Garden Design Quick Start Guide

Please tune in or click... Live broadcast on Sunday January 6, 2019...9:00 a.m. Central time 'Garden and Landscape Design...a Quick Start Guide' The Mike Nowak Show WCGO   AM-1590 Chicago Listen Live click www.mikenowak.net Projects above are (clockwise from upper left): a back patio in Joliet, Illinois, a patio in San Diego in the North Park neighborhood,  a front paver walkway in Coronado, California and an entire landscape renovation in Hinsdale, Illinois Mike and co-host Peggy Malecki and I will talk about five main concepts from our book 'Garden and Landscape Design a Quick Start Guide' (Amazon or direct from us). Have a plan Planted beds are everything Three things to never use Hardscapes will make or break your garden The finishing touches

Spring really is "just around the corner." Begin planning your gardens and landscapes now. Check back here every week for advice you can use.  Flowers for sale in September 2018 at Bronkberry Farms in Plainfield, Illinois.

"Broad brushstrokes..."  Plant in broad brushstrokes is a recommendation from our book 'Garden and Landscape Design...a Quick Start Guide' (available at Amazon or direct from us) . Nature does a lot of this. These vast field of Virginia bluebells was seen and photographed by us near Starved Rock State Park near Utica, Illinois.  The idea is to mass many plants of the same variety. It fills in large spaces with dramatic effect. When the plants fill in the area may need little maintenance. Weeds are crowded out. Mulching is not needed.  FYI: Starved Rock State Park is perched on a bluff above the Illinois River. It has many trails. often with waterfalls, through limestone canyons. Nature and wildlife abounds here.  "Neon Saguaros"  This is the title I gave this photo taken at the Tonto National Monument near Roosevelt Lake in Arizona. I sent it in and it was featured on Arizona Highways magazine website.  The backlighting on the sp

Coming soon...our updated book ,  'Garden and Landscape Design  Quick Start Guide' Will be released on Amazon or direct by February 1, 2019

A new insect threat - Elongated Hemlock Scale Pest pest imported from Asia has been found in Wisconsin Map shows the distribution of the elongated hemlock scale. It has not been found yet in Illinois. However, not shown on the map is the recent infestation discovered in Wisconsin. Elongated hemlock scale and its eggs on evergreen needles. Wisconsin officials discovered the elongated hemlock scale pest on  live cut branches made into wreaths, garlands, and similar items being sold this holiday season at big box home retailers and nurseries.  This infestation is reported to have come from producers in North Carolina. The products were shipped to retailers in Wisconsin. The images above show the known range of the pest and its appearance on evergreen needles.  It has not been found in Illinois.  The adults suck fluid from the needles of evergreens. It is potentially destructive.  People in Wisconsin are being advised to burn any such products or to bag them.

"It's raining again..." Supertramp 1982 ...Winter rains have returned to San Diego. Chicago remains wet! These graphs from www.climatestations.com show the year-to-date rainfall totals for Chicago and San Diego. Chicago is almost 40% ahead of normal at 47 inches. This makes 2018 one of the wettest years on record.  San Diego's rainfall year is measured July through June. The abundant rains in December 2018 are welcome. Unlike most parts of the U.S. San Diego receives almost no rain April through October.   Summertime rains are rare and thunderstorms almost non-existent. The area relies on its rainy season November through March.  Winter rains were absent in San Diego 2017-2018. The year's total was about 3 inches, far below the average of 10 inches. Fluctuations like this regularly occur in California. The two years prior were wet. Before that had two years of drought.  Winter rains are magical for the nearby deserts (San Diego is considered a dese

“Boy, do I hate being right all the time…” My book, ‘Garden and Landscape Design-a Quick Start Guide (Amazon) perfectly describes how you can create gardens like this one in a photo from HGTV. The garden uses my ideas: Less than half of its space is lawn. Saves on maintenance and water. Plants are grouped in “broad brushstroke.” Nice hardscapes. Well placed containers and accents. It DOES NOT have my three ‘Never Use:’ No plastic edging No gaudy colored mulch or stone No cheap retaining wall blocks. If you use any of those your gardens will never be featured in a pictorial like this. Please order my book or contact it you need help. Thanks to Coldwell Banker agent Lana Grimaldi for the HGTV site.

Your gardens will almost design themselves   when you follow "The Pearling Plan" in my book 'Garden and Landscape Design...a Quick Start Guide." Inside you will learn the five easy concepts that I have practiced in my 30 years designing gardens. My book is available on Amazon. Or we can email you a PDF copy. Contact us at: gardenquickstartguide@gmail.com     $4.95 All cards and PayPal accepted. 

Our remarkable avocado tree... We planted our tree as a little 5 gallon in June of 2015 at our home in Chula Vista, California near San Diego. Most sources said it would take five to seven years until our first harvest. Nope! We are still picking fresh fruit now at Christmastime 2018.  I will travel to Chicago soon for my radio interview on Sunday January 6 at 9:00 a.m. CST with Mike Nowak on WCGO AM-1590.  Please tune in to learn how you can create wonderful gardens at your home. You can listen online at  www.mikenowak.net I intend to bring some of our fresh picked Hass variety for Mike, co-host Petty Malecki, and their team to enjoy. 

It's Christmas. We are still harvesting avocados from our tree in our garden in the San Diego area. Please check back tomorrow for a full update on our marvelous fruit tree. 

Chicago's Maggie Daley Park is a wonderful place for gardening inspiration. The park tends toward a more formal look. The 'Cancer Survivors Garden' with its urns on pedestals reflects this (see photo). We visited last summer in July. You will see that the designers use some of my ideas: broad sweeps of the same 'set and forget' plants like these yellow daylilies; and bold hardscapes like the steps between rows of evergreens. This certainly "makes" this garden. We hope that you can visit when warm weather returns.

"Your ideas are terrific!" said Mike Nowak. Tune in on Sunday January 6, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. CSTl to my live interview on the Mike Nowak Show on WCGO AM-1590 in Chicago. You can listen online at:  www.mikenowak.net Mike and co-host Peggy Malecki and I will be sharing concepts about how you can create wonderful and charming gardens with less effort and expense. When you use my ideas your gardens will be earth friendly and will be the envy of your neighborhood. Now is the time to plan your gardens for the upcoming spring. Tune in and learn how easy it can be.

Here is a quick and easy way to create a stepping stone walk. This home in located San Diego's vintage Kensington neighborhood. The owners gave me permission to photograph and show their home. Two people working together can finish this project in a half day. The flagstones here are known as Colorado Red. It is available throughout the U.S. These pieces are about 24 by 36 inches each. Stones this large require two people to carry and set in place. But it is not difficult with two. Large stones like these are inherently stable. With minimal preparation and leveling of the soil beneath they will not rock when walked on. Simply lay the stones on the turf. Using a square-end garden spade cut the turf around each stone. Make sure that your cut will be visible after the stones are temporarily moved aside to dig out the turf. Move the stones and using shallow cuts with the spade dig out the turf and dispose. Compost it in your garden if possible There will probably be some loose so