After the long and chilly winter months are over with, most of the time people can not wait to get outside and feel the warm sunshine on their face and the mild breezes that says Spring is here. Planting is is what is on people’s minds whether it is flowers or vegetables, and of course, there is lawn mowing to be done. Those heavy coats, hats and gloves can be packed away for another year. Finally you can dress lighter in sneakers, shorts and t-shirts.

There are also plenty of fun things to do when the weather turns good like swimming parties when you have a pool, cookouts with friends and family, and then just sitting around in the evening doing nothing at all as late evening approaches. You do enjoy all of these things until the bugs show up to ruin the party. Disease carrying mosquitoes, stinging bees, and biting gnats and flies often show up uninvited and refuse to leave no matter how much you swat them or spray them.

Most of the people all over the world have been facing inconvenience living in their own houses due to the presence of mice. These rodents are nocturnal in nature and create havoc in your house while you are fast asleep. During cold days, mice are on the hunt for finding warm places where they can live comfortable. In such situations, households are the best possible option because along with shelter, they also have access to food supply. These mice can be a big problