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June Stuff to Do
Summer is here and the
livin' is easy. But that does not mean there are not chores to get done. Here
is a list of Stuff To Do in June.
To find out more how Allentuck Landscaping Co. can create
beautiful landscapes for you, please call us at 301-515-1900 or email at info@allentucklandscaping.com.
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The Goings-Ons At Allentuck Landscaping Company
Showing posts with label montgomery county. Show all posts
Showing posts with label montgomery county. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
June Stuff To Do
Friday, April 4, 2014
April Stuff To Do - Breath
April Stuff To Do
Wow. I do not ever remember a year when we were this far behind garden-wise. It is time to get busy! Here is a list of Stuff To Do in April.
- It is
safe now to plant hardy perennials, shrubs and trees but the word from the
nursery industry is that they are running 2-3 weeks behind on getting
plants in, especially from the south. Look for full nurseries and garden
centers around mid-month.
It is also safe to plant the cool season annuals like pansies, dianthus and primrose. Add some color to your gardens!
- Lawn mowing will begin as cool
season grasses respond to ideal temperatures and spring rain. Most lawns
will need to be mowed weekly. Keep lawns between 2-3 inches in the spring.
Don't forget to change the oil, spark plug and add fresh fuel.
- Transplant cool season vegetables
like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks and onions.
- As plants leaf out, aphids will
begin showing up too. Use an insecticidal soap to control this pest.
- Slugs continue to increase in
size and numbers this month. Spread organic slug bait around the garden.
- Don't forget to turn on your
outside water to water new plants adequately.
- This is a good time to clean out
flower pots, add fresh soil and fertilizer. This way they will be all
ready to plant next month.
- The late season also means there
is less for wildlife to eat. Re-stock those bird feeders.
- Grilling season is upon us! Clean
the grill with soap and water. Replace briquettes and check propane hoses
for damage and leaks.
- Go to the Cherry Blossom Festival. Here is a link to there website: http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/
BREATH. ENJOY. That is spring air out there!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Spring - Fourth Time's A Charm
Spring - Fourth Time's A Charm
Maybe this time spring is
for real? With the spring, snow, spring, snow pattern we have had this year, it
has been hard for anyone to even contemplate their landscape or getting any
outdoor project moving. We are confident that we have seen the last of snow
(famous last words) and are now 100% in spring landscape mode!
Which brings me to
reminding you that Allentuck Landscaping Co. has three outstanding maintenance
programs to fit your needs.
- TotalScapes is our all inclusive program for
caring for your lawn, gardens and plants. We will take care of it all so
that you do not need to.
- GardenScapes takes care of you garden and
plants as only our experts can. Your plants will get the TLC they deserve.
- TurfScapes will give you the lushest lawn
in the neighborhood. Fertilization, weed control and seeding are all
included.
In addition, we are happy
to introduce two new services to our customers:
Deer DeFence is an organic approach to keeping deer away from your plants.
- Mosquito
& Tick Shield
will keep the dangers of biting and stinging insects away from you and
your family so you can enjoy the great outdoors.
Both services use organic
products that are safe for pets, children and the environment.
Give us a call or shoot us
an email. We would love to tell you more about our great services.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Stuff To Do In March - Heads Are Gonna Roll Mother Nature
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March Stuff To Do
 As you are receiving
this email , the Washington DC area is cleaning up from yet another snow
storm. Heads are gonna roll Mother Nature. We are tired of this
and we have gardening tasks to get done!
Here are some things to
put on your To Do List for March:
To find out more how Allentuck
Landscaping Co. can create beautiful landscapes for you, please call us at
301-515-1900 or email at info@allentucklandscaping.com.
|
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
February Stuff To Do
February Stuff To Do
We are just about there,
can you feel it? Spring is knocking on the door. Here are some garden tips to
help you get ready for the busy season ahead.
- Spring
bulbs are emerging this month. Exposed leaves may get burned a little by
the cold temperatures. This will not harm the flower buds.
- Spread
wood ashes around vegetable gardens, flower bulb beds and non-acid loving
plants.
- Continue
to feed wild birds. Black oil sunflower seeds and suet cakes are a good
choice for a wide variety of birds. Keep bird feeders clean and provide
water.
- Trees
can still be pruned now. You may notice excessive sap bleeding from
pruning cuts on elm, maple, birch, dogwood, beech, walnut, magnolia, tulip
poplar and redbud. This bleeding is harmless to the tree.
- Cut
back overgrown shrubs. They will leaf out more quickly if you do any hard
pruning at this time of the year.
- Trim
ornamental grasses, mondo grass and liriope.
