 W 039 Butterfield Road
Warrenville, IL 60555
(630) 555-1062
www.emcp.net/butterfield

Creating stunning displays of color throughout the growing season is

easier than you might think. You don't need acres of land or a professional
grounds crew to manage it, because continuous color does not mean that
everything in the garden is in bloom all of the time. You just need to make
smart choices so that enough plants are flowering at any one time to create
an impression of sustained color throughout the garden.

BUTTERFIELD GARDENS
29 W 039 Butterfield Road
Warrenville, IL 60555

Joe Recipient
1234 South Recipient Street
Warrenville, IL 60555