We need rain to water in the pre-emergent we have been putting down for weeks to keep those weeds away this spring!! 75% chance of rain Sunday!!
By Cindy Poore
Look at that. Just by changing one letter we went from a resolution to a revolution. BIG difference. A new day, a new month, a new year is always nice. A fresh start to the rest of your life. And how better to kick off your new life but with a tiny change.
We usually make big promises to ourselves at the start of the year that often get dropped in a few weeks because the promise was too big. How about if you start small?
Some times the smallest thing can make a BIG difference and they are easier to keep going. I started a few years ago with quitting soda and look where it took me. That small thing let to other things and it led me to a new and healthier life of exercising and eating real food, feeling great and looking a lot better too. A real revolution in my life.
Sometimes we let barriers we build for ourselves get in our way and keep us from moving forward. X has to happen before we can do Y and so on. Just ask yourself is that really true? What would happen if it didn’t go down that way. You just may make a small change that changes your whole world. Think about it and make 2015 your Revolution to your new world.
Cold enough for ya?
Yup it finally got cold, AND we had rain and some got snow. Now everybody is scurrying from the car to the house with nary a glance to the outdoors. Just get inside and get warm! But your yard and garden still need your help.
When it is cold like this, you need to keep an eye on the weather. When we get rain and or snow you do not have to water your garden so make sure your sprinkler clock is shut off for a bit until it needs watering again. Yea!!
How much moisture fell from the sky will determine when you need to water again. I’ve said this before about watering in the winter. Some people just turn off the clocks in November and don’t turn them on again until April and others never touch their clocks at all and their watering system continues as it did in the summer. Neither approach is correct.
Changeable weather conditions here can make scheduling watering during the winter months difficult because so much needs to be taken into consideration. Soil type, precipitation or lack thereof and freeze conditions make your scheduling life difficult.
To help properly know when to water, new sprinkler controllers known as “smart controllers” are helping people better know when to water. Smart controllers use weather stations or soil moisture sensors to determine when and how long water. These new irrigation controllers take the guess work out of watering your landscape. Call us if you need advice on when and how to water. If you feel like one of the “smart controllers might be a good fit for your needs, call us we can install that for you as well.
(760) 868-6104
Pluviophile : (n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days
Got fruit or nut trees? NOW is the time to prevent lots of problems with a dormant oil application. Dormant oil is an organic method for preventing overwintering insects from ruining your fruit this summer. For apples and pears with coddling moth this is the least expensive treatment option that will give good results.
Not much can easily eradicate the coddling moth once your trees are infested. But you can minimize them with good orchard sanitation by pruning your trees now and removing all tree litter under your trees and applying a good dormant oil application now.
Other Coddling moth treatments require repeat applications of pricey organic treatments with perfect timing of stage of development and degree days. Dormant oil is the next best option. Treat with dormant oil and inspect your fruit when it is forming. Thin your fruit and bag each fruit with paper bags or nylon sacks (made from old pantyhose). Dispose of any fruit (off site) that you find with the worms as soon as you find them.
With the rain comes the weeds!
You will see the green coming to the valley in the weeks ahead. The lovely rain we had is all that is needed to wake up the weed seeds that have been lying dormant until now. Give us a call and we can spray to kill those weeds, or better yet, call us now and we will put down a weed preventer with the weed killer and you will not see weeds for months to come!
Plan and organize your veggie garden and order the seeds you will want to grow this spring. Try something different this year, even if only in a pot!
Time to prune those rose bushes! January is the typical month to do the annual severe pruning for your rose bushes to develop strong, healthy canes and beautiful roses come this spring. We can do it for you. Call us.
Need help with scheduling, pest or weed issues or removing your water thirsty grass? Give us a call!
We Are Here to Help You With
All Your Landscape Needs
(760) 868-6104
Bark beetles. They are a big problem here in the Inland Empire and the High Desert for our pines and conifers There are bark beetles that attack pines, arborvitae, cypress, false cypress, junipers, and redwoods and many others). California has over 20 varieties of bark beetles. In years past, our mountain communities of Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead and Wrightwood have been hit hard. There has been a big push in the last few years to cut down the stricken trees to minimize the spread to other trees and the fire potential.
We thought we had crossed the safety mark a few years back and had turned the tide towards getting a handle on them after mass removals of the dead trees. The current drought conditions are making us rethink that as the bark beetles are back with a vengeance due to insufficient water to our trees.
The bark beetle adults are small, hard-bodied insects about the size of a grain of rice and most are dark red, brown, or black. Look for a pattern like buckshot on the bark surface of infested branches or trunks where the new adults have emerged. The adults tunnel through the bark and lay eggs under the bark. The eggs hatch and become larvae that tunnel through the inner bark, where they overwinter, creating large galleries of tunnels where they disrupt the flow of water and nutrients to the tree resulting in dead or dying branches and eventually the entire tree.
The larvae then emerge from the tree as flying adults and they look for new trees to infest resulting in a ruthless cycle of death. Their favored target is a tree that is stressed by drought, improper planting, improper pruning or other conditions.
Because the beetles live in the protected space under the bark, it is very difficult or sometimes impossible to obtain control once the tree is infested. Timing is all important when making applications to prevent infestation.
Prevention is the best way to combat these beetles with proper maintenance and watering. Most people do not water their trees well. They start with one or two little emitters that put out a gallon of water each when ran for an hour, and then they cut down the watering schedule to 10 or 15 minutes a day thinking the trees should be watered the same as a spray system for your lawn. (Hey that’s not right for your lawn either, but that’s another article). 15 minutes with a 1 gallon per hour emitter is 32 ounces. Not very much except for the tiniest of trees.
As the tree grows, it will require a lot more water. A typical tree with a 15 -20 foot spread can use as much as 50 gallons of water a day. BUT you should not water every day either. The best way to water trees is to water infrequently, perhaps 2-3 times a week in summer. Water deeply when you do water so that the soil is wet down at least 12 -14 inches. Depth and frequency will depend on tree type. soil type and weather.
A key component of prevention is to provide proper maintenance and have a licensed pest applicator apply a systemic insecticide to prevent the beetles from getting established. Systemic insecticides are taken in by the tree’s vascular system and distributed throughout the tree so that when a beetle bores into the tree trunk to lay it’s eggs, it is killed by the insecticide, thus preventing it from laying eggs that will hatch into the larvae that will kill the tree. There are many methods of application for the insecticides.
Give us a call. We are licensed pest control applicators and we are experienced to help you with your tree pest issues.
(760) 868-6104
By Cindy Poore
There is nothing quite like a fresh new calendar or the first, blank page in a journal. The possibilities are endless! And unless your time is up sooner, you are going to get 365 new fresh starts this year. What will you do with them? Better yet, what would you do with them if you knew you weren’t gonna get all 365? The same thing I hope.
I’ve always wanted to learn a second language. I have been traveling on my treadmill (courtesy Google earth and Ifit technology) and exploring so many places I will never go in real life. I marvel at how much the world looks the same and at how much it is different at the same time. And I realized that I really do speak a second language.
The language of plants! I see the strange and faraway places and then I see the familiar in all that. I see and smell the heady aroma of the orange blossoms in Florida. I hear the crunch of fallen maple leaves and smell just a hint of fireplace smoke in Connecticut. I revel in the color explosion of the papery blooms of the Bougainvillea and the scent of the sea in Greece. I’ve never been to any of those places, but my plants take me there. They translate these places to me. And I am a world traveler without having ever left home.
My 2014 resolution: Visit someplace I never thought I could. Really.
I guess we will check back in December and see how I did.
Holy Moley Have We Got Challenges!
Winter/water/warm equals weeds! We’ve had enough rain followed by warm weather to germinate some major weeds.
Don’t have any now? Want to keep it that way? Have I got a plan for you….
By now you know I am all about planning and preparation. I may be impulsive, but not when it comes to the landscape. Thinking and planning ahead is the turtle that will win the race for you.
Now is the time to put down your weed pre-emergent applications. Which, of course we would love to do for you! One spray application will last for months and most likely get you all the way through the spring rains to prevent nearly all the big bad weeds that are waiting to eat up your spring and summer weekends. We can spray some or all of your problem areas to make it affordable for you.
Small Print. Oh, there is always the small print. Once an application of weed pre-emergent (preventer) has been made, it requires water to get it off the top of the soil, gravel, or plants to wash it into the soil where it can perform it’s duty. So, it needs to rain. 1 day after we apply or up to 21 days after we apply. You have a 3 week window. Since I cannot predict when it will rain with certainty, SOMEONE has got to water. Only ONCE though. Equal to half an inch of rain. A pain for sure but necessary for the pre-emergent. OR you can just wait until the weeds come in and we can spray to kill them. But they may need additional sprays if you can’t water in the pre-emergent. So give us a call and we will schedule you in!
