Granite Pavers For Your Patio Or Walkway

Looking to add some refinement to your yard by putting in a granite walkway or patio? We may have just what you're looking for. Recently Blooming Rails has come into a large sum of 12" x 12" granite pavers. With a concrete backing, they make an excellent patio surface in your backyard, a surface for your fire pit, or perhaps a perfect border for your garden.

These pavers have been sitting outside for several years, so they are new, but slightly weathered. They can be purchased for $.50 each plus delivery. For new pavers, you can expect to pay $500 to $600 plus shipping for a 10' x 10' area. Get your hands on these pavers while they last... install them yourself, or the Blooming Rails Garden Nanny can install them for you.

With a bit of vision you can transform your yard and create a stunning new outdoor patio surface!

What's In Your Soil?

Great gardening begins with great soil. In our Urban environment many factors may affect soil health, but knowing what’s in your soil may be the best place to start in creating your garden master piece. It is important to understand that each time you displace soil to plant something or build a structure, which displaces the soil, it also displaces the natural order of compost, soil, clay and filtering substratum. In addition, Urban soils often have compaction problems which compress the soil and destroy it’s natural absorption ability. With home owners dumping billions of dollars of pesticides/herbicides on their lawns and garden’s how can, you, be sure what elements your soil needs? One way to know for sure what lies beneath is to send your soil sample to be tested. A&L Great Lakes Laboratories offers a $20 soil analysis, which will not only give you a detailed description of your soils condition, but will also offer a detailed plan for amending your soil. Other labs are listed on the http://urbanext.illinois.edu/soiltest website.

The Garden Nanny at Blooming Rails will help you identify organic solutions which will help amend or condition your soil based off the recommendations from the lab or alternatively we can use a soil meter, but these results are not as accurate as a lab testing. Please note, it can take 8 inches of new compost to equal 1 inch of added soil the following year. The best advantage to achieving healthy soil is that it can reduce and possibly eliminate the need for pesticides and herbicides. Here is how to take your sample:

If you have several different types of planting zones within your yard, several samples will be needed. For example; if you have an area heavy in pine trees, will need to be tested separately from a vegetable garden without any nearby trees. Soil samples are best achieved above 50 degrees, and should be repeated every five years or when trouble signs occur, such as poor plant health or invasive weed outbreaks.

Obtain a soil testing bag from the testing laboratory. Some labs prefer paper bags as it allows proper ventilation for the tested area, other labs require you to dry out the samples prior to mailing them to the lab.

1. Dig a hole with a spade or trowel, 3 inches to test for areas to be planted with sod, 6 – 8 inches for flower or vegetable gardens, or 12 inches for trees.
2. Repeat this procedure in at least 8 scattered spots within the testing sample (don’t mix different planting zones – i.e. vegetable gardens and azalea gardens under pine trees)
3. Slice the soil from the edge of the hole, retrieving a sample down the entire length of the desired testing area into a clean bucket. Mix the samples from the spots within each specific zone.
4. Clean the soil sample of any roots, plants or large organic matter.
5. Air dry soil on a clean sheet of paper, and then lift edges creating a funnel so you can pour directly into soil sample bag. Usually a ½ pint of soil is all the lab will need.
6. Label each bag with location and what will be planted, such as “perennial garden by back deck”, “azalea garden under pine trees”, “rose garden by rock garden”, “vegetable garden by front swing set”
7. Mark name and return address on bag.
8. Pack in a well protected box to prevent breakage or water infiltration. Send off with fee and contact information.

Testing the soil in your yard is a simple and inexpensive method to discover what nutrients are missing or chemical toxins are building up in your dirt... you may be surprised.

May Gardening Schedule

Stay on track with your gardening schedule in May. This is an important month if you want to get the most beauty out of your garden this summer.

Below are a few spring clean up, to-do items, that you'll want to tackle right away. For more information view the "Spring Time Garden Schedule - May" on the Blooming Rails website.

• Clear the lawn and flower beds of dead branches/stick, leaves, and pine needles. 
• Prune away dead and/or damaged branches from tree's and bushes. 
• Push heaved plants back into flower beds. 
• Prune and divide perennials. 
• Clear away dead foliage around plants. 
• Pull up spent annuals. 
• Remove deteriorated mulch and prep for a new fresh layer. 
• Prune away dead and/or damaged branches from tree's and bushes. 
• Reset decorative rocks and stone that have sunken or shifted from winter ice and spring flooding.
• Spread Milky Spore to start the battle against Japanese beetles.

