Don’t worry, your furry neighbors are just being mischievous. While they may dig up the bulbs, I doubt that they’re actually eating them. The bulbs and leaves contain a poisonous substance, which only certain insects can eat and survive.  Mother Nature has instilled the sixth sense in these rodents that the bulbs are not going to taste good.

“I plant lots of annuals every summer: geraniums, cosmos, petunias, and chrysanthemums….but after about late June they start becoming spindly and “leggy” and are not as compact looking any more. Is there a trick to keeping them bushy and lush? How can I keep them blooming and promote more blooms?”

As hard as it may be to get used to doing this, you must start pinching back your annuals as they start becoming “leggy.” Don’t be afraid of it. By pinching the plant back it will force the foliage and blooms to bush out around where you pinched the bloom or foliage back, thus giving you more blooms and the lushness you’re craving in your annuals.  You’ll be glad you did!

“I received a sundial for Mother’s Day for my garden. How in the world do I set it?”

Sundials are devices that tell the time by interpreting the shadow cast as the sun shines upon the fixed dials.  Because it’s so difficult to keep them accurate, people mostly use them in their garden for decorative focal points.  Even if you do manage to set one right, due to the complicated motion of the earth around the sun, it can still be up to 15 minutes fast or slow depending upon the time of year. To find out how sundials actually work, I found the following website extremely beneficial: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/Academy/Earth/Sundial-how.html .  Another great informative website as well is The North American Sundial Society at www.sundials.org .

“Last June and July my lawn got so parched looking in spots that I became concerned about fertilizing it in the heat of the summer, so I didn’t. Needless to say I’m worried about a repeat performance this summer.  Can I fertilize my lawn in the summer?”

It’s okay to give your lawn a boost mid summer. Use a complete lawn fertilizer with a 3-1-2 ratio of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous though. If your area is not getting regular rain and the weather is hot and dry, be sure to raise the mower blade so you are not cutting your grass too low to the ground. You may have to cut the lawn more often, but in the long run you lawn will be healthier.