June

Tip: Mosquito Control

Put some water on a WHITE dinner plate and & a couple of drops of  "Lemon Fresh" Joy Dish Detergent.  Set the dish on your porch, patio, or other outdoor area.

The mosquitoes will flock to this, drink it & shortly after die. 

Tip: Slug Control...

• Flip over a jam jar lid and pour beer in it - the slugs will come, drink and drown in the beer.  Thanks for the tip Chelsey!

• Keep your eggshells, wash them out and crush them up.  Sprinkle them on top of your garden beds where slugs or cats are frequenting - this should discourage both as it feels like sharp shards of glass for them.  ***Notes from the Garden*** I practiced using eggshells this year and had no success with slug control.  Here's another suggestion though, grapefruit - after eating a half of grapefruit, flip it over in the garden - the slugs will gather under the fruit.  Also, keep cultivating during the summer - it breaks up the dirt and will destroy any slug eggs waiting to hatch.

Tip: June is pruning month.  We've believed for many years that the best time to prune is in the fall or early spring, but for MOST trees & shrubs, the BEST time to prune is the third week of June (this applies to us northerners up in zone 3 - for southerners you will probably want to prune slightly earlier.  The reason for this?  You want to prune your trees when they are at their optimal health - a healthy tree can endure cuts, open wounds...etc. and ultimately can quickly heal.  When trees & shrubs are at their growing peek (which is late June in my neck of the woods), they can withstand the stress of pruning and heal faster than any other time of the year.  And that's the key, you want your tree to recover quickly so that it is not exposed to the possibility of disease or insect infestation that can traumatize or kill it in the end.  So - get out your pruners, sharpen & clean them and go to town, because this is the best time for pruning!

Tip: Cut up banana peels and place them about an inch or two below the soil surrounding your rose  bushes. The potassium and other nutrients will make your roses bloom like you've never seen before! I tried it last year and it works like a charm.

Tip: Try pouring boiling water on thistles or dandelions that have poked up through sidewalk cracks and are too awkward to pull out completely - in a day or two they should be dead!

Tip: If you have limited space in your garden, you can grow your cucumbers up a garden trellis.  This cuts down drastically on the amount of space used & you get no yellow side or dirt on your cucumbers!  Thanks for the tip Cathy Reid!