Springtime Japanese Beetle Treatments

Japanese Beetles are destroying my garden! 

If those words were going through your mind last year, it's time to take action. Call Blooming Rails Garden Nanny today at 630-450-1251.

Springtime is here and while thoughts of shopping for flowers and growing a beautiful garden may be just starting to percolate in your mind, those pesky beetles are getting ready for a summer long feast.

Last year many of our clients here in Illinois saw Japanese beetles come out in force, attacking plants as soon as we got them in the ground. Milky Spore is one effective "green" way to fight the beetles in their grub form and there are some plants that repel the Japanese beetle such as garlic, catnip, chives, tansy or rue. The fight to control Japanese beetles starts now, in spring, and continues on throughout the summer and fall... "every year" for at least three years as the spore continues to spread and kill off these invading pests. Natural enemies are wasps and birds although you'll probably get much more enjoyment by attracting birds to your yard than you will wasps. Do nothing to fight these nasty little pests and the very act of planting your beautiful garden is opening the door for them to actually invite other Japanese beetles over for dinner... in your backyard. The best way to fight this pest is to enlist your neighbors to join you in the war against the Japanese Beetles.

In March through April the grubs that have been hiding out deep in the soil start to work their way up to feed on the roots of your lawn and can cause substantial damage. Now is the time to make a preemptive strike. Grubs are easiest to kill in spring, come June the beetles will start to emerge and head straight for your roses and other ornamentals, that you've spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on.

Make no mistake, the battle doesn't end with a spring treatment... but it's the best time to get started. For more information about the battle against Japanese beetles visit the Blooming Rails website.

Rain Barrel Considerations

Adding a rain barrel to your home garden? There are several items you might want to consider:

Site selection - you should try to place a rain barrel in a shady area to reduce the water temp and avoid watering your plants with a high content of microorganisms or mold.



Plastic barrels positioned in the direct sunlight will leach more toxins into the water. Also consider if the site provides easy access to roof soffits or other areas that raccoons would appreciate.

Consider adding a water diverter system that not only filters debris (you really don't want to be forced into cleaning out the mooky mess of leaves at the bottom of the barrel) but also switches back to the gutter when the tank is full to prevent flooding around the barrel site. I like the Rain Reserve Diverter system for keeping the system clean and turning off automatically.

Buy a barrel that has a spigot near the bottom of the barrel so you can completely drain the system and clean it out occasionally. This will also help when it's time to winterize your system.

Consider adding a platform so that you can fit a watering can underneath as well as a hose system.

If you have children who are likely to climb on the barrel, consider securing the barrel to the wall to prevent serious injury. (Children should never be allowed to climb on this in the first place)

Never drink the water out of the barrel, it has run off from roofing materials that may contain toxic chemicals.

Never water the leaves of any plants with the water from this system, instead, water the ground or use soaker hoses attached to your spigot.

Use a system that is closed off as much as possible to keep mosquitoes from making this site their preferred breeding ground.

Consider decorating your barrel - some ideas are at the end of this video.

Blooming Rails Receives 2013 ‘Best Of Houzz’ Award

Winter Planter

The team here at Blooming Rails is thrilled to receive the 'Best Of Houzz' award for 2013. We'd like to give a special thanks to all of the kind words from our clients. The garden projects we had in 2012 were very rewarding and we're very excited about our plans this year for creating many more sacred gardens. Read more about the award at http://www.bloomingrails.com/Best-Of-Houzz-2013.shtml or visit the Blooming Rails Garden Nanny page on houzz.

August Flowers - It's Still Time to Plant

Who says you only plant flowers in during Spring? We're one week into August and today the Garden Nanny crew is planting a wonderful assortment of flowers.

It pays to hire Blooming Rails for your flower garden installation. Not only do you receive fabulous layout and design work by our Chief Gardener, but you also get fantastic prices on the plants.

After installation the Garden Nanny crew can keep you garden looking spectacular with a maintenance program that fits the needs of your garden. This summer has been particularly "HOT" and the Japanese beetles have been out in force.  While others suffered, gardens maintained by the Garden Nanny, flourished.

Here you see the area that will be planted today. Earlier in the year this area was overgrown with weeds and needed some good ol' TLC.

Rather than rush into planting everything at the beginning of the season. Care was given to the gardens throughout the property, creating a healthy environment for additional plants.