Hey guys, coach here.
Hey, I'm coming to you this week with a problem not only do I have, but I know that 10s of 1000s of you out there suffer the same thing.
When it comes to late winter landscapes, that time of year when, Man, mother nature, Man, she is a tease, isn't she?
Now, here at Brooklyn Pond, we had about 3 days where we were in the high 40s and even hit a couple of low 50s.
It was t-shirt weather.
But all we got from it was a little bit of driveway clearance, a little bit of cleared roofs, and that's about it.
I still have snow everywhere.
And all I can do is late winter, crawl in a fetal position and kind of suck my thumb because there is nothing I can do except.
Start the planning phases of what I'd like to do.
And so the rest of this week, we got 3 to 5 inches of snow a couple of days ago.
We got another one to 3 inches coming in tomorrow.
And for March.
We're one week away from the official day to spring.
Yeah, there's not going to be any shovels going in the ground anytime soon.
There just aren't So, I've been doing some, some winter sowing of seed, some perennials that I'm putting in, uh, uh, flats and also milk jug, milk jug plantings for later this early summer after things germinate.
I have put them outside so that they get their cold, even though the seeds have been in the garage, which has been, you know, right near freezing many, many, many times over the winter.
I'm going to take them and put them outside and let them go through their late winter, early spring.
Freeze and thaw.
So they'll be ready to germinate come the end of next month in April.
But the things that I want to do, I can still not do.
You know, I want to build a woodshed and put it over the existing wood pile that I have here and bump it out a little bit and be able to park the tractor in there next year and be able to access it from a covered position.
And then, you know, I'm tired of tarps and stuff over wood piles.
So I'd like to get that underway.
Well, that I have down on paper now.
I have dimensions, and I have ideas on how I want it to be, and we'll probably launch that this summer when the ground's thawed out, and I can get after it.
But how do you guys deal with this late winter doldrums.
I am so grateful today, that I can sit out of my front patio talking with you guys and have the sun beaming in on me.
I got to be grateful because right now we're coming up on 5.5 months now.
Five, 4.5 months of winter, and I'm pretty much done.
We've had an above average snow season, only by about 12 inches, not that much extra.
And Big Brook down there at the street is running underneath the frozen snow and ice.
It's starting to thaw just a little bit.
And that 3 day teaser that I got.
I could almost feel like the mood inside of me was changed.
Just in those 3 days.
I felt it.
You know, I don't have ice and snow everywhere on those 3 days.
By the end of it, I had a driveway again, a gravel drive.
I could see the gravel.
It wasn't 2 inches of snow and ice.
And for me, that really lifted my spirits and got me going in the right direction.
So as far as projects go, I have to be able to use this time constructively.
And then when it breaks, when the ground is thawed.
I can see my garden beds again.
Then I can move forward.
If I sit around and I just ruminate over this, It doesn't do me any good either.
It just doesn't.
It fouls my mood and I'm trying very desperately to get into the long winter season. Here, but from a landscaper gardener perspective.
It's, uh, I'll admit it.
I, you know, I'm a Norcalboy.
I came from 12 months out of the year, practically, where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted.
I will never live in that state that I called my home state again.
Just don't like what's going on there.
But I could go out and I could do just about anything, any time of year.
Unless we had some deluge and it, you know, it muddied things up for a few days.
But now, I am at the behest of Mother Nature and what she wants to do to my landscape in the general area.
Zone 4, you know, zone 5, zone 4, zone 3, all of us are still in a twiddling your thumbs, wait and see manner.
It's just the way it is.
It's a, it's a way of life, and you have to adapt or die.
And in my case, past few days, I've been segregating seed packets out and planting stuff up, getting them outside and becoming a real expert at snow management.
Clearing roofs, clearing patios, allowing the driveway to be navigable safely, knowing where all the ice is and staying away from that so you don't have slip and falls, or you put on the correct footwear, and be able to get through this next 30 days.
And I think, by the middle of April, we will see something of a turn.
Not a drastic turn.
This area where I'm at does not turn until after the 1st of May.
It just doesn't.
So we have about May, June, July, August, September, and we really have to taper off by the 1st of October, especially with plantings and stuff like that.
Hardscape projects, we can still get away with.
But plantings.
Man, you're really asking to put new stuff in the ground that late.
