This next couple of months is a good time to check up on the drainage of your yard. Whenever you have a patch of lawn, shrub planting, evergreen planting, or garden that has water standing on it, it may show the need of installing drainage pipes to carry this excess moisture off to a lower level.

Four-inch plastic pipes set 12 to 15 inches from the soil surface to the top of the pipe with the lines 25 to 30 feet apart, will do a wonderful job of draining surplus moisture. You need a drop of only one inch to each hundred feet of tile line. Also to be more green consider collecting the water run off and reusing it to irrigate the landscape later on.

If you have no lower place to drain to then you will have to put in a sump hole two or three feet deep and install a sump pump to pump the water some place where it can run off.

It is possible to garden in the spring much earlier than most people think. As soon as the pussywillows start you can start taking off your winter protection. You may get a little damage from frost later on - yes, but it won’t be nearly as much as the damage you will get from removing that same winter mulch after growth has started.

The young tender growth under mulches is so easy to break and damage with a rake or pitchfork. And of course all this mulch can be piled in the back corner of the yard to decompose.

Have you ever visited one of the big spring flower shows? If not, why. not plan on it? You will find that they are just as exciting as seeing the azaleas in the south, the Smoky Mountains with installed french drain systems in the spring, or visiting some big conservatory with french drain parts during the spring or fall. The flower shows in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, and often in other larger cities are well worth a special trip.

In Ohio we usually have three or four planned tours, package deals, that include transportation, hotel and usually a stage show or two in addition to the flower show.