You can view, save and delete any story that appears on GazetteNET here for up to 30 days. To add a story, simply click on the icon next to any headline.       Thursday, April 19, 2007  The lay of the land: Figure out what will grow best in your backyard CHARLES ABEL David Nordstrom, of Amherst Landscape and Design, digs some dirt to test before making any new plantings at a job site on 19 Lyman Road in Northampton. - FEATURED ADVERTISERS | SEE ALL - Click to view original size This ad ran in Spring Home 2007 4/19/2007 Click here to browse all ads Twenty questions. That's how to approach a planting scheme for the brand new backyard, an empty canvas ready for a palette of flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs or water gardens. And the animal, vegetable, mineral categories are apt to attract birds and bees, plant a garden and improve the soil. Talking to local professionals on the first steps in planning a bare plot, all said questions have to be asked. "What ideas or dreams do they have, what do they want. The next question I would ask is do they plan a flower garden or vegetables," said Thomas Giles, owner of Hadley Garden Center on Route 9 that is celebrating its 44th anniversary this year. The first question for Steven Prothers of Amherst Landscape Design is, "What would be the function. Will there be children's play area, space to entertain or barbecue. All kinds of rooms can be created to fit in with a lifestyle." "And not all the yard has to be planted. There are all kinds of options to a lawn: patios, garden beds, a water feature. This is important for those who can't do yard maintenance," said Prothers, who has been in the landscape business for 39 years, 28 in Amherst. » read more...    Everybody, gather around: Outdoor fireplaces light a new spark Remember the backyard campfire where you toasted marshmallows and told scary ghost stories?  Fashion designers focus their stylish ideas on rugs You admired hip designer Nanette Lepore's peacock-patterned dresses, but they were so three years ago. Now you can resurrect the pattern for your floor.  Why are the oak trees going nuts? WASHINGTON - If an acorn falls in a forest, does it make a sound? Who cares? When it falls in the urban forest, however, it can drive you nuts.  Gardening from the ground up WASHINGTON - Meet Lauren Wiseman. Lauren lives with her husband, Dave, in Chevy Chase, Md. Like a lot of young couples, they have been delighted to buy their first home, and have spent the past two years settling in and putting their stamp on the place.  A guide to the five basic types of riding mowers For some men with excessive testosterone, riding mowers become more toy than tool.  A month-to-month guide to garden maintenance With spring flowing in like a green wave, gardeners are reaching for their tools as the endless cycle of renewal and growth plays out in our yards.  A suburban ranch house is reinvented anew It is difficult to imagine stylish, cosmopolitan master baker and cookbook author Dorie Greenspan living in a suburban-raised ranch -- and, what's more, loving it.  Answers to your home-improvement questions Question: I have a basement window that leaks. Every year, when the ground is frozen and we have a heavy rain, my basement gets a couple of inches of water from a certain window. I think the general slope of the property causes the basement window well to fill with water. When the water level covers the window, it cascades into the basement.  Attracting feathered friends to your backyard Homeowners often ask for a landscape design that will attract birds to their back yards. It usually turns out that they want both birds and butterflies.  Choose plants that do well in poor soil conditions Good soil is the blood of great plants.  Clearing the clutter Ciji Ware lived in a large Los Angeles house for more than 20 years, accumulating the possessions of an accomplished, acquisitive life.  Control crabgrass before it takes over It looked like a great idea in 1849. That's when a farmer imported Digitaria seed from Eurasia, a cheap and rapidly spreading grass that cattle and horses seem to enjoy. Unfortunately, humans do not share the joy.  Embrace the freedom of a naturalized garden Gardening, like religion and art, can be a philosophy with rigid constraints. We see this in formal gardens around estates that charge admission. The plants are in highly controlled environments requiring vast amounts of labor to keep them just so. Ma Nature is roped and tied. Nothing is left to chance.  Fruitful labor: Prune trees now Even if the apple tree you planted a few years ago has grown full size, annual pruning is still needed to keep it healthy and fruitful. And the best time to prune is anytime from late February until the flowers open.  Gardeners, don't go out on a limb Hire a tree trimmer Green thumb gardeners want to do everything. We'll climb on roofs to trim overhanging limbs. We'll move 2,000 pounds of stones to build walls without thinking about back braces or bending at the knees.  