Thrifty Thursday: Keeping your landscape lush

Planting costly permanent landscaping plants such as trees, shrubs, and perennials is a major investment that you want to pay off in the future. And here, too, you can use a lot of everyday things from your kitchen and recycling bin to make sure that these expensive plants thrive.

• To reseed bare spots on your lawn in spring, don't shell out big bucks for a spreader. It wastes seed by throwing it everywhere, and only a small fraction will land on target. For precision seeding, fashion a spot seeder from an empty coffee can and a pair of plastic lids.
  Drill small holes into one lid to let grass seed pass. Snap this lid in place when reseeding and keep the other non-pierced lid snapped over the can's bottom end. When you're done reseeding, simply reverse the lids to seal in unused seed.
• To secure a young tree, use a short length of old garden hose to tie it to its stake. Young trees often need a little help to stand up straight, but you must take care not to damage the tender bark when you stake them. A length of hose is perfect because it is flexible enough to stretch when the tree moves in the wind, and it won't damage the bark.
• To stake young delicate plants or saplings, use strips of pantyhose to attach the stems to the stakes. The nylon will stretch as plants fill out and mature, and it is nearly invisible.
• If a plant gets bent by blustery winds, wrap the damaged area of the stem with transparent tape and leave the tape on until it mends.

** Check back the next couple of Thrifty Thursday's for more Spring Gardening/Landscaping Ideas!