Out With the Old, Rethinking a Section of Front Yard Garden
Sometimes you’ve just got to rip out the old and rethink the way you’ve used space in the garden. This year we cut down a couple red twig dogwood that had gotten overgrown in their space next to the house.
I also transplanted a few plants that weren’t thriving there, hoping that better conditions and less competition would make it possible for these plants to flourish.
And we moved a small Japanese maple tree that I purchased at Master Gardener College a few years ago — as it was growing out of the space where we’d situated it.
I’d wanted to get rid of the old dogwood shrubs — the only two that survived from a planting of bare root twigs some years ago — for quite a while. But I never could face pulling out a healthy plant even though it was growing in a place I no longer wanted it.
Reading this winter inspired me to go ahead and do it. Scott and I worked on the bed, cutting down everything and readying the base plants to be dug out. Because he had work in the vineyard and I couldn’t do all the digging that was needed by myself, I asked our friend Ryan to assist with the project.
When Ryan arrived I introduced him to my newest tool (I love equipment) the Root Slayer. Ryan did a lot of landscaping in high school and he was as impressed as Scott and I have been with the Root Slayer shovel. It really allowed him to make short work of the digging out of the dogwood roots and then digging the Japanese Maple for transplant.
If you’ve got a major digging job I highly recommend the Root Slayer. We’ve used it both in the garden and in the woods when we planted Michigan Holly a few weeks ago. It does an amazing job when you’re hand digging and I highly recommend it.
Note: I'm a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
Creative and targeted programs that make an impact are the hallmark of experienced marketing professional Ruth Steele Walker. Focusing on results that improve the bottom line, she accelerates projects from conception to implementation with a mastery of writing, production, placement, budgeting and coordination.
During more than 25 years with Foremost Corporation of America, the nation's leading insurer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, Walker consistently produced effective communications programs that resulted in increased net written premium. Her expertise in crisis communications was a vital part of Foremost's exemplary customer service in the wake of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Walker specializes in communications targeting the 50+ demographic, with an emphasis in communications for the 65+ segment.
Among other achievements, Walker developed communications for the merger of Foremost and Farmers Insurance, addressing audiences including customers, employees, trade and consumer media. For Foremost's 50th anniversary, she created a celebration program of internal and external promotions, special events, recognition and a 162-page commemorative book.
Earlier in her career, Walker was a newspaper reporter, a TV and radio producer, and worked in national sales and traffic at network TV affiliates. Walker earned a BA in journalism from Michigan State University and an MS in communications from Grand Valley State University.
She and her husband Scott operate a small vineyard in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula, producing premium vinifera wine grapes. The vineyard has been the largest local supplier for Suttons Bay wine label L. Mawby, recently named one of the world's top producers of sparkling wines.
