Enjoy these helpful tips on keeping your garden and lawn looking great and healthy! This special Lawn & Garden feature brought to you by Quail Lakes Nursery in Stockton.

LAWN CARE
Warm weather has finally arrived. More watering is required to keep our plants and lawns healthy. Watering brings on the germination of weed seeds. If you are experiencing a weed problem, now is the time to minimize the weeds. Proper procedure would be; First, fertilize your lawn to assure that the weeds are growing vigorously. A crabgrass preventer + Lawn Fertilizer 22-3-5 would be a good choice. Not only is it an excellent fertilizer, but it contains pre-emergent herbicide to provide control of most annual grasses and certain broadleaf weeds found in lawns. One week later follow with an application of a post emergent herbicide that will kill the grassy and broadleaf weeds in your lawn without harming the lawn. Follow this procedure again mid-August and you should have a weed free lawn. A lawn restore fertilizer 10-2-6 will help minimize conditions that promote patch disease. It is also excellent for summer stress conditions.

If you noticed dry yellow patches in your lawn last year, you may have a problem with grubs. Grubs are the larvae of moths and beetles that feed on your lawns’ roots, thus killing the lawn. Treat you lawn monthly with lawn and garden multi insect killer to solve the problem before it gets the best of your lawn. A healthy lawn is not nearly as susceptible to weeds or disease as is an unhealthy lawn. Regular fertilization, year round, is the route to take to a thick, lush, weed-free, green lawn. Early detection is important for eradication of unwanted pests.

FERTILIZATION
Now that your azaleas have gone through their blooming cycle, it is not time to forget them…prune them and clean off spent blossoms. Fertilize and top dress with peat or an azalea planter mix. Each and every month through Fall, all your acid loving plants such as camellias and azaleas need to be fed so they will have lush foliage and abundant blooms. An organic-based fertilizer 5-7-6 is a good choice. If your annuals are planted, give them strength to grow and bloom by feeding them with flower and rose food organic based 5-8-5 will satisfy their needs at this time.

ROSE CARE
Roses have seen their first flush. It is time to prune and apply a systemic or fertilizer.. If you choose to use a systemic, it not only feeds your roses, but will kill sucking insects such as aphids as well, doing this all with one simple application. If you are seeing powdery mildew, black spot, or rust, the three primary diseases in roses, you will need to apply a fungicide. A good rose and shrub disease control treatment will solve your problems. If you have any of the aforementioned diseases plus insect infestation you may wish to choose Insect and disease Control.

It is very important to properly prune your roses, not only to promote new growth and blooms, but to keep the bush in good health. Cut stems just above the last 2 or 3 sets of leaves which should consist of 5 to 7 leaflets, and also above a leaflet facing outward if that is possible. This will promote growth in an outward direction, creating a v-like shape to your bush. Proper shaping allows good air circulation.

WEED CONTROL
Seeing weeds everywhere? A good contact spray comes in very handy this time of year. Use a fast acting post emergent spray that will kill most weeds and grasses in 1 to 4 days. Have you tried a preemergent in your flower beds? It will kill weed seeds before they germinate in your flower beds. Gardening becomes mush easier with the use of weed preventive and weed control products.