MAY CHECKLIST

Okay, Summer is on. Well, technically it's still Spring but your garden thinks otherwise. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash are in. Fuchsia baskets are here to adorn your patio. The lawn needs mowing. Get moving.

Here's a checklist:

Around the home

• Where to start? The nursery is full of color! Perk up your pots with spring flowering color.
• Now that your plants are pushing delicious leafy greens and flowers, your garden is like a buffet for slugs, deer, and other critters. Bait for slugs and protect plants from deer.
• Keep your blooms coming by removing spent blooms and deadheading your rhododendrons and azaleas. Removing spent blooms forces your plants to devote energy into creating more blooms.

Edible gardening

• Tomatoes are here! We got in 60 different varieties, but they are going fast!
• Veggies can be planted now. We have peppers (going fast), squash, beans, herbs, lettuce, and more!
• Plant strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and other fruiting plants and trees. We still have Marshall strawberries in stock.

Lawn care

• Temperatures in the mid-50s mark the start of lawn season. Feed, reseed, and apply lime to discourage moss.
• It's okay to mow (we suspect that you already are mowing).

• Remove dandelions before they seed. You know what the best remedy for dandelions and weeds are? More grass! Reseeding, fertilizing, and keeping your lawn healthy creates an environment that doesn't give dandelions much room to grow.

Indoor plants

• Now that there's more sunlight, your plants will start growing again. It's okay to fertilize them again.
• And now that your plants are growing, it's a good time to see if they are outgrowing their pots and need repotting. Although you can repot your plants yourself, you can also have us repot them for you. We will charge for materials and labor (typically around $5-10 for small jobs, plus the pot price) or you can come in during our Houseplant Clinic, and we will help you out. The next Houseplant Clinic is Jun 7.)
• If you are moving your houseplants outside for the summer, this is a good time to acclimate them by moving them to a shady (but warm) spot for about a week, then move them slowly into sunnier areas for about a week. Watch the weather forecasts. If the temps dip below 50F, move your plants back to a warmer spot.