Sprout landscape Madison landscape companies

Sprout Landscape & Garden Celebrating 1st Year in Business!

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Sprout Landscape & Garden Madison, WIThis week, our 2nd season is officially under way!

First of all, we’d like to thank you all for your interest in Sprout Landscape & Garden. We appreciate your support and look forward to another season working with you and your gardens.

In our first year, we had the opportunity to meet many people passionate about gardening. We worked with many new and existing customers on a variety of projects and also met a lot of other great people in the local gardening community. We truly appreciate time spent with other members at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society and the Madison Area Master Gardeners Association.

In 2015, we’re looking forward to continuing to help with your landscape needs, sharing new experiences, spreading new gardening knowledge, and maintaining our involvement in the community. Spring’s right around the corner, so let’s start planning!

An immeasurable amount of credit and thanks to my wife, Candy, who is the genius behind the Sprout Landscape & Garden brand. Her company, iCandy Graphics & Web Design, did an amazing job creating a site for our visitors to not only gain important information about our company, but provide a fun, stylish, and educational atmosphere to inspire gardening ideas.

Stay tuned for more blog posts with such topics as seasonal gardening tips, what’s in bloom, DIY projects, and back yard chicken and petscaping tips. If you have any topics you’d like to know more about, please submit ideas for future blog topics.

New to 2015:

Have an old paver patio that needs some reviving? Sprout is now offering hardscape restoration and sealing services. Hardscapes include features such as walkways, patios, retaining walls and driveways.

Benefits of sealing your new or restored brick paver patio, sidewalk or other hardscapes:

  • Maintain the appearance and integrity throughout the years.
  • Stabilize the sanded joints to prevent sand loss.
  • Inhibit moss and mildew growth.
  • Prevent ant hills and other insect activity.
  • Protects surface from winter salt and stains.
  • New products enable immediate applications.
  • Enhancing options include matte, semi-gloss and “wet-look” finishes.
  • Water-based products will not harm people, pets or plants.

Please explore our website for more information about our full line of landscape company services. Thank you again for your continued support. We look forward to working with you this upcoming season and beyond.

Happy Gardening and best of luck in 2015!

Sprout Landscape Owner Tim Phelps

 

 

 

 

Tim

Raising Baby Chicks

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Madison chicken coop

Chicks Keeping Warm Under Heat Light

Thinking about raising chickens in your back yard? If so, now is a great time to start planning for your new flock. A fun way to begin is by raising your own baby chicks. While incubating fertilized eggs is an option, many folks choose to purchase newly hatched chicks from a local farmer or farm supply store. You can even buy them online and have them shipped! And newly hatched chicks are cheap… often as low as $1.99 each!

Before you get your chicks, make sure to be prepared for their arrival. First, you’ll need a brooder. This is simply a sturdy pen (such as a large box or storage tub) that will house and protect the chicks. A heat lamp should be securely attached to the brooder to maintain proper temperatures. In the first week, chicks will need the temperature at about 90-100 degrees! For the floor, use pine shavings or a similar material to cushion and help absorb moisture. Food and fresh water should be kept in the brooder so the chicks can eat and drink at will. Finally, interact with them as much as possible to get them used to being around people.

You may decide you want to raise 4 hens (the maximum allowed in the city of Madison) or prefer to start with just a couple. Either way, consider purchasing a few more chicks than you plan on raising. A chick may not be fully healthy when it arrives at your home and may not be strong enough to survive. Also, even when purchasing chicks being sold as “female”, there may still be males in the bunch. Since roosters are not allowed in town, you would have to find a new home for any accidental males. Lastly, as the chicks develop, you’ll start to notice character differences. Some will be more aggressive or skittish, while others seem more friendly and calm. A flock that gets along can really make it a more enjoyable experience for you and your visitors.

After they hatch, the new chicks will need about 6 weeks of TLC until they are feathered out and ready for the outdoors. A common time to get baby chicks is early-mid March. After those 6 weeks, they’re ready to head outside to the coop, just in time for spring!