#11 - Midsummer Maintenance

A sunny weekend is in store, finally, one of the wettest on record! Frost is starting to show up in the colder parts of town so it's zero-hour for getting prepared for winter. Get those lawns cut and fertilized, prune your trees and shrubs, we field some questions about moss, mushrooms, huckleberries, and even holly. Have a wonderful winter! Make sure you are subscribed and just maybe we'll sneak in a podcast or two throughout the winter!

A beautiful, sunny Labor Day weekend is in store - just a perfect weekend to get a head start on preparing things for the long winter. It's time to give your lawn and shrubs a final good feeding so they have some nutrients to carry them into spring. We talk about berries, answer a call on how lime works, a secret ingredient for cooking wild game with - and so much more!

We start off talking about all the different types of Hydrangea's there are and which ones respond better to our climate. We answer a question on what would be eating the leaves of your Rhododendrons. And it's time to start thinking about what bulbs you'll want to plant to get some color poking through the snow in the springtime!

In this episode, we talk about how all the plants absolutely are loving all the rain we've had this year, but how to keep so much of a good thing from destroying your plants! Fall colors are starting to show on some of the plants that have been so busy this year that they are so exhausted and already getting prepared for their long winter's nap. We chat about Hydrangeas, Arbividas, Strawberries, and it's time to start planning where you want to plant those bulbs!

In this episode we start off with a caller wondering how to get rid of smelly mushrooms on a tree, and a little later we talk about other fungi and invasive parasites. It's also that time of year to start pruning, cutting back plants like your rhododendrons, other shrubs, and your bleeding hearts (if they have already flowered). We talk a little about berries and of course, more fertilizing!

After a windy and stormy night, we talk about how to keep infection out of broken or trimmed tree branches. We talk a little about the history of the Treadwell mine, we chat about fertilizing your lawns again and it's time to feed your strawberries. We also talk a little bit about keeping your perennials safe and standing.

With seemingly endless rain this summer and in the forecast, managing lawns right now is quite the chore. Today we get a little deeper into lawn management, fertilizing, seeding, mowing, and troubleshooting issues that may arise. We also talk about what to do about those hungry slugs!

We are already a third of the way through summer and moving right down the calendar pretty quickly! Today we talk about transplanting plants, managing hedges, keeping root systems under control and a bevy of other things.

The plants and trees understand that the days are starting to get shorter, so they will begin the process of preparing for another long southeast Alaskan winter - storing food and producing new growth sprouts that will flourish next spring. We talk a bit about that and a little about pruning, fertilizing, dead-heading, we have a short conversation about a Maple tree issue - and of course so much more!

Some more tips on taming the constantly growing grass, planting on vertical surfaces, a little about roses, experimenting with imported plants and advice on eradicating the rhododendron munching root weevils and of course much, much more!