Instructors: Larry Weaner, FAPLD & Sara Weaner Cooper

In this session we will learn how “light touch” planting techniques can increase plant survival and reduce post-planting maintenance. The disturbance that results from deep digging, soil enhancement, and soil replacement always stimulates a flush of weeds. Applying fertilizer helps those weeds grow faster. In this session we will learn to match the plant to the soil, not the soil to the plant, an approach that avoids weed-enacting soil disturbance and places plants in soils that are familiar and conducive to their survival. We will also discuss how to select nursery plants that are most likely to thrive and proliferate in your landscape. Sara Weaner Cooper will conclude by presenting her chemical-free/no kill lawn-to-meadow transition project, now in its highly successful second year.