- Plant
asparagus crowns when the soil is dry enough to work.
- If
starting vegetables and herbs indoors, set up fluorescent growlights and
gather needed materials.
- Order
flowers for your sweetheart - Valentine's Day is right around the corner!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Benefits for Your Landscape Compliments of the Polar Vortex.
From Lawn and landscape Magazine:
Some good news for Maryland landscapes - there is a benefit to be gained from the polar vortex! Say adios to some bad pests.
Some good news for Maryland landscapes - there is a benefit to be gained from the polar vortex! Say adios to some bad pests.
One upside to the deep freeze
INDUSTRY NEWS
Experts say the extreme cold temeperatures are a chance to kill off invasive species.
| January 9, 2014
While some people were cursing a canceled flight or wishing they had donned an extra layer on Tuesday, when temperatures in the region took a deep dive, entomologists, foresters and naturalists were rooting for the mercury to drop even lower. That is because the extreme cold has the potential to beat back some of the invasive insects threatening treasured local tree and plant species.
“You do think, ‘Oh great, maybe some of those nasty insects are going to get zapped today,’” says Mark Fisher, director of conservatories and horticultural programs at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “It’s Mother Nature’s way of dealing with this issue.”
The insects, whether introduced pests like the hemlock woolly adelgid or native ones like the southern pine beetle, have weakened forests from Cape May, N.J., to Litchfield County in Connecticut. They are uncannily adept at surviving the winter, but most have a breaking point. And this week, that point was nigh.
“The lethal temperature for the woolly adelgid is minus 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Richard S. Cowles, a scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, a state research center. “I was cheering a couple of days ago because most of the adelgids will be dying from the temperatures we saw.”
Dr. Cowles, an entomologist, admitted to rejoicing that temperatures for the early morning hours of Saturday had ranged from 3 degrees to minus 9 in the state. Then came another deep freeze on Tuesday. “At that temperature, ice crystals start forming in the woolly adelgid’s body, and it kills them,” he says.
But entomologists cautioned that once an invasive species has arrived, it is almost always a matter of managing the population, not eradicating it. Some will inevitably survive. Dr. Cowles said that the adelgid population could still rebound within two years.
An aphid-like insect, introduced to the United States in the 1950s from Japan, the woolly adelgid has killed hundreds of thousands of Eastern hemlocks in Connecticut alone since arriving there in the 1980s. The pest, about the size of a period, can pierce the base of needles and suck out the tree’s nutritional supply. The adult can survive the winter on a branch.
Extreme cold is a fortuitous management tool. But with a warming climate, it is one that scientists cannot count on. “The weather will give them a temporary setback, but as soon as the weather warms up, they will take off again,” says Jan Nyrop, a professor of entomology and senior associate dean of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
In the Pinelands in southern New Jersey, state foresters have been battling the southern pine beetle. The beetle can tunnel through a tree’s bark, eating a layer of tissue that supplies the tree with critical nutrients. Until recently, the beetles, which are native to the southern United States, did not survive north of Delaware, because of the cold. But that has changed as winters have turned milder.
The past century in New Jersey has seen a warming trend of 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit. More important than average temperatures in the beetles’ spread is the lack of periodic cold snaps in which the temperature plunges to minus 8 degrees.
The Pinelands have not experienced that kind of cold since 1996, and the first southern pine beetles were detected several years later. Whether the recent deep chill was enough to thwart their progress remains to be seen. The temperature for the past week in Chatsworth, N.J., in the heart of the Pinelands, reached a low of minus 7 on Saturday.
Ron Corcory, the project coordinator for the southern pine beetle with the New Jersey State Forestry Services, said that “sustained, very cold” weather was a powerful weapon. “We’re certainly optimistic that this will have some impact, but we won’t know until the spring,” he says. “We’d want to see a lot of green tops of trees.”
Emerald ash borers need even colder temperatures to succumb. The insects were first detected in 2002, after they arrived on wood pallets from China, and have since killed tens of millions of ash trees in more than 20 states. Studies suggest that temperatures must plummet to minus 30 degrees in order to achieve widespread mortality, and foresters and scientists in Minnesota and Illinois, where it was that cold this week, were hoping for a die-off.
But in New York, scientists were setting their sights on other targets. Amy Berkov, an assistant professor of biology at City College of New York, said she was hoping for some downward pressure on ticks, some of which spread Lyme disease. She recalled a field trip during the unusually mild winter two years ago when one of her students came back bearing a tick.
Dr. Berkov, who specializes in tropical ecology, said that she was warmed by this week’s cold. “Even though I work in the tropics, I like a seasonal climate,” she says. “I think it does tamp down some of these things that we’d rather not be seeing more of.”