It's, uh, it's kind of a roll of the dice because they are not established.
And even though many of the beds that I did over the course of last year are still deep under 5 foot, 6 foot.
In some places, 7 foot snowdrifts.
They should be okay.
They should be well insulated.
But it's gonna be a minute before all that snow is gone.
That snow pile has come from a direct result of keeping the driveways cleared.
So, what are you guys doing?
How do you guys handle the, how do you handle the, the late season landscape Jonesens, where you just, god dang, when's it ever gonna become?
I'm very, very envious of where I came from.
And those zones that are, especially 8, 9, 10 right now, you guys are able to jump into it.
And I've seen some other channels that are in those zones, and even lower down to zone 6 and 7 in some cases, that are able to get things underway.
And I'm proud of you guys for doing it.
And I'm also very, very highly envious.
I can't wait.
Now, the other thing is, is how much landscape project are you guys could be willing to undertake?
If there's anything that I can impart, and that is know your limits before you even get started.
And that's where I come in with that 15 step DIY checklist that I offer over on the website, youryardcoach.com.
That thing for a small investment of like 9 bucks, you have a checklist and a podcast that'll literally take you from infant idea of what you want to do, step by step all the way through the last roll of sod or seed that you're putting down for the new project.
You might want to check that out.
I think it's cool, and I very much appreciate the customers that visited the site this week and picked a few things up.
Very, very appreciative for you guys.
So I sit out here in 28 degree temperatures today.
And I sit in the bright sunshine, and I think about all the things that I want to be doing, and I think about folks in those higher zones, and I'm going.
I wonder if they're really doing stuff.
In this day and age where we're at in the world right now.
Don't you think that some type of tangible result improvement of the small little slice of heaven that you guys own, isn't that something a lot more positive than ruminating on what's going on in the world and in our country?
I think, I think that stuff is absolute emotional poison to your soul.
Some of it may be necessary.
The bigger picture we cannot always see.
But man, going out into the yard. And tidying stuff up or...
Redesigning and thinking.
You can't find any more tangible positive effect on your emotional well-being than gardening and landscaping.
I'm just saying, I may be a little biased in that, but nonetheless, it is definitely something that you should look into.
It's kind of like a, it's kind of like a, creating your own little staycation location.
And being able, you know, a spike in gas prices, maybe you're not, you know, hitting the highways that much right now.
So what else are you gonna do?
You know, are you gonna just grouse about it and watch the television?
Or turn on YouTube, listen to that yard coach guy?
You got to have something out there that is going to give you something back for the efforts that you're putting out.
You know, I've seen bedrooms go on houses and new kitchens and everything else.
And sometimes all of that is great.
But with the season right upon us of spring 2026.
There's nothing more uplifting than getting out there, getting your hands dirty, sweating a little bit, putting some stuff in the ground, putting some fresh mulch here and there, pulling weeds and getting stuff out of, cleaning stuff up, washing stuff down, scrubbing things up, cleaning the car, washing all the salt in the winter mud and yuck off of everything, and uplift your spirits just a little bit.
So when it comes to late winter landscape.
I hope that many of you are out doing just that.
And I'd like you to wish, old coach here, some good luck, and just an extra dose of patience, please, from the local patient store so that I can get through this next 5 to 6 weeks, and I'll be off and running.
So, shed over the wood pile for me, the new seeds up and coming and ready to go out when things finally break so I can have just a little bit more color in my foresty sea of green that I live in.
And then maybe later in the in the summer when we have our dry, our dry spell every year.
I'd like to dredge the pond out a little bit and get a little dock down there where Meister and I can go down and hang out, have a little glass of something in the evening, right at pond, listen to some of the, the, the trickle of the little brook coming in, and maybe, maybe just go for a, go for a swim in the summer pond.
Very, very warm water by that time of year.
It'll be kind of neat to do.
Not everybody has that blessing that we have.
And I'm very, very grateful for what we have.
I don't want you to ever take away from this podcast or anything else that we do that I'm I'm mad or angry about it.
I'm not.
I'm just impatient, like many people in this day and age.
We have no patience anymore.
And I just want to be able to come out here in the morning and put some things in the ground and take care of what I have.
So, that late winter, early springtime for us low USDA zones, not only just here, but maybe across the world.
You know, you just can't do what you want to do yet.