Get the mower ready to roar March kicks off the season of regeneration in our landscapes although it won't be spring until the 21th.  Healthy lawns need healthy soil Do you have a perfect lawn? Can you ever have a perfect lawn? The answer to both: probably not.  Home decor basics that work To make it personal, start with something you love: a painting, a photograph, a rug, a shell, a pillow, a glass jar, a quilt, anything.  Huntington woman spreads hostas far and wide When Marsha and Andre Girouard moved up to Norwich Hill in Huntington almost four decades ago, they found themselves faced with a conundrum common to most homeowners - what the heck can we plant at the base of our trees?  Keep unwelcome guests out of your garden While garden pests with voracious appetites can devastate a backyard bounty, an increasing number of gardeners are looking to natural, more earth-friendly remedies as alternatives to the harsh chemicals found in pesticides.  Laundry rooms aren't just for clothes MELVILLE, N.Y. - It's not that Christopher Dubs actually likes doing laundry. But now that it can be accomplished in a wide-open, perfectly functional room that doubles as a play area for his son, the old family chore is hardly what it used to be.  Lawn care for the masses WASHINGTON - For gardeners "establishing grass-roots support" means creating good soil for strong rhizomes. Now is the time to stimulate a strong network of roots and top growth for turf grass.  Make the grass greener on your side of the fence It won't be long before the sound of mowers fills the air and the scent of freshly cut grass filters through the neighborhood.  Make your house a home When I was growing up, we never lived anyplace longer than a year and a half. My father was in the Army, and we moved constantly from post to post, from one side of the country to another, from one country to another.  Night garden: Choose light rather than bright In the half-light of dusk, a garden awakens with the scent of jasmine and the luminous glow of light-colored flowers.  Orchids can be difficult ... but are well worth it Of all the houseplants that get bad raps, orchids top the list.  Organic lawn care: Good for pets, kids and the earth Chances are you've been recycling for years. You've been conserving energy and cutting back on fossil fuel consumption way before Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" made the headlines. But what about your lawn? Are you - and it - as green as you could be?  Ornamental grasses thrive in cool and warm Years ago, ornamental grasses were something you'd see along the roadside or in your grandmother's backyard flower bed, much to the consternation of Grandpa, who looked at the tall plants as weeds.  Perseverance is key in decorating Everyone makes mistakes in decorating. I have made thousands, some of them costly.  Poisoned water and discrimination? DICKSON COUNTY, Tenn. - Sheila Holt-Orsted sits on the edge of a sofa in her mother's living room, digging through the large plastic bins arrayed at her feet. The Holt family's fight is in there _ the contaminated water, the cancers, the allegations of racism, the lawsuit. A family's seeming devastation, documented in those bins.  Practical doesn't mean ugly We often overlook the practical components of landscape design. These include the utilitarian areas of your property and the utilities lines that provide electricity, gas and water. They are the elements that make your garden function.  Prompt picking prods tomato produce The late-summer blues include tomato plants that suddenly stop producing. This is a major disappointment. We'd love to enjoy ripe fruits right up to the killing frost.  Proper mulching will help plants through summer Gardeners have known for centuries that the two W's - weeds and water - can cause as many headaches as anything else. Weeds compete for space, nutrients and what water is available. And water, or course, is necessary for plant growth. Nature likes to rain it down, but also dries it up.  Some sturdy alternatives to peonies that flop The peony is an old-time perennial, quintessentially American by way of Asia, and still with the power to wow. The big, bright, ruffled flowers are as shockingly ornate today as they were a century ago. The problem in Washington is that the peony never quite fulfills its considerable promise.  Spring into lawn and garden care this year This is the time for spring lawn and garden questions. This season creeps up on us. Flowers seem to appear overnight.  Tips for getting the most from spring gardening Landscape fixes  Trump, latest celebrity in the furniture business THOMASVILLE, N.C. - With the theme song from his reality television show blaring in the background, Donald Trump strode into a showroom at the world's biggest furniture trade show and started to brag about, of all things, his couch.  Wind turbines fan heated location debates LOS ANGELES - In a blustery stretch of desert two hours east of here, where many of the world's first power-producing windmills were built, a plan for more turbines has triggered a backlash that echoes a national debate over the merits of wind energy.