If you enjoy working in your yard and garden then you have come to the right place.I share with you tips on growing flowers and herbs, designing specialty gardens, and ideas on ways to improve your curb appeal, Also product reviews and recommendations.
Now
that the peak heat of the summer is here I make a point to get up at dawn so
that I can get whatever yard or garden work completed. During
this time I can weed the gardens, deadhead the flowers, and water the
plants. However, I need to wait a few
hours to use any of my electric or gas-operated garden tools.
Watering lilac shrubs in summer
I
was going to use the electric grass trimmer to manicure around the flower gardens
but decided to hold off on this project until next week when the weather will be 20
degrees cooler. At 9:00 this morning, the temperature was 89 degrees and I thought
it was too hot.
Other
than that maintaining the garden, I find it is a full-time job to keep the container and specialty gardens hydrated. The plants get a good watering in the
am with a soaker hose but come noon the topsoil in containers and garden beds looks
like dust. So I am outdoors again in the
late afternoon to water the hosta, coleus, and fern plants because the heat of the summer is causing them to feel stress.
Cosmo flower-like hot weather
Zinnia flowers grow best in the hot sun
The only plants in my garden
that are flourishing are the zinnias, cosmos, and four o'clock flowers. These heat-seeking plants are producing
multiple flowers and the plants do not bolt when the summer weather gets hot.
A couple
days ago I transplanted my indoor herbs into outdoor containers because they
weren't doing so good indoors and thought the natural sunlight would do them
good. Plus I like the way fragrant herbs
repel mosquitoes, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
When I transplanted the herbs it was on a cloudy and cool day but today the weather
had changed it is extremely hot. Of
course, this means I need to take extra steps to prevent outdoor herb plants
from stress.
Read the
first post about these herbs here transplanting kitchen herbs to outdoor garden
Anything
planted in a container will dry out quickly and if you water the plant in the
morning by midday when the sun is hot the soil with dry out. Normally when I check with my index finger the soil is dry an inch down after a hot day. To
prevent dry soil I generally water in the morning at the soil level until the
water drains from the holes on the bottom of the container.
Applying
mulch is good also as long as you do not put the mulch close to the herb
stem. Mulch is great because it absorbs the water and then releases moisture back into the soil slowly. A mulch that I use and recommend is nature scapes advanced garden mulch by Scotts I bought this brand mulch at lowes.com, had
watched sales, and got a good buy on 2 cubic feet.
What I like
about this mulch is that it retains the water and slowly releases it back into
the soil which means you will not need to water your flower or herb gardens
daily. On average you will save up to
30% on your water bill. Plus you will
save time and energy because you won’t need to water the garden daily.
When I get
home from work I will need to check on the newly planted herb plants and will mist the leaves and stems with the garden hose because this will prevent them from wilting.
The best way
to care for any newly transplanted herb in the growing season is to make sure
the soil does not dry out. Keeping it evenly moist but not wet will ensure that
the roots will take hold and the plant does not get stressed out.
Also helpful
when transplanting during the growing season is to use a Green Light organic root stimulator. I would not dream of putting
a plant in the ground without a root stimulator. I have bought the green
light product at amazon.com and am pleased with it.
Here is a great way to keep the plant sauce full of water, thus the plant roots will never dry out.
Now that spring has come
to an end, I find that I need to get my garden ready for summer. Today I went
into the garden with a clipboard so I could make a checklist.
Before I knew it my list
was two pages long and I knew by looking at the lists of tasks that I would need my husband's help to get the gardens manicured and ready for the summer season.
My yard and garden checklist:
Cut back spent flower
blooms
Remove all weeds and
grasses from flower gardens by doing a hand pull
Prune spring-blooming
shrubs
Cut back overgrowth on trees
Plant zinnia flower seeds
Update Moroccan tile planter gardens
with heat-seeking petunia wave flowers or sun-loving herbs
Add a thick layer of
organic mulch to all gardens, around shrubs and trees
Use a vinegar solution to
kill weeds growing in garden paths and flagstone patio
Remove spring tree droppings from gutters
Control yard and garden
pests; mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and chiggers with organic pest control; garlic or DiatomaceousEarth food grade.
Add outdoor accessories and patio lights to make the yard and garden more appealing
Note: A good way to get garden jobs done is to divide the yard into sections, then complete one section before moving on to the next one.
If I was ever going to enjoy the garden again I knew I would have to take steps to prevent the bugs from biting me. This year the biting bugs; mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks, and fleas have taken the fun out of gardening. Two days ago while doing a hand pull in my hosta garden I was bitten by, several bugs.
I was so itchy that I stopped what I was doing and ran inside to take a hot shower with Yardley of London antibacterial hand soap, flowering English
lavender herbal scent. The hot soapy shower killed the germs and safely removed the roaming chiggers from my skin and lessened itchy mosquito and other bug bites.
Normally I spray myself before going out to the garden with deep woods off but I know that with the wildlife; deer, raccoon, skunk, wild turkey, groundhog, coyote, and bobcat coming into my yard that there are probably other biting bugs lurking.
I decided to address the bugs in my yard and garden by treating my entire yard with a concentrated garlic formula that will safely kill and repel mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, chiggers, and some
wildlife from my yard. I found an
all-natural product at amazon.com MOSQUITO BARRIER – LIQUID SPRAY REPELLENT -1
GALLON. I read the reviews and they were
favorable plus I liked that it was natural 100% garlic and would not harm my
family or my pets.
Granted this organic pest control costs more but I will tell
you it is worth it. There is a garlic
smell and it is potent but the smell is what repels and kills the biting bugs
and you get used to it.
Gardening today took me to the side yard where there was a
lot of underbrush as well as low-hanging tree limbs that needed to be
trimmed.
For this project, I needed my rose-trimming gloves. I found a pair of Terra Professional rose
gloves at Amazon.com that I really like because these rose
gloves protect my hands and my lower arms from cuts and scratches. When I have my hands in the brush you never know
what you will find and the wild roses will really hurt if I don’t protect
myself.
Then to tackle the tough weeds and tall grass that was
growing under the shrubs I used my Black & Decker 14-inch curved shaft
electric string trimmer. This trimmer
does a good job of taking down the overgrown brush. When it comes to manicuring the yard I don’t
mind doing the trimming as long as I do not have to use a gas-operated trimmer.
Whenever I take on big projects I always wear safety glasses
because my trimmer might hit a rock and push it back into my face and that
would not be good. I also wear thick weave jean or khaki pant that is tucked
into my garden boots.
It is best to
dress for this garden clean-up job because of the snakes, rodents, and other
garden pests. It’s a good idea to spray
your clothing with deep woods off to prevent chigger and tick bites.
I went out early to clean up the yard and it was completed
by noon. Now all that needs to be done
is for my husband to follow up with trimming back the low-hanging branches by the chain
link fence as they are growing in to thick and blocking the sunlight.
I am glad the brush is cut back because while working I
found mole holes. I had some scoot mole
repellent in the garage so I used the garlic and Castor oil concentrated
treatment and sprayed the surrounding area by attaching my hose to the formula.
The moles will move on now that I used a safe environment repellent.