“You do think, ‘Oh great, maybe some of those nasty insects are going to get zapped today,’” says Mark Fisher, director of conservatories and horticultural programs at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “It’s Mother Nature’s way of dealing with this issue.”
The insects, whether introduced pests like the hemlock woolly adelgid or native ones like the southern pine beetle, have weakened forests from Cape May, N.J., to Litchfield County in Connecticut. They are uncannily adept at surviving the winter, but most have a breaking point. And this week, that point was nigh.
“The lethal temperature for the woolly adelgid is minus 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Richard S. Cowles, a scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, a state research center. “I was cheering a couple of days ago because most of the adelgids will be dying from the temperatures we saw.”
Dr. Cowles, an entomologist, admitted to rejoicing that temperatures for the early morning hours of Saturday had ranged from 3 degrees to minus 9 in the state. Then came another deep freeze on Tuesday. “At that temperature, ice crystals start forming in the woolly adelgid’s body, and it kills them,” he says.
But entomologists cautioned that once an invasive species has arrived, it is almost always a matter of managing the population, not eradicating it. Some will inevitably survive. Dr. Cowles said that the adelgid population could still rebound within two years.
An aphid-like insect, introduced to the United States in the 1950s from Japan, the woolly adelgid has killed hundreds of thousands of Eastern hemlocks in Connecticut alone since arriving there in the 1980s. The pest, about the size of a period, can pierce the base of needles and suck out the tree’s nutritional supply. The adult can survive the winter on a branch.
Extreme cold is a fortuitous management tool. But with a warming climate, it is one that scientists cannot count on. “The weather will give them a temporary setback, but as soon as the weather warms up, they will take off again,” says Jan Nyrop, a professor of entomology and senior associate dean of Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
In the Pinelands in southern New Jersey, state foresters have been battling the southern pine beetle. The beetle can tunnel through a tree’s bark, eating a layer of tissue that supplies the tree with critical nutrients. Until recently, the beetles, which are native to the southern United States, did not survive north of Delaware, because of the cold. But that has changed as winters have turned milder.
The past century in New Jersey has seen a warming trend of 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit. More important than average temperatures in the beetles’ spread is the lack of periodic cold snaps in which the temperature plunges to minus 8 degrees.
The Pinelands have not experienced that kind of cold since 1996, and the first southern pine beetles were detected several years later. Whether the recent deep chill was enough to thwart their progress remains to be seen. The temperature for the past week in Chatsworth, N.J., in the heart of the Pinelands, reached a low of minus 7 on Saturday.
Ron Corcory, the project coordinator for the southern pine beetle with the New Jersey State Forestry Services, said that “sustained, very cold” weather was a powerful weapon. “We’re certainly optimistic that this will have some impact, but we won’t know until the spring,” he says. “We’d want to see a lot of green tops of trees.”
Emerald ash borers need even colder temperatures to succumb. The insects were first detected in 2002, after they arrived on wood pallets from China, and have since killed tens of millions of ash trees in more than 20 states. Studies suggest that temperatures must plummet to minus 30 degrees in order to achieve widespread mortality, and foresters and scientists in Minnesota and Illinois, where it was that cold this week, were hoping for a die-off.
But in New York, scientists were setting their sights on other targets. Amy Berkov, an assistant professor of biology at City College of New York, said she was hoping for some downward pressure on ticks, some of which spread Lyme disease. She recalled a field trip during the unusually mild winter two years ago when one of her students came back bearing a tick.
Dr. Berkov, who specializes in tropical ecology, said that she was warmed by this week’s cold. “Even though I work in the tropics, I like a seasonal climate,” she says. “I think it does tamp down some of these things that we’d rather not be seeing more of.”
Source: NY Times
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Snow...Good or Bad
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Snow...Good or Bad?
 Not meaning to be wimpy on the
answer...both.
Snow
is a great insulator. Extreme cold temperatures can damage
tender roots but snow, like a good blanket, provides enough insulation to
protect them.
Snow
provides moisture. Ten inches of snow equals about one
inch of rain. That is a good amount of water going into the water table for
plants to use later on.
Snow
prevents heaving. When soil freezes, it often heaves.
This can cause plants to actually be pushed out of the ground. Snow helps
prevent this.
 Snow
can be damaging. Unfortunately true. Heavy snow can
cause tree branches to break and shrubs to split. A good way to prevent this
is to have your trees professionally pruned and to brush heavy snow off of
shrubs.
If
nothing else, a snowy landscape is a beautiful thing to enjoy, especially
from inside.
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Wednesday, November 6, 2013
And The Winner Is...
