Give Your Houseplants a Summer Vacation

A covered porch is perfect because houseplants generally aren’t used to direct sun. Don’t place them on the ground where they’ll pick up hitchhiking insects and soil-borne diseases. Remember also, they’ll require more frequent watering.

 

Increase Your Vegetable Production

Increase your vegetable production by tucking in native flowers such as bee balm and echinacea (cone flowers) into the corners of your vegetable garden. Those native flowers will attract the pollinators you need for a successful crop, make your garden pretty to look at, and give the native pollinators - bees and butterflies - a welcome feeding station.

 

Parsley and Dill are Food for Swallowtail Caterpillars

Parsley and dill are food for swallowtail caterpillars and so attract swallowtail butterflies. Add few extra ‘sacrificial’ plants in your flower garden or near your house to enjoy these beautiful creatures and applaud the young caterpillars as they chew through them.

 

Hand Watering is the Way to Go!

Hand watering is the way to take care of your flower and vegetable gardens. Water early in the day to prevent diseases from taking advantage of the wet leaves. And, pick vegetables and flowers when the leaves are dry to avoid spreading any diseases that may have found their way onto your plants.

 

This has been the driest New England spring in a number of years!

Usually, we get a lot of rain in the spring; it’s vital for all the trees and shrubs and perennials as they emerge from winter and send out flowers and leaves. This year we received virtually none. With the lack of rain, town watering restrictions have been issued earlier and with stricter rules. The Drought Monitor shows you where we are at the beginning of June. Two months ago, no part of the region was even ‘abnormally dry’.