And yet you're just sitting there, you know, just grinding your teeth and and twiddling your thumbs and go, what can I do?
Is there something that I can do?
Sure, there are.
Planning.
That's the biggest thing that you can do.
If you're bringing in pros, they should be on board already right now.
If they're busy people.
They're successful people, and they're professional people, they're probably going to be booked.
Already.
So you got to get on there.
Get on their schedule, if that's the direction you want to go.
You know, and if you want to do it yourself, bravo, get to that planning stage and start acquiring the resources that you need.
And the materials that you need, that maybe can come to the site already, and you can be ready to go when the season hits.
Not, oh, the season's here.
Now let me go get stuff.
Nope.
Sometimes availability goes down the toilet, really fast, and you hire zones, and here, especially, there's just an absolute, you know, rush to get to get plant material up here because there's not a lot of sources, and it has to come from a long ways away.
So, some of the ordering.
I've already done.
I've ordered up dwarf thornless raspberry.
Blackberry.
I've got, I think, 4 or 5 fruit trees coming in.
And I've done it in a way I've never done it before.
And call me archaic.
I don't mind.
I've always been a person that is very, very have to have it in my hand and inspect it before I buy it type of person.
And I went to online this year.
I really hope that the quality is there, and the price that I paid will be returned in the quality of plant that I receive.
So, cold, cold temperature peaches, cold apple, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry.
Those will be here, the end of April, and the beginning of May.
And that is what I have for a podcast this week for you.
I hope that your landscape plans are underway, and you'll be ready to go when your season hits.
I think right now the season's probably, I think I mentioned this already.
It's probably up to about, I say, down to about zone six.
Maybe.
Certainly 7,89, and 10.
Zones five, four, three.
Nah, we're still a, we're still a little ways off.
Anyway, as always, to you guys' landscape success.
If you have any questions about this or any landscape question at all, feel free.
You can pick up the computer, email me at youryardcoach.com, and fire off a question anytime you want.
And oftentimes, I'll even share it. On the channel itself.
Guys take care.
See you next week.
Hey, guys, coach here.
Don't forget the consultation services that we have at youryardcoach.com.
Hey, I'm coming to you this week with a problem not only do I have, but I know that 10s of 1000s of you out there suffer the same thing.
When it comes to late winter landscapes, that time of year when, Man, mother nature, Man, she is a tease, isn't she?
Now, here at Brooklyn Pond, we had about 3 days where we were in the high 40s and even hit a couple of low 50s.
It was t-shirt weather.
But all we got from it was a little bit of driveway clearance, a little bit of cleared roofs, and that's about it.
I still have snow everywhere.
And all I can do is late winter, crawl in a fetal position and kind of suck my thumb because there is nothing I can do except.
Start the planning phases of what I'd like to do.
And so the rest of this week, we got 3 to 5 inches of snow a couple of days ago.
We got another one to 3 inches coming in tomorrow.
And for March.
We're one week away from the official day to spring.
Yeah, there's not going to be any shovels going in the ground anytime soon.
There just aren't So, I've been doing some, some winter sowing of seed, some perennials that I'm putting in, uh, uh, flats and also milk jug, milk jug plantings for later this early summer after things germinate.
I have put them outside so that they get their cold, even though the seeds have been in the garage, which has been, you know, right near freezing many, many, many times over the winter.
I'm going to take them and put them outside and let them go through their late winter, early spring.
Freeze and thaw.
So they'll be ready to germinate come the end of next month in April.
But the things that I want to do, I can still not do.
You know, I want to build a woodshed and put it over the existing wood pile that I have here and bump it out a little bit and be able to park the tractor in there next year and be able to access it from a covered position.
And then, you know, I'm tired of tarps and stuff over wood piles.
So I'd like to get that underway.
Well, that I have down on paper now.
I have dimensions, and I have ideas on how I want it to be, and we'll probably launch that this summer when the ground's thawed out, and I can get after it.
But how do you guys deal with this late winter doldrums.
I am so grateful today, that I can sit out of my front patio talking with you guys and have the sun beaming in on me.
I got to be grateful because right now we're coming up on 5.5 months now.
Five, 4.5 months of winter, and I'm pretty much done.
We've had an above average snow season, only by about 12 inches, not that much extra.
