Keep track of the rain. If no rain has occurred in two days then you should water your flowers, shrubs, and even vegetables twice a day. The best time to be tending to your flora is early in the morning and in the cool of the evening.

Mow your lawn to about 3”, to protect from the sun and heat of summer. If you have a new lawn you can add another application of seed to increase the turf density but remember, to not start a new lawn from seed now since the young grass will not survive the summer heat.

To help the soil retain moisture during dry weather, replenish or replace mulch around trees, shrubs & in bed areas to a depth of 3” to 4”.

To keep your lawn looking picture perfect, feed lawn and outdoor potted plants with slow release nitrogen fertilizer. Continue to fertilize annuals every 7 to 10 days with liquid fertilizer.

Check on your vegetables and berries daily because they should be harvested before birds eat them, or the sun dries them out.

To enjoy a nice fall garden, plant vegetables like broccoli carrots, turnips, lettuce and radishes now.

If an irrigation system exists or if you are a conscientious water-er, you can continue to plant trees & shrubs this month as well.

Make sure to prune dead flowers and leaves from your plants, this will keep them healthy and green, cut back any perennials that are ‘browning out’ and Tip-prune deciduous & evergreen shrubs to shape.

Snapdragons should be pinched back after blooming to promote a second flush of growth and continue to deadhead annuals & perennials, especially Buddleia, Butterfly Bush to encourage additional blooming.

Do not prune Azaleas and Rhododendrons after the second week of July because they soon will begin setting their buds for next year’s blooms and stop pinching back Chrysanthemum & Aster as hey need to set fall blooms now as well.

Stop & smell the Roses! Continue Rose care routine, spraying, feeding, pruning & deadheading but remember to remove all Rose leaves that have fallen to the ground below the Roses because they can carry & spread fungus.

Also, continue to weed in bed areas either by spraying or by hand, as necessary. If you prefer hand-weeding, it is easier when the soil is damp but however you do it, try to get to weeds before they seed otherwise your weed problems will multiply!

Monitor plant material for insects & disease damage and continue to spot spray lawn for weeds with appropriate herbicide and If slugs & snails are a problem in moist areas, put out slug bait (according to label directions) or beer in a pie plate works well too!

If you’re away on vacation this summer, don’t forget about your gardens, set timers on irrigation systems or have someone water your plants while you’re gone.

If you have any questions, looking for summer maintenance or if you would like advice on how to design your existing landscape, we would love to help out, so call us at 631 261-2226 or contact us online now for a fall planting plan!