Get Your Garden
Ready for Spring

Maybe you have a new flower bed you’re planning, or you’re renovating an older one. Maybe it’s your raised garden bed. It doesn’t matter what kind of garden you have, you’ll want to start getting ready for the new growing seasons.

Here are some basic steps you can take:

1. Rake matted leaves, and pull up old, dead or dying flowers and plants. Leaves that have blown under and around trees, shrubs and perennials can be left in place and mulched over, assuming they’re in modest quantities. When you have lots of leaves and dead organics to collect, put them in the compost pile or dig them back into the soil.

2. Dig up and turn the soil. Do this to a depth of 3 to 4 inches to thoroughly aerate the soil. When you have a larger garden area you can use a tiller. For small areas you can use a spade and garden fork. Remove rocks, roots and sticks.

3. Add a fresh layer of mulch to your garden bed. Add organic mulch to a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Keep mulch at least 3 to 4 inches away from the bottom of existing plants.

4. Edge your flower beds. You can use a long-handled hand edging tool or a power edger. Spring is a good time to edge along all garden beds. Edges create a “lip” to contain mulch that can be applied once the soil warms consistently for the season.

A new growing season is getting underway.
Are you ready?

Health & Wellness

Tips for Staying Healthy this Spring

Living a healthy lifestyle will help you thrive and enjoy your life. However, it isn't always easy to make healthy lifestyle choices. Our lives are busy, and this makes it hard to find the time & energy to exercise regularly, or even plan and prepare healthy meals.

Here are some everyday, simple steps that you can take — your efforts will pay off in many ways, and for the rest of your life.

Steps you can take for staying healthy this spring

1. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity at least 3-5 days of the week. You can even break this up into three 10-minute sessions when pressed for time.
   
   Healthy movement can be as simple as walking to work. It can include walking, sports, dancing, yoga, running or other activities you enjoy.
2. Pay attention to what you put in your body. Eat a low-fat diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Choose a diet that's low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and moderate in sugar, salt and total fat.
3. With summer just around the corner, limit your exposure to the sun. This is especially important at the peak times between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the sun's harmful rays are strongest.
   
   Using a broad spectrum sunscreen will
   guard against both UVA and UVB rays.
   Use sunscreen with a sun protection
   factor (SPF) of 15 or higher. Also,
   select sunglasses that block 99 to
   100 percent of the sun's rays.

Making changes to adopt a healthy
lifestyle shouldn’t be a huge undertaking.
Start small, and make little, achievable
adjustments. For example, try adding two
more servings of veggies at lunch and
dinner, or drink three more glasses of
water each day.

Another step in the right direction to staying healthy is to introduce smoothies to your daily routine, and here’s another great smoothie recipe.

Leafy Greens & Super Smoothies

The key to a great green smoothie is delicious fruit and leafy greens such as spinach, kale, chard, bok choy, etc. The great health benefits that leafy greens provide are added extra phytonutrients and fiber. Leafy greens also slow down the absorption of sugars into your body.

How to make a delicious green smoothie

1. Blend 1 cup of spinach, or another leafy greens of your choice, in a blender.
2. Add 1 cup of liquid and blend well (until all leafy chunks are gone).
3. Toss fruit, such as frozen mango, pineapple and bananas in the blender.
4. Next, blend again until smooth and creamy.
5. Serve smoothie immediately for maximum nourishment.

Stay healthy!
Try a green
smoothie today.