Garden tasks January 2014
January is prime time for pruning roses. A little time and expertise now will deliver some fabulous blooms come spring time. Remember to remove all foliage from the canes. This will force the plant into a kind of dormancy that puts the growth energy back into the canes and roots for a healthier plant.
Now is also the time to prune your deciduous fruit trees. Foliage has dropped and it is easy to see where to make the cuts. Different types of fruit need different types of pruning, so get a good pruning book like Cass Turnbull’s ”Guide to Pruning”. One of my favorite books on pruning and a great refresher course for those of us that do this all the time.
Apply dormant oil treatments after pruning to smother any potential pests. January and February are prime months for this.
You may be able to find bare-root lilacs to plant now in some nurseries. The old-fashioned lilacs (syringa vulgaris) are the best smelling and easiest to grow here in the high desert and worth looking for. The French varieties are pretty in bloom, but I have not found them to smell as good. The only way to tell the color or intensity of the bloom is to buy them when they are in bloom in the spring. Do little or no pruning to your lilacs the first two seasons and thereafter, prune to maintain shape. Lilacs bloom on old (second year or more) wood so prune just after blooming.
Yes, you can plant in the winter. Unless the ground is frozen, here in California you pretty much can plant year-round. Some times are better than others, but with care, you can plant all year long. Some of the best types of plants to plant in January are bare-root anything and natives. They will adapt very well to being planted now and the wetter spring weather will help establish a good root system before summer’s heat.
Pansies will give you color all through the winter. Put some in pots! Also you can start seeds of onions indoors in a sunny window to plant in March. Garlic is a good bet for planting now along with cabbage-like plants such as kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
We can do all these services for you if you need help!
Call us at (760) 868-6104
For whatever new start you are planning in this new year keep in mind this quote and Get Growing!
“The beginning is the most important part of the work”
Plato
My Favorite Recipes
Broccoli/Spinach Soup
Serves 4 220 calories each serving
I love to find quick, tasty healthy things to eat. And if they warm you up while they fill you up even better. A bonus is, I get to use my immersion blender with this one, but you can use your regular blender if you want.
2 leeks, cut in 2 inch links and washed repeatedly
until sand-free.
2 Tablespoons Butter
6 Cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 bunch broccoli, (about 4 oz) chopped
1 small russet potato, peeled and chopped
5 ounces spinach, washed
Sour Cream and Salt and pepper as needed
Cook the leeks in the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat stirring occasionally until softened, 4-6 minutes.
Add the broth, broccoli and potato. Simmer until tender 18-22 minutes
Stir in the spinach until wilted. Transfer the mixture to the blender or use your immersion blender and puree until smooth. Add salt to taste. Top with a dollop of sour cream and grind some cracked pepper on top and serve with some fresh fruit and a slice of French bread.
MORE!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Serves 4 135 calories each serving
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea Salt and/ or pepper to taste
Rinse Brussels sprouts and cut in half. Toss sprouts into large bowl along with the loose leaves. Sprinkle olive oil over sprouts and add salt and pepper. Toss all sprouts to evenly coat with oil and seasonings.
Place sprouts, cut side down along with loose leaves on foil lined baking sheet. Place in pre-heated 400 degree oven. Roast for 30-40 minutes Sprouts will brown in spots but still have some green, but do not roast until burnt. (you can remove loose leaves sooner as they brown earlier and snack on these while preparing the rest of the meal!)
Gosh! I had so much fun preparing for, and giving a little talk on some options for organic weed and insect control for Lyn Shirley’s Environmental Horticulture class at Victor Valley College this afternoon. In order to be clear-headed, I did some review on materials in preparation for my talk so I could keep my thoughts organized. I got to reminisce about the olden days before Round-up and weedeaters. Yes folks, I really am that old. AND I (as I usually do in these things) learned something new. Actually it is quite old, just new to me. ROCK DUST as a soil amendment. Keep that thought. I plan on researching that and will offer up new info here on this blog real soon.
- Staying Home May 31, 2020Staying home has new meaning since the tragic and crazy world of COVID-19. While most are keeping a low profile at home, Perfection Landscape knows that we are essential for helping our clients care for their home environments. We continue to do maintenance for our regular and new clients keeping with social distancing guidelines for […]
- Weeds are Back! March 10, 2018Is your yard Exploding with weeds ? You may think a few weeds here or there aren’t much to worry about, but did you know most weeds are capable of producing over a thousand seeds each? Rain and the warmer weather that will follow will make conditions just right for hose little land mines […]