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Release Date: June 2009
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As the weather warms up and you begin to spend more time outdoors, make sure your lawn and garden are in showcase shape. America's top garden expert P. Allen Smith has partnered with STIHL, a leading manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, for a summer to-do list that will keep your yard and garden green, healthy and happy all season long.
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Tidy things up. Summer is the time to entertain outdoors. Get ready for guests by sprucing up your yard and garden. Along with mowing the lawn and weeding flower beds, edge around walkways and paths, sweep away leaves and grass clippings, and trim up around trees and shrubs to give your yard a fresh look. STIHL makes a variety of lightweight edgers and trimmers perfect for maintaining your lawn; and with fuel-efficient, low-emission engines, they can keep your wallet and your conscience happy all season long.
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Give houseplants a vacation. Repot houseplants that have outgrown their accommodations. Move them outdoors when nighttime temperatures stay consistently above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Place them in locations with light conditions similar to those inside your home.
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Grow your own groceries. Plant warm season vegetables and enjoy fresh home-grown produce. Plants, such as cherry tomatoes and peppers, and herbs, such as basil, can be grown in containers. For those with more room to garden, plant corn, beans, cucumbers, squash and watermelon. The STIHL YARD BOSS® allows you to do a wide variety of landscaping and gardening chores; and with attachments that cultivate soil, aerate the lawn, and edge along beds, it makes growing gardens and maintaining your yard easy.
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Pot up containers. Early summer, after the threat of frost has passed, plant patio pots, window boxes, and hanging baskets with colorful annuals to add a splash of color to entries, decks, balconies and porches. Check plant tags and create combinations best suited for the places where they will be growing, in sun or shade. Container-bound plants depend on you to keep them watered and fertilized as the summer progresses.
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Revive early blooming perennials. If your spring blooming perennials are starting to look a little worse from wear, cut them back to encourage new healthy growth. Its safe to do this until mid-July.
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Prune Shrubs. While many shrubs do not require pruning, some shrubs that flower in the spring and early summer, such as lilacs, benefit from pruning once they have finished flowering to maintain their size and shape. The STIHL HS 81 T C-E hedge trimmer has Easy2Start technology and a swivel handle for comfort or, if you prefer electric, check out the STIHL HSE 60 HEDGE TRIMMER. A good rule of thumb is prune right after shrubs bloom to avoid snipping off flower buds for next years bloom.
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Divide to multiply. About every three years, tall bearded irises benefit from being divided. Flowering dramatically declines when the clump becomes crowded. After blooming, the irises become semi-dormant, so that is the best time to divide and replant them. To help remember the color of the bloom, use a permanent felt tip marker and write the name and color on one of the leaves.
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Add some support. Put in stakes and wire supports for tall plants, like delphiniums or those with large heavy blooms like peonies. This will prevent them from toppling over in high winds or heavy rains.
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Tame the Vines. Vining plants often put on lots of new growth in short periods of time. One way to tame the tangle is to use dental floss to tie vines to their supports. The floss is easy to carry around by just sticking it in your pocket, needs no scissors to cut it, and if you use the green, mint-flavored type, it almost disappears next to the vines stem.
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Water Wise Tips. As summer progresses, the weather often turns hot and dry. Here are some tips to keep your garden and lawn looking its best.
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Raise the blade on your lawn mower. The tall grass will keep the roots cool and conserve moisture a help during the hot, dry weather. It also encourages deeper root networks, helping your lawn withstand drought and disease. For cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue and perennial ryes, mowers should be set at 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches. Warm-season grasses, such as Zoysia and Bermuda, should be maintained at two inches.
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Avoid fertilizing your plants. It will further stress your plants to put energy into new growth during periods of drought.
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Apply plenty of mulch. Add four to six inches to your flower beds, vegetable garden and trees in the areas where sunlight hits the ground and dries it out. Avoid mounding it on plant stems. Around trees, angle the slope of the mulch so that water runs toward the tree.
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Install a drip irrigation system or soaker hoses. These methods deliver water directly to the root zone, so they use far less water than sprinklers. If you do use sprinklers, consider installing a timer to minimize waste.
