Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Early Spring Garden Maintenance

It's time to prepare your garden to transition from the cool-season flowers and plants to the warm-season planting. Pull spend plants and weeds, rake up leaf debris, and layer 4 to 6 inches of compost or manure on top of the soil to dig in before replanting.
Fertilize roses every six weeks to prepare for their major spring bloom period. This starts in April. If you didn't feed your citrus trees in January, then do so now with one third of the trees' total annual nitrogen requirement. Apply nitrogen to deciduous fruit trees when they begin to leaf out. Winter Rye grass needs fertilization once a month. Your bermuda lawn also needs nurishment to prepare for it's spring arrival. Wait to fertilize tropical plants until danger of frost is over. The last frost is usually mid-March. Native plants do not need fertilization. Pinch or snip off spent annual flowers to promote continuous bloom.

When in doubt, contact a local Landscape Contractor for you lawn maintenance or installation.

Sprinkler Irrigation Tip

Every so often you may need to flush out the debris that may have accumulated in your sprinkler system. The debris can be tiny particles of dirt, hard water, lime, etc. All you do is twist off the sprinkler heads and run the water through the system for a couple of minutes. This will clean out all of the dirt/debris that may be in the system and ensure that you have good coverage at all times.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Chaste Tree - Vitex agnus - castus


Vitex agnus - castus, Verbena Family ( Verbenaceae ), Chaste Tree. Also Called: Monk's Pepper is a large irregular shrub or multistemmed deciduous tree, sometimes single stemmed. Considered pool friendly. Also considered butterfly friendly. Smells Great! Most flower types are purple but there are other colors that are a light purple - pink.
Height: About 10 to 25 feet. Same spread. Flowers: On purple spikes 7 to about 12 inches long, drooping from terminal portions of branches, appearing in the late spring and early summer. Blooming Time: April to June. Stems/Trunks : An attractive rough trunk; multistemmed deciduous tree, sometimes single stemmed. Leaves: The leaves are palmately compound; with an odd number of linear leaflets (usually 5); dark green above, lighter underneath. Seeds: Small hard round seed, smells like pepper, dark purple when ripe. Can hurt if stepped on barefoot. Elevation: 0 - 2,400 Feet. Habitat: Landscaping. Grows great in the Arizona desert. Will be a nice patio shade tree or small ornamental yard tree. This tree does go dormant in the winter.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Online Special 10% off packages extended

Check out our online discount extended through Feb 28, 2009. We also added 2 more landscape packages and coupons to our website. We now have a complete package for both the front and back yard in either desert or tropical theme. Spring is almost here and it is time to enjoy your yard again. We need to think about preparing your lawn for summers arrival and taking care of those weeds. Give us a call 480-390-4477 for an estimate.