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Throw On Your Overalls and Get to Work

Summer officially begins on June 21; however, in most of the country summer weather has already arrived along with a to-do list of outside work to get done. If you don’t know where to start, here are a few ideas for the month of June:

Landscaping

ü       Plant for color. Some of your options include hydrangeas, azaleas, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds, petunias and daylilies.

ü       Pinch back established mums until mid-July. This will prevent them from blooming too early.

ü       Water regularly, deeply and thoroughly.

ü       Finish pruning, especially boxwoods, junipers and barberries. After a light fertilization, you’ll be done with both chores until fall.

ü       Bring out the pest-control brigade. Hot, dry weather this month encourages certain bugs. Watch for bagworms, gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, caterpillars and many others. Spray pesticides as needed. Fruit trees need to be sprayed on a regular basis.

ü       Deadhead your plants. Cutting off the old blooms encourages the plant to produce new blooms.

ü       Put out the mulch. It not only spruces up the appearance of your landscaping, it helps keep weeds in check.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

ü       Get in a second crop of corn and beans this month.

ü       Pumpkins planted now will be ready for harvest by Halloween.

ü       Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries are all ready for planting.

Lawns

ü       Allow grass clippings to recycle back into the soil.

ü       If there’s a need, use a weed control product.

ü       This is the month to apply fungicide as well.

When the work is done, pour that glass of lemonade, find a shady spot for your hammock and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Documenting Your Life Via the Internet
 

Blog, it sounds like the name of a muppet or maybe the bad guy in the summer’s hottest kids’ movie. In reality, blog is short for weblog, or an open diary published on the Internet. So, if you have things you want to get off your chest, if you have opinions you want to share with the world, or if you are looking to meet interesting people, a blog may be just the thing.

If you have your own website, you probably have access to software to add a blog to the site. If not, there any many blog hosting websites from which to choose. Many are free or offer upgraded options for a fee. If you are just getting started you may want to start with a free blog to try it out. A few of the free sites to check out are blogger.com or LiveJournal.com. Regardless of the service you choose, check out the options offered before committing.

Blogs are usually updated daily with your activities, thoughts, feelings, whatever you want to include. Recommending other blogs with similar interests and providing interaction through e-mail or a message board (for-fee upgrades) are popular blog options to include. To find out what other people are doing, visit existing blogs. Just type “blog directories” into a search engine to get listings of other blogs. To get more traffic going to your blog you’ll need to list it with a directory.

Whatever route you choose, have fun and happy blogging!