May Garden Checklist

Finally it seems like the warmer weather and sunshine are really here to stay. After a long winter indoors, gardening is a restorative therapy embraced by many Canadian homeowners. When you’ve finished planning your garden and are ready to get your hands dirty, here are a few tips to make those gardening chores easier:

• Before you cut the grass for the first time, wipe the mower blades with a light spray of vegetable oil to prevent grass sticking.
• Remove rust from garden tools with a soap-filled steel wool pad dipped in a bit of kerosene or turpentine. Follow by rubbing briskly with a wad of aluminum foil.
• Mix the ashes from your fireplace with a little soil to make a terrific fertilizer for rose bushes.
• If you find your garden hose has sprung a leak or two over the winter, add a few more holes and put it into service as a sprinkler hose.
• Before you get your hands dirty, scrape your fingernails over a bar of soap to make cleaning your hands a snap when you’re done.
• Edible flowers are popular additions to salads. This year, grow your own: carnations, chives, daylilies, marigolds, pansies, squash blossoms and violets will brighten any summer salad.
• Give your lawn a vigorous raking to remove matted leaves, twigs, branches and plant debris to promote new growth. Rake thoroughly and roll the grass lightly. Overseed bare spots and keep well-watered.
• When choosing annuals, select young, stocky plants with dark green leaves that are just forming buds or beginning to show colour. Flats of flowers in full bloom might be tempting when you are shopping, but the blooms could hide stunted, pot-bound roots.

Courtesy: Homeservice Club