And The Winner Is....
Submitted by the Seneca Lake Elementary Garden
Club. See the rest of our wonderful entries at our Facebook Page
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Jack-O-Lantern Photo Contest!!
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Win $250 in Allentuck Landscaping Bucks for you and for
the school of your choice.
Here's
How It Works (so easy):
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A few rules (sorry, have to have a few):
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
Fall Is Great For...
Fall Is Great For ...
Fall is like a breath of
fresh air, literally. The heat and humidity have faded, the kids are back in
school and football is back on television. It is a fresh start for us, and for
our gardens. There is plenty to do.
Revive
the lawn - Even in mild summers, turf grass takes a beating in our region.
Fall is the perfect time to core aerate, apply lime to adjust the pH, install
new grass seed and fertilize. Your efforts will be rewarded in the spring with
a thick lush lawn.
Refresh
the garden - Falls is a great time to add shrubs, trees and perennials to your
gardens. Fill in those empty areas, add some new interest or overhaul tired
areas. By planting now, the roots will be better established and the plants
will take-off in the spring.
Energize
the garden - Add a splash of color. Pansies, Chrysanthemums, Cabbage and
Kale can all be planted now to add super splashes of color to your gardens. It
is also time to plant spring bulbs such as Tulips, Daffodils and Hyacinths for
spring beauty.
Maintain
the garden - Add a layer of mulch to give your gardens a
fresh look and protect your plants for the winter. It is also time for that
last shrub and tree pruning of the year.
Plan the garden - Fall is an exceptional
time to meet with our Landscape Designers and start planning new gardens,
patios, walkways and other projects. Give us a call today to get started.Thursday, April 5, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The first one discusses the qualities of Helleborus (Lenten Rose), a wonderful early season bloomer. Read more here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/rediscovering-the-lenten-rose/2012/03/23/gIQArHQogS_story.html
The second article talks about the benefits of using fireplace ash in the garden:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home-garden/the-benefits-of-wood-ash-in-the-garden/2012/03/18/gIQAVBSEgS_story.html
Monday, March 26, 2012
Warning: Cold Weather Tonight
Warning:
Cold Weather Tonight
It looks like Mother Nature isn't quite ready to is not quite
ready to give up on cold weather. Tonight's forecast is for temperatures in the
high 20's to low 30's. This means that some tender plants could be affected.
Here are some things to consider:
Cover the most tender
plants like roses, peonies and xxx with a sheet or newspaper.If you have
already planted spring annuals (petunias, begonias etc) or vegetable plants,
cover them as well.
Cover the plants around dinner time tonight
and uncover them around 9am tomorrow morning.
Most plants will come
through the cold temperatures just fine. Some of the more tender growth may get
burned but will most likely be re-generated.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Be A Suburban Farmer
Be A
Suburban Farmer
Nothing tastes better, or is better for you,
than fresh grown vegetables. It is even more rewarding when you grow them
yourselves. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of work to get a garden started.
Removing turf, tilling in organic matter and fertilizer...who has the time? And
then there is the bending over to pull weeds.
Want the "fruits of
your labor" without the toil? We have the answer.
Allentuck Landscaping Co.
has created "Garden In A Box"! These vegetable/herb gardens are 4'
wide, 8' long, and stand 1' tall to minimize the bending over. Each garden is
constructed using sturdy recycled composite lumber that will not rot or warp
and is filled with a rich mixture of topsoil, leafmold and manure. We even give
you a bag of fertilizer so you can continue to nourish your garden plot.
Each Garden In A Box can
be installed for $550.00 (slightly more on sloped ground) or two for $1,045.00.
Deer Protection can be added for $140.00.
Get started today to have
veggies on your table this summer.
To find out more how
Allentuck Landscaping Co. can make your landscape dreams a reality, please call
Eric Shostal at 301-515-1900 or email at eric@allentucklandscaping.com, or simply click the link below:
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
2012 New Year Garden Resolutions
2012 New Year
Garden Resolutions
A new year brings the opportunity for
improvement and while most resolutions may go by the wayside, we are pleased to
present some that you may want to consider for your landscape.
·
I
will recycle my yard waste by composting.
·
I will install a rain barrel...or two.
·
I will spend more time with my family and friends in the garden.
·
I will put out bird seed this winter.
· I will stop and smell the roses...and the hydrangeas...and
anything else blooming in my garden.
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I will water in the morning to avoid fungal growth.
·
I will plant a vegetable garden so I can eat healthier.
·
I will install some plants that will give my gardens more interest
for the winter.
·
I will enjoy my yard.
·
I will have a happy and healthy new year.
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