Lawn and Garden Care for June

Hello everyone, and happy Sunday!  All of us at Garden Supply would like to wish you dedicated, hard-working, fabulous dad's out there a wonderful Father's Day.

The greatest gift I ever had Came from God; I call him Dad! ~Author Unknown

We appreciate each and every one of you!

Also a big thank-you to everyone who attended our Annual Auction yesterday. We had a wonderful turn-out, lots of lovely garden items up for auction, and food and fun for everyone. A good time was had by all, and we couldn't have done it without you.

Today I would like to share with you a few care tips for your June lawn and gardens. For those with fescue grass, June is the month to treat and prevent brown patch which appears as a browning area in the lawn typically in the summer months when conditions are favorable. Brown patch is caused by a fungus, and if your lawn is showing signs, you will need to treat with a fungicide. We recommend that you apply Hi-Yield Lawn Fungicide to prevent brown patch.  Two applications may be necessary if rain has been heavy.

While brown patch does cause patches of dead grass, other things can cause the same symptoms. If the area is poorly drained and water stands on a spot for more than 24 hours, the grass roots will rot, causing a dead patch. Also, in areas where the sod has rooted poorly, brown patches will develop as dry weather sets in. So what are the true symptoms of the disease? True brown patch spots are small to begin with but in warm weather they can enlarge rapidly. Seen from above, the patch will look like a doughnut - a ring of tan grass having a patch of green grass in the center. Individual grass blades will be brown down to the crown - where the blade emerges from the ground - but the crown will be green. Early in the morning during hot, damp weather you might see a white fungal web at the edge of the dead grass patch.

Never water in the evening. The best time to water is in early morning. Fescue is much more susceptible when it has lush, green growth plus warm nighttime temperatures.  The second step is to water at the right time. Since brown patch needs 14-16 hours of wet leaf surface to reproduce itself, water only after the dew has dried in the morning. An alternative is to water after nightfall. Since the grass is wet with dew anyway, watering in the dark does not unnecessarily extend the wet period.

So what if you have brown areas in your sod or planting beds due to poor rooting mixed with our hot summer temperatures? We have help for that, too.  Garden Supply owner,Keith Ramsey, recommends treating with Drought Defense by Soil Logic to reduce water consumption and enhance growth.

Drought Defense reduces the amount of water needed to irrigate lawns, groundcovers, trees, and other plants. This soil moisture management product helps prevent plant-available water from evaporating or draining past the root zone.  It is super-concentrated, long-lasting, helps lower watering bills and is safe for use on fruit and vegetable plants.  Drought Defense is environmentally friendly and is safe for use around children and pets.

This easy-to-use concentrate is ready to go.  Simply connect the sprayer to your hose and spray evenly over measured area.  Be sure to irrigate all treated areas after application to wash the product into the soil.  After two applications of the product, normal watering time and quantity can be reduced up to 50%!

For those of you with warm-season grasses like Bermuda, Centipede and Zoysia, June is the time for over-seeding your bare spots and laying down an application of fertilizer.

We have everything you need down at the Garden Center, and our experts are standing by with answers to all your lawn care questions.  Stop by and pay us a visit and get your June lawns and garden looking in tip-top shape in no time.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I'll be back soon with more snippets from the garden.

Feed the Lawn & Kill the Weeds

Hello everyone!  Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the burst of wonderful weather we've had to officially welcome in spring.  We've had a great time this weekend at Garden Supply as we wrapped up our big week-long Spring Garden Party yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who participated and to everyone who stopped by and helped make our annual party a huge success!  We couldn't have done it without you! Now that spring is truly here, it's time to turn your thoughts to a bit of yard prep and lawn care.  If you haven't yet done so, now is the time for fertilizing fescue grass.  Some lawn fertilizers contain pre-emergent crabgrass killers, which should go down within the next 10 days.  We recommend  you use Fertilome Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Food.  Use Fertilome Classic Lawn Food if you have already applied crabgrass preventer.  We've got everything you need down at the garden center.

While over-seeding should wait until mid-September, you could work on seeding small, bare spots now.  This will require careful attention to watering in dry weeks, especially as we get into summer.

Cool weather weeds, especially chickweed, which blooms with a small white daisy, are gaining maturity now.  It's easy to get them by pulling the clumps by hand or by hoe.  It is blooming already, so it's a good time to get out as much as you can before the seeds go flying.  Come talk to our gardening experts for solutions.

With Easter being two weeks from today, now is the time to stop by the Greenhouse and check out our adorable holiday decor.  We have a huge selection of beautiful and unique items to spruce up your homes and decorate your tables for the season.

And look what else I discovered while strolling the Greenhouse yesterday afternoon.  A sale!  Always love a sale!

This lovely selection of pottery is now 30% off!  Just think of all the plant arrangements you could make for your decks and front porches with these.  Or thinking ahead, what wonderful Mother's Day presents these would make filled with flowering blossoms.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'll see you back here soon for more snippets from the garden!