And Big Brook down there at the street is running underneath the frozen snow and ice.
It's starting to thaw just a little bit.
And that 3 day teaser that I got.
I could almost feel like the mood inside of me was changed.
Just in those 3 days.
I felt it.
You know, I don't have ice and snow everywhere on those 3 days.
By the end of it, I had a driveway again, a gravel drive.
I could see the gravel.
It wasn't 2 inches of snow and ice.
And for me, that really lifted my spirits and got me going in the right direction.
So as far as projects go, I have to be able to use this time constructively.
And then when it breaks, when the ground is thawed.
I can see my garden beds again.
Then I can move forward.
If I sit around and I just ruminate over this, It doesn't do me any good either.
It just doesn't.
It fouls my mood and I'm trying very desperately to get into the long winter season. Here, but from a landscaper gardener perspective.
It's, uh, I'll admit it.
I, you know, I'm a Norcalboy.
I came from 12 months out of the year, practically, where you could do pretty much whatever you wanted.
I will never live in that state that I called my home state again.
Just don't like what's going on there.
But I could go out and I could do just about anything, any time of year.
Unless we had some deluge and it, you know, it muddied things up for a few days.
But now, I am at the behest of Mother Nature and what she wants to do to my landscape in the general area.
Zone 4, you know, zone 5, zone 4, zone 3, all of us are still in a twiddling your thumbs, wait and see manner.
It's just the way it is.
It's a, it's a way of life, and you have to adapt or die.
And in my case, past few days, I've been segregating seed packets out and planting stuff up, getting them outside and becoming a real expert at snow management.
Clearing roofs, clearing patios, allowing the driveway to be navigable safely, knowing where all the ice is and staying away from that so you don't have slip and falls, or you put on the correct footwear, and be able to get through this next 30 days.
And I think, by the middle of April, we will see something of a turn.
Not a drastic turn.
This area where I'm at does not turn until after the 1st of May.
It just doesn't.
So we have about May, June, July, August, September, and we really have to taper off by the 1st of October, especially with plantings and stuff like that.
Hardscape projects, we can still get away with.
But plantings.
Man, you're really asking to put new stuff in the ground that late.
It's, uh, it's kind of a roll of the dice because they are not established.
And even though many of the beds that I did over the course of last year are still deep under 5 foot, 6 foot.
In some places, 7 foot snowdrifts.
They should be okay.
They should be well insulated.
But it's gonna be a minute before all that snow is gone.
That snow pile has come from a direct result of keeping the driveways cleared.
So, what are you guys doing?
How do you guys handle the, how do you handle the, the late season landscape Jonesens, where you just, god dang, when's it ever gonna become?
I'm very, very envious of where I came from.
And those zones that are, especially 8, 9, 10 right now, you guys are able to jump into it.
And I've seen some other channels that are in those zones, and even lower down to zone 6 and 7 in some cases, that are able to get things underway.
And I'm proud of you guys for doing it.
And I'm also very, very highly envious.
I can't wait.
Now, the other thing is, is how much landscape project are you guys could be willing to undertake?
If there's anything that I can impart, and that is know your limits before you even get started.
And that's where I come in with that 15 step DIY checklist that I offer over on the website, youryardcoach.com.
That thing for a small investment of like 9 bucks, you have a checklist and a podcast that'll literally take you from infant idea of what you want to do, step by step all the way through the last roll of sod or seed that you're putting down for the new project.
You might want to check that out.
I think it's cool, and I very much appreciate the customers that visited the site this week and picked a few things up.
Very, very appreciative for you guys.
So I sit out here in 28 degree temperatures today.
And I sit in the bright sunshine, and I think about all the things that I want to be doing, and I think about folks in those higher zones, and I'm going.
I wonder if they're really doing stuff.
In this day and age where we're at in the world right now.
Don't you think that some type of tangible result improvement of the small little slice of heaven that you guys own, isn't that something a lot more positive than ruminating on what's going on in the world and in our country?
I think, I think that stuff is absolute emotional poison to your soul.
Some of it may be necessary.
The bigger picture we cannot always see.
But man, going out into the yard. And tidying stuff up or...
Redesigning and thinking.
You can't find any more tangible positive effect on your emotional well-being than gardening and landscaping.
I'm just saying, I may be a little biased in that, but nonetheless, it is definitely something that you should look into.
