ATLANTA –
Pike Nurseries assistant manager, Melodie McDanal, stopped by Good Day Atlanta on Friday and discussed how to care for your garden during the month of August.
Have a question about taking care of your lawn, garden, or shrubbery? Send it to goodday@myfoxatlanta.com and it just might be answered on Good Day Atlanta!
LINK : Pike Nurseries Website
CLICK ON THE VIDEO ABOVE TO FIND OUT WHAT SHE HAD TO SAY!
In the Garden
1. Dead-Head for Continuous Blooms. Continue to remove faded blooms on annuals such as geraniums, marigolds, petunias, salvia, verbena and zinnias. Not doing so will cause the plants to stop blooming and produce seed which signals the end of the plant’s life cycle.
2. Rejuvenate Annuals. By this point in the summer, some annuals may have become spindly or leggy. It is a good time to pinch or trim them back by as much as ½ their current height. They will soon begin to leaf out, look thicker and start to bloom again.
3. Bag those Worms. Look for hungry bagworms on trees and evergreens. To control these caterpillars and prevent them from defoliating the plants, remove them by hand or use a spray like Eight; as an organic option, use Captain Jacks.
4. Water Wisely. Plants setting berries (like pyracantha or hollies) and plants setting flower buds for next year’s blooms (like azaleas and camellias) will benefit from a little extra water. Most established plants need about one inch of water per week to perform at their best. Water just until you see run off between 6-10am.
5. Mound Up the Mulch. Make sure all planting areas have a two-inch layer of mulch. Mulches help to regulate soil temperature, conserve moisture in the soil and prevent weed development.
For the Lawn
1. Eliminate Warm Weather Weeds. Now is a good time to apply Image to your lawn to kill the weeds.
2. Stop Lawn Invasion. Keep your lawn edged so grasses like bermuda don’t invade your planting sites.
3. Watch for Fire Ant Mounds. Apply a fire ant killer as soon as you spot the hill to eliminate them until winter.
For the Birds
1. Keep em Full. Keep birdbaths clean and full.
2. Squirrel’s be Gone. Keep the squirrels away from feeders by using a Cajun or hot seed mix. The birds can’t taste the heat but the squirrels won’t eat it. Also try the Droll Yankees Flipper Feeder.
In the House
1. Cut Flowers. Stroll through your garden and cut foliage and blooms to make fresh-cut flower arrangements.
2. Feeding Time. Continue feeding your houseplants monthly.
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