A recent trip to the grocery store left me feeling completely unfulfilled and concerned about the future. What should have been a 15-minute dash into the store to get a few essentials (i.e. milk, eggs, cereal, salad and honey) lead me to recalibrate my life choices. I noticed the eggs were more expensive than usual, but put them into the cart anyway. I drew the line, though, at purchasing a $7 jar of honey. I wasn’t trying to purchase Manuka honey or even honey comb. I simply wanted a small jar of clover honey to enjoy on toast the next morning for breakfast. While staring at the yellow price sticker on the shelf, I simultaneously realized while I could afford to spend that much on honey, I certainly wasn’t going to.

Our time is finite. We have absolutely no control over the amount of time in each hour, day, week, month or year. What we can control is how we spend that time. As the author of this column and a landscape professional I can honestly tell you the less time I spend working in my yard the better. I would rather spend time enjoying my yard rather than working in it. Sustainable landscaping is a pathway towards less work and more joy.

Joy is found in many places. Making a child smile, cleaning a home, and guessing the Wordle word on the third try all make my day a bit brighter. For many, the sense of satisfaction and joy that follows having a lush green lawn is one of nature’s great pleasures. Achieving a healthy lawn is certainly not easy and can require almost year-round care. Today’s column will address items that can and should be done now to minimize problems in your yard and maximize your chance of success at achieving a picture-perfect lawn this year.