Shade Trees Shrubs at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Grass, growing in the shade trees shrubs of trees and shrubs, has to compete with them for food as well as moisture. Relieve the pressure of this competition by providing for the needs of the trees and shrubs as •well as the grass. Fertilize the lawn regularly and also the trees and shrubs. So far as possible, place the fertilizer intended especially for the trees and shrubs deep in the soil so that their roots are encouraged to strike downward. This may be done by using the method described below. Fertilizer intended primarily for the grass is applied at the surface.

Trees that retain their foilage all year are invaluable as screens, as background for trees and shrubs that flower before they leaf, as windbreaks and for providing a feeling of solidity and permanence. They include a wide variety of sizes, from forest giants to kinds little bigger than shrubs.

But that is not the whole story. While the roots of trees and shrubs take water from the soil, the shade trees shrubs of their branches and leaves checks loss of water from the surface soil by evaporation. This gives the gardener something of a break early in the season, but he pays for it later. Until the spring is well advanced and early summer is at hand, shade trees shrubsd areas are _ less likely to dry to the extent that they need watering than are sunny ones, but after that, wow!—watch out—a week or two of really dry weather and the grass under trees will surely suffer if you fail to irrigate it.