May was a tough month to navigate. Blazing temperatures. Torrential rainfalls.
We had a difficult time getting landscaping projects completed. It was even rough to get everyone's grass cut.
But, we persevered and look at some of our projects!
We mulched a tree-lined driveway.
We fertilized a lot of lawns.
Here are pretty sidewalk gardens we created.
We even installed sod.
Melissa and I planted our raised bed vegetable gardens in late April/early May. Some successes, some miserable failures.
The cabbage and cauliflower plants are beautiful! We are growing onions in between some of the plants and most of them are doing well.
Here's a happy horseradish plant.
Herbs are happy too. Here they are in their own individual containers. Parsley, basil and dill are seated at waist level on a homemade potting bench. There's cilantro, oregano and even lettuce back there too.
You're looking at two kale plants that I planted a month ago. The tomato plant is struggling. Where are the beets and carrots? What happened??????
Thanks for letting me share my gardening highs and gardening woes with you.
As we continue our anniversary celebration this year, we'll have lots of coupons here in our newsletter. Keep watch for some special deals.
If you see a service that you're interested in, feel free to use a coupon and get some great savings. Estimates are always free.
* Spring flowering shrubs such as spirea, viburnum, lilac and forsythia should be pruned as soon as they are done blooming. This will produce healthier blooms next year.
This is a "Miss Kim" lilac bush, which is a local favorite. It grows well here on the Eastern Shore. Melissa planted one just like this as a memorial when her Mom passed away. It's still strong and healthy, just like her Mother was at one time.
"Have extra seed? Don't just leave it in the package on a shelf in your garage. Most
seed will survive a season or more if kept in a tightly closed glass jar. You can help keep those seeds dry by folding up some milk powder inside a small square of paper towel and including it in the jar."
* We found lots of advice about pruning as we researched garden tips for June. Be careful before you clip! You don't want to risk trimming anything that's almost ready to bloom.
Here's some of the best recommendations we found:
Trim hedges as needed. Most of them aren't flowering any longer.
Cut off the faded flowers of phlox, shasta daisy and daylilies to encourage a second flowering.
Trim dried up foliage of your spring flowering bulbs.
Remove water sprouts on any fruit trees and crabapple. These "tree suckers" reduce the overall quality of potential fruit. Also, because watersprouts are usually weaker than other branches, they can be sites for breaks, tears and disease.
Recognize them now? This is a "waterspout" that has grown on a healthy tree trunk. It can cause damage by sapping the energy meant for tree growth and fruit development.
* June is the month of perennial plants. You can still plant, but avoid those really hot days if possible. Prepare the soil first; add garden compost for extra zing.
Take a look at some of my favorite perennials - they're called Japanese Iris and I've featured them before. I grow them in the gardens in front of my office.
These Iris are planted in front of a Japanese Red Maple tree for a real POP of color.
* We've helped a lot of people with their landscaping projects our 20 years in business! Please don't hesitate to contact me if we can assist with any of your outdoor chores. Call me at
: 410.770.5882.
Our Tick Repellent Program
I'm still writing about our tick repellent program because it's a subject I'm passionate about. I believe that I have helped people live safer lives because they don't have to worry about being bitten by a tick.
I have received more requests for information about my program this spring than I have in my company's entire 20 year history. Here's several photos of two of our teams at work recently.
Our foreman, Jake is treating a smaller property here in St. Michaels. See how careful he is to spray each individual plant in all the landscape beds?
Bill is the foreman for another team. His truck and spray rig are larger, so he generally provides the services for larger properties.
My program is designed to keep ticks away from your outdoor "comfort zone." Any area that we spray around your house should remain tick-free.
If you allow us to treat your property twice a year, we return and retreat the area where you found a tick at no charge.
We are on track to treat over 500 properties with our barrier tick repellent service this year.
After inspecting your property, we'll identify the areas of activity and recommend our barrier spray treatments there.
Here's what someone had to say about my program recently.
Barrier sprays are the most effective method of tick control at this time. We treat your lawn and landscape beds, then concentrate on areas where ticks thrive --- brushy areas, woodpiles and tall grasses.
We may also suggest placing Damminix tubes during our Spring treatment.
Damminix tubes are cardboard tubes that contain cotton batting which has been soaked with a pesticide which is deadly for ticks. Squirrels and even mice take the cotton material back to their nests to use as bedding. It kills ticks at that site, but doesn't harm mammals or their babies in the nests.
Our tick repellent service is priced affordably with results that speak for themselves.
We've received so many compliments about our service over the years. And, we're always working to upgrade our program, to make it even more effective in the fight against tick-borne illnesses.
