July Garden Tips

The gardening section of About.com helpfully tells us:

... there's no definitive list of gardening chores for the July garden.

Apparently, the problem is that July occupies that netherworld of the calendar, on the cusp between the exuberant growth of Spring and the dog days of August. So, if you are going to intervene in the natural cycles of your plants and lawn in July, you must pay heed to the particular circumstances that confront you. In other words, in July, general rules of gardening should give way to the specific conditions of your yard and gardens.

Not least because we run the risk of hurting more than we are helping, as we cautioned against here.

Nevertheless, amidst all this uncertainty, About.com provides a helpful list of chores to keep you busy in the summer heat.

Read the whole thing. As for me, I favor this heat-healthy suggestion:

... sit back and enjoy your garden and all the efforts you put in earlier in the year to get it where it is now.

June Garden Tips

Photo courtesy of the Royal Horticulture Society

From across the pond we get some June garden advice. Great Britain is more than a seven hour flight northeast of us, but because of the mollifying ministrations of the North Atlantic currents, its Plant Hardiness Zones approximate a good portion of North Carolina.

For the Brits, at the top of the list for June is what we all experience: the sudden appearance of weeds 'from seemingly nowhere:'

June 21 is the longest day of the year, and the extra light and warmth encourages the garden to put on an exuberant burst of growth. But this extra light and warmth also means weeds will sprout up from seemingly nowhere. Keep on top of them by hoeing regularly in dry conditions.

This advice is accompanied by a video with more detail on just how to 'keep on top' of weeds, all delivered in that great British accent which just exudes competence and authority.

But there's more: a top 10 list of things to do, and specific advice about flowers, trees, shrubs, lawns - and even ponds.  So take a trip to the Old Country and get your June yard in shape for the summer!

Your Plant Hardiness Zones

For all of you scientific gardeners out there (as opposed to the seat of the pants, whack a mole approach seemingly favored by people like me), we present the most current Plant Hardiness Zone map of these United States. These maps are published by the USDA, and divide the country up into 13 different zones based on the average annual minimum temperature that can be expected in each.   If you're a computer gamer type, here is an interactive version of this map.

There are actually many other factors that dictate whether a certain plant will or won't thrive in your particular geographic zone, e.g. soil moisture, number of annual frosts, risk of sudden cold snaps, and summer heat levels. But average annual minimum temperature is a nice initial qualifier of the range of plants that will and won't survive in a particular place. For instance, we are in Zone 7b, which tells me that I won't be planting any Roystonea regia around here - at least, not any that will last out the winter:

Completed Projects: After All is Said and Done

It's tough to get our crews to do anything other than work when they are on the job, but as promised, photos of some completed properties are starting to roll in.

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Watch This Space!

Herewith a round up of a collage of a compilation of a collection of photos of the many different projects on which we are either proposing, or working on this Spring.

Watch this space for 'after' pictures to be posted soon!

Clean up

Freshen Pine Straw

Mulch steps

Commercial turf

Screenage

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Spring Garden Tips, Tricks, & Shortcuts

Gardening is not something you can just read about (except this post of course) - you have to get your hands dirty. Most experienced gardeners have 100's of tips, tricks, and shortcuts that they have patiently learned through hands-on work over many years. But, if you are just starting on this rewarding activity, then HGTV helps you get a leg up on things with a list of 14 simple tips and tricks. The article begins:

From using leftover coffee beans to preventing dirt from getting underneath fingernails, master gardener Paul James shares his top 14 tips and shortcuts to make spring gardening a breeze....

Read the whole thing!