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More tips & information on the best products for each job can be found at http://www.pallensmith.com/ and www.stihlusa.com.
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About STIHL Inc.
STIHL Inc. manufactures the worlds largest selling brand of chain saws and produces a full line of powerful, lightweight, and versatile handheld outdoor power equipment for homeowners and professional users. STIHL products are sold through servicing power equipment retailers from coast to coast not mass merchants. STIHL products sold through U.S. STIHL dealers are for distribution in the U.S. only. For more information or for the name of the closest STIHL retailer call toll free 1-800-GO STIHL (1-800-467-8445) or visit dealer locator on the STIHL Web site at www.stihlusa.com.
STIHL is the official outdoor power equipment sponsor of both P. Allen Smith Gardens and P. Allen Smiths Garden Home.
About P. Allen Smith
Smith is the author of the best-selling Garden Home book series and is considered one of the foremost gardening and outdoor living experts in the country. In addition to his own nationally-syndicated television series on commercial networks, P. Allen Smith Gardens, he also hosts P. Allen Smiths Garden Home on public television and is a frequent guest on the TODAY Show and The Weather Channel. Smith has received several national awards for creating special opportunities to educate and inspire the American public about the joys of gardening.
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Add some support. Put in stakes and wire supports for tall plants, like delphiniums or those with large heavy blooms like peonies. This will prevent them from toppling over in high winds or heavy rains.
|
|
|
Tame the Vines. Vining plants often put on lots of new growth in short periods of time. One way to tame the tangle is to use dental floss to tie vines to their supports. The floss is easy to carry around by just sticking it in your pocket, needs no scissors to cut it, and if you use the green, mint-flavored type, it almost disappears next to the vines stem.
|
|
|
Water Wise Tips. As summer progresses, the weather often turns hot and dry. Here are some tips to keep your garden and lawn looking its best.
|
|
|
Raise the blade on your lawn mower. The tall grass will keep the roots cool and conserve moisture a help during the hot, dry weather. It also encourages deeper root networks, helping your lawn withstand drought and disease. For cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue and perennial ryes, mowers should be set at 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches. Warm-season grasses, such as Zoysia and Bermuda, should be maintained at two inches.
|
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|
Avoid fertilizing your plants. It will further stress your plants to put energy into new growth during periods of drought.
|
|
|
Apply plenty of mulch. Add four to six inches to your flower beds, vegetable garden and trees in the areas where sunlight hits the ground and dries it out. Avoid mounding it on plant stems. Around trees, angle the slope of the mulch so that water runs toward the tree.
|
|
|
Install a drip irrigation system or soaker hoses. These methods deliver water directly to the root zone, so they use far less water than sprinklers. If you do use sprinklers, consider installing a timer to minimize waste.
|
|
|
More tips & information on the best products for each job can be found at http://www.pallensmith.com/ and www.stihlusa.com.
|
|
|
About STIHL Inc.
STIHL Inc. manufactures the worlds largest selling brand of chain saws and produces a full line of powerful, lightweight, and versatile handheld outdoor power equipment for homeowners and professional users. STIHL products are sold through servicing power equipment retailers from coast to coast not mass merchants. STIHL products sold through U.S. STIHL dealers are for distribution in the U.S. only. For more information or for the name of the closest STIHL retailer call toll free 1-800-GO STIHL (1-800-467-8445) or visit dealer locator on the STIHL Web site at www.stihlusa.com.
STIHL is the official outdoor power equipment sponsor of both P. Allen Smith Gardens and P. Allen Smiths Garden Home.
About P. Allen Smith
Smith is the author of the best-selling Garden Home book series and is considered one of the foremost gardening and outdoor living experts in the country. In addition to his own nationally-syndicated television series on commercial networks, P. Allen Smith Gardens, he also hosts P. Allen Smiths Garden Home on public television and is a frequent guest on the TODAY Show and The Weather Channel. Smith has received several national awards for creating special opportunities to educate and inspire the American public about the joys of gardening.
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