It's kind of like a, it's kind of like a, creating your own little staycation location.
And being able, you know, a spike in gas prices, maybe you're not, you know, hitting the highways that much right now.
So what else are you gonna do?
You know, are you gonna just grouse about it and watch the television?
Or turn on YouTube, listen to that yard coach guy?
You got to have something out there that is going to give you something back for the efforts that you're putting out.
You know, I've seen bedrooms go on houses and new kitchens and everything else.
And sometimes all of that is great.
But with the season right upon us of spring 2026.
There's nothing more uplifting than getting out there, getting your hands dirty, sweating a little bit, putting some stuff in the ground, putting some fresh mulch here and there, pulling weeds and getting stuff out of, cleaning stuff up, washing stuff down, scrubbing things up, cleaning the car, washing all the salt in the winter mud and yuck off of everything, and uplift your spirits just a little bit.
So when it comes to late winter landscape.
I hope that many of you are out doing just that.
And I'd like you to wish, old coach here, some good luck, and just an extra dose of patience, please, from the local patient store so that I can get through this next 5 to 6 weeks, and I'll be off and running.
So, shed over the wood pile for me, the new seeds up and coming and ready to go out when things finally break so I can have just a little bit more color in my foresty sea of green that I live in.
And then maybe later in the in the summer when we have our dry, our dry spell every year.
I'd like to dredge the pond out a little bit and get a little dock down there where Meister and I can go down and hang out, have a little glass of something in the evening, right at pond, listen to some of the, the, the trickle of the little brook coming in, and maybe, maybe just go for a, go for a swim in the summer pond.
Very, very warm water by that time of year.
It'll be kind of neat to do.
Not everybody has that blessing that we have.
And I'm very, very grateful for what we have.
I don't want you to ever take away from this podcast or anything else that we do that I'm I'm mad or angry about it.
I'm not.
I'm just impatient, like many people in this day and age.
We have no patience anymore.
And I just want to be able to come out here in the morning and put some things in the ground and take care of what I have.
So, that late winter, early springtime for us low USDA zones, not only just here, but maybe across the world.
You know, you just can't do what you want to do yet.
And yet you're just sitting there, you know, just grinding your teeth and and twiddling your thumbs and go, what can I do?
Is there something that I can do?
Sure, there are.
Planning.
That's the biggest thing that you can do.
If you're bringing in pros, they should be on board already right now.
If they're busy people.
They're successful people, and they're professional people, they're probably going to be booked.
Already.
So you got to get on there.
Get on their schedule, if that's the direction you want to go.
You know, and if you want to do it yourself, bravo, get to that planning stage and start acquiring the resources that you need.
And the materials that you need, that maybe can come to the site already, and you can be ready to go when the season hits.
Not, oh, the season's here.
Now let me go get stuff.
Nope.
Sometimes availability goes down the toilet, really fast, and you hire zones, and here, especially, there's just an absolute, you know, rush to get to get plant material up here because there's not a lot of sources, and it has to come from a long ways away.
So, some of the ordering.
I've already done.
I've ordered up dwarf thornless raspberry.
Blackberry.
I've got, I think, 4 or 5 fruit trees coming in.
And I've done it in a way I've never done it before.
And call me archaic.
I don't mind.
I've always been a person that is very, very have to have it in my hand and inspect it before I buy it type of person.
And I went to online this year.
I really hope that the quality is there, and the price that I paid will be returned in the quality of plant that I receive.
So, cold, cold temperature peaches, cold apple, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry.
Those will be here, the end of April, and the beginning of May.
And that is what I have for a podcast this week for you.
I hope that your landscape plans are underway, and you'll be ready to go when your season hits.
I think right now the season's probably, I think I mentioned this already.
It's probably up to about, I say, down to about zone six.
Maybe.
Certainly 7,89, and 10.
Zones five, four, three.
Nah, we're still a, we're still a little ways off.
Anyway, as always, to you guys' landscape success.
If you have any questions about this or any landscape question at all, feel free.
You can pick up the computer, email me at youryardcoach.com, and fire off a question anytime you want.
And oftentimes, I'll even share it. On the channel itself.
Guys take care.
See you next week.
Hey, guys, coach here.
Don't forget the consultation services that we have at youryardcoach.com.
