Gardening With BNT

***************************************************************** ************************** "Gardening With BNT" Your source for gardening ideas including composting tips, pest control tips, attracting beneficial insects and other garden helpers, tips on growing vegetables, annuals and perennials, and much, much, more. October 1, 2003 Volume 1, Issue 1 Bill and Terry (BNT) Regling, Editors editors@bntscountryparadise.com ***************************************************************** ************************** By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of "Gardening With BNT." You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this newsletter. ***************************************************************** ************************** IN THIS ISSUE ***************************************************************** ************************** => Four Tips for Designing Your Beds => Guest Column: Composting the Easy Way => Garden Tool Nook => Hot Tips => Garden Nook => Be a Weed Eater => Reader's Questions => From Our Readers ***************************************************************** ************************** This newsletter is brought to you by www.bntscountryparadise.com ***************************************************************** ************************** FOUR TIPS FOR DESIGNING YOUR BEDS ***************************************************************** ************************* 1. Plants with opposite textures, shapes and/or forms should by planted next to each other in your bed. They compliment each other better than having all of the same kinds of flowers in one bed. 2. Keep track of which plants retain good foliage throughout the season. You can plant them next to other plants that look scraggily after blooming. 3. Plan a focal point for each month that catches the eye with bright color, shape or form. 4. Allow enough space for each plant to grow. Leave about 1 1/2 square feet around each plant. If your garden looks sparse before the perennials bloom, plant some annuals to fill it in. But be careful of what you plant, some annuals can grow very large. ***************************************************************** ************************** Try Plow & Hearth for Gifts for the home, hearth, yard, & garden ***************************************************************** ************************** GUEST ARTICLE: COMPOSTING THE EASY WAY by Michael J. McGroarty ***************************************************************** ************************** Click here to visit the freeplants.com home page. Click here to sign up for Mike McGroarty's FREE Gardening Newsletter! Having an ample supply of good rich compost is the gardeners dream. It has many uses, and all of those uses will result in nicer plants. However, composting can be time consuming and hard work. I place a reasonable value on my time, so spending hours and hours turning compost piles doesn