Ruth Foster, a landscape consultant, oversees the planting of the perennial flower border in the yard. Smaller plants fill in the front, moving to the tallest flowering plants in back. Foster has chosen deer-resistant plants like summer asters for the front, with echinacea or cone flowers behind. Foster has also selected a vivid, neon autumn joy for the garden. She and Bob look at the early blooming magnolias that have been planted in the yard and the euonomous hedge that will grow to eight or ten feet and turn red in the fall.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. Compost is known by gardeners everywhere to be the best insurance you can have for a great garden. But making your own gardener s gold has acquired a stigma it doesn t really deserve. Successful composting requires four things: carbon, nitrogen, water and oxygen. A good way to remember how to keep a balance between carbon and nitrogen is to think of them as brown and green. Brown materials are things with lots of fiber like straw, fallen leaves or woody plant stalks. Green materials are things with lots of nutrients like kitchen scraps and lawn clippings. Try to keep a balance of three parts brown to one part green. Contrary to popular belief, composting is not the same as rotting, and it shouldn t be smelly. Keep it moist but not soggy and turn it every week or so to keep it processing evenly. Avoid attracting animals by keeping it tightly covered and don t compost meat or fatty kitchen scraps. Even in colder climates, you can compost year-round. Add kitchen scraps even if they freeze and leaves and lawn clippings when you ve got them. For composting to happen quickly, the pile needs to be about a cubic yard of material. Too small and it won t heat up. Plastic tumbler type composters provide the fastest compost, but you can also just use wire bins covered with a sheet of plastic or a tarp. If you don t have a good place for a compost bin, try sheet composting. You can spread shredded materials up to 6 inches thick over your garden beds in the fall, till them in and let it all process until you plant again in the spring. No commercial fertilizer, even organic, can provide the range of nutrients, enzymes and helpful microorganisms that compost provides. It s impossible to over fertilize with compost. And it puts worms and other insects to work for you as laborers in your soil improvement project. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

Bob watches as Kelly Brothers plants bulbs while Ruth Foster explains how to do it well. The small, blue scylla are planted in the front fo the garden, with taller alium behind. Foster shows the pointed end that should aim up and suggests that they be planted as a group, in bouquets, so they will blossom in groups of color. Bob uses a bulb planter to prepare holes for the bulbs. These bulbs, from DutchGardens.com can be purchased as good quality, double-nose, and bargain bulbs. Foster tells Bob that the deeper they are planted, the less likely they are to split. If they are planted too shallow, there will be no blooms in the second year. Once planted, the bulbs will be mulched and left to sleep for the fall and winter. The turf that was damaged during construction is ready to be reseeded. Foster suggests a relaxed approach to lawn planting, using perennial rye and fescue scattered over the surface and raked in. Foster stresses that a "freedom lawn" is mown high and overseeded in the fall and again with the melting snow. Foster uses fescue for shade, blue grass in sun, and perennial rye everywhere.

Bob talks with horticulturist Ruth Foster about landscaping for the barn. Ruth explains a few techniques used to assist in drainage and weed control. She outlines the plants she has selected that will thrive in the Cape Cod climate, including a few wild flowers already existing on site.

A new tree can improve the look of a yard and add personality to a home.

Ruth Foster, a retired horticultural columnist from the Boston Globe, joins Bob to review the landscaping plan and plantings for the Rowley yard. Foster has selected a Euonomous hedge to screen the yard from the street. Kelly Brothers landscaping is planting the hedge plants, trees, and gardens. Foster has selected evergreens to round out the corners of the yard and shield the yard from the neighbors. Kelly Brothers plants dogwood trees and flowering magnolias that will grow to about 20 feet. Foster warns against overplanting and reminds Bob that small trees grow much quicker than large ones. She then explains the best way to plant a tree, which is wider than the root ball but with a hard bottom in the planting hole so that the tree won't sink. Foster says to keep the flair at the base of the tree above the soil line. Closer to the deck, Foster has created a flowering border that will enclose the vista and bloom throughout the season.

Bob meets with Mark Marini to discuss implementation of the landscaping plans and plant a Thunder Clod Plum tree in the bluestone terrace. Bob talks through the process and learns about the soil that is used around the roots and the initial watering schedule.

Ruth Foster is on hand again to install a new tree for the cabin's backyard. The tree is set on the south west side of the house to protect the property from the summer's hot sun. Ruth also reviews the other plants installed throughout the area and Bob gets a progress report on the stone patio.

Bob shows the construction elements of the new backyard deck in Plymouth, Mass. This deck is made using ipe wood, a unique renewable source wood that Bob uses again in season 14 for a rooftop deck in Brooklyn, New York. Bob then visits Kate Mitchell on Nantucket Island to view a large 26 feet long and over 70 feet wide deck on the island.

Bob talks with landscape architect Clara Bachelor about the condition of the yard and the final landscape design.