This week's garden questions, Vegetables

Gardens are so Muddy

With spring being here, we have recently been experiencing, many of us are anxious to get outdoors and start scratching away at Mother Earth, however, the beds and gardens are so muddy. Unpredictable is the single word that best describes the month of May. Right now, soggy earth and emerging tender shoots limit what we can do. Control that overwhelming urge to dig, rake and cultivate. Stay out of the garden.

If you must be there, step lightly. Walking on wet garden soil compacts it and easily destroys its structure. A simple test to determine if your soil is workable is to grab a handful of soil and firmly squeeze it. If water runs out of the soil or if the soil stays compacted in one sticky lump, it is too wet and too early to be cultivated. Even though I encourage restraint that does not mean gardeners must do nothing.

Consider waiting at least two more weeks. I am confident it will be to your advantage and definitely to the advantage of the many newly emerging plants in your landscape. Tomatoes, peppers, vine crops and warmer growing annuals like zinnias and marigolds will catch up to the plants you have already planted.

If any annuals are looking rough and wilting, symptom of water-logged soil, it is not too late to replant.

Home Maintenance

Maintain Your AC Unit Saving You Money

Maintain your AC unit, which will run more efficiently, use less energy, and cost less money to run. A properly maintained system will also last longer before needing to be replaced. It should be noted that there are some tasks that can be done by the average homeowner, but others should not be performed by anyone who doesn’t have the proper training and a license.


Clean and/or Replace Air Filter

Replacing your air conditioner air filter (or cleaning it, if you have a reusable filter) is one of the most important regular AC maintenance chores. It should be done every month during high-use seasons (like summer and winter) and once during the fall and spring.


Check Wiring and Components

Before working on an air conditioner, ALWAYS start by turning off the power to the unit, which can be done at the service disconnect on your outdoor unit or at the main breaker panel of your home. Old wiring inside AC unit. Next, remove the access panel on your condensing unit and see if you see any signs of overheating – melted insulation on wires, blackened or burned-looking wires, and the like. If you see any of the above problems, call a local heating and air conditioning expert to do the work for you.


Examine Thermostat

Check your thermostat to make sure it’s working properly and keeps your home at the right temperature. If you have an older, mechanical type thermostat, you may want to consider upgrading to a programmable model.


Adjusting programmable thermostat.

A programmable thermostat allows you to set the temperature higher when no one is home (do not turn the AC off, just up), and cool the house down about 30 minutes before people arrive home for the evening. That way you’ll always have a comfortable home waiting for you, and you’ll save energy and money by not having your AC running all day when no one is at home.


Check Condenser

Unit FanTurn the power off to your air conditioner unit, and check the fan mounted on the top of the outside condenser unit to make sure it’s still in good condition. Replace the fan blades if there are any cracks or chips visible in one or more of the blades. If you have an older air conditioner unit, the fan motor bearings may need to be oiled regularly as well.


Clean Outside Unit

Over time leaves, dirt, grass clippings and the like will build up on the outside of the air conditioner unit, decreasing system capacity and reducing air flow. After shutting off the power to the unit, use a garden hose to gently wash out the debris, starting at the top with the hose at about a 45° angle. Do NOT use a power washer and take care not to bend or damage the delicate fins on the coil. Trim any shrubs around the unit giving at least 2 feet of space between the unit and any plants for good air flow.

Garden Pests, Lawns

June Bug

If you’ve ever been out on a summer evening outdoors only to be startled by an inch-long, slow-flying beetle crashing into you, then you’ve encountered a June bug (which is actually a beetle) of which I have been receiving many questions.
Adults which are hard to control so we need to control the grubs before they emerge into adults.


As adults, they feast on the leaves of trees and shrubs—roses are a particular favorite—leaving ragged holes in foliage but damage is not extensive. But their larval form, called a grub, does the most damage. White grubs live in soil and feed off the roots of plants, especially grass. The result is large brown patches of dead lawn that easily separate from the soil in chunks or mats of turf. You’ll typically see the damage during the late summer when the grubs are most active underground and it becomes drier. To ensure that June bugs are the culprit, simply lift up a section of dead grass: If you see the slightly curled white grubs in the soil underneath, you know who to blame!


To kill the larva which can cause a lot of damage, don’t mow too low: Female June bugs like to lay their eggs in short grass, so you can discourage them by not mowing your lawn too short. Keep the grass at least three inches tall during their early-to-mid-summer active season.

garden pests


Apply insecticide, apply these late in the summer, when the grubs are still close to the surface of the soil. Once winter arrives, the grubs will burrow deep underground, where a pesticide is unlikely to affect them.
There are many granular products you can spread on your lawn with a fertilizer spreader starting in July went the larva begins hatching from the eggs.