Posts from — June 2008

Landscape lighting is an often overlooked element when planning your garden. A lot of the time the first thing that comes to mind is the Malibu lights that are on every home improvement store and hardware store in America’s shelves. There is nothing at all wrong with Malibu Lights. They are a great product and function very well. Many times in my landscape renovation business I come across clients that are looking for something different when it comes to lighting for their outdoors space.

The other day I found a site that offers some very unique and one of a kind lighting for the landscape. I am always on the lookout for new products and suppliers. Littman Bros was right here in my own back yard and did not even know it. As I perused the site I found that this company has a great variety of lighting options to offer. If you are looking for vanity lighting what a selection they have or maybe it is under cabinet lighting they have a large selection. I was very impressed. As I was looking at the site I viewed the progress lighting page and thought what a wonderful resource for my readers. What ever your lighting needs you could find it here.

Back to the landscape lighting there is a great selection here of Landscape Lighting that will enhance any yard or garden. Theses are premium products that will give you a unique look and feel to your garden and one that will make an impression on your visitors and guest. I would recommend that not only that you visit this site but you add it to your bookmarks as well because it really is one of those valuable resources that every homeowner needs.

Summer officially arrives this weekend. In the garden there are a lot of things in bloom the Asiatic lilies are about to burst out of their buds in to full glory as well as the daylilies popping color everywhere. Everything is so nice and green and of course that is due to all the rain we have been getting lately. This also has produced an abundant crop of weeds as well.

This is a good time to put down a little extra mulch to keep the roots cool and moist but also to help keep weeds at bay. The annual flowers can do with a good bi-weekly fertilizing and pinch off the dead blooms to encourage new flowering. Hedge and shrub trimming should be taking place now to encourge good shape and fuller growth.

Remember if the weather is dry lawns need an inch of water a week to keep growing and long soaking encourages deep root growth. You should also be setting your mowing height at 3 1/2 inches to help shade the soil and give the grass plants a chance to develop deeper roots.

Have a great weekend and get out in your gardens. Me I have 2 pond cleanings scheduled so at least I will be nice and cool.

Finding a good contractor is not always the easiest thing to do. I always thought that it would be a great thing if you could just call one company and find a contractor no matter what the trade. Let me clarify that a competent and qualified contractor. Well some one finally has put together a company that does just that.

The Done Right Directory will help you to find a qualified contractor in your area and it covers all the major cities. If you are looking for Electric Contractors you can got to this site and you can find one. They screen and qualify all their contractors first so you know that you will be getting a competent professional . They also offer a guarantee so that if your work is not done right they will help pay for it to be redone. I really think it is a great resource to be able to find Plumbing Repair and not have to worry about the quality of the contractor you hire.

The directory lists all kinds of trades and can help you find what you need for your home .From general contractors to Home Pest Control this directory has them listed so your home repai just got easier. I sure whish I had thought this business up.

Well it is the beginning of a new week at the urban garden. This week we are working on the planting beds in the west parking lots.  We  are pruning off the suckers on the trees and mulching all the beds. Due to a very hard winter we are also getting a count on the couple of hundred perennials that we lost over the winter and placing an order. We lost a large number of Non Stop Roses as well which is unusual as they are generally very hardy and care free.

The weather has been pretty rainy as of late so the work schedule is a little off but thank goodness we are not experiencing the flooding that some in the Midwest are. We have been able to work around the rain and keep most of the schedule intact . Usually we would be starting the first round of hedge trimming this week but again the rain has slowed us a bit.

There are no major projects scheduled for the grounds this year as we are waiting for the building addition to be permitted and started. It looks like now it may be July before they break ground. The challenges still continue though we have had 7 sewer collapses this year so we have had to schedule those repairs around a very busy schedule in the parking lots.

I hope you can get out in your gardens this week and spend some time. It is really a great way to relieve some stress and get your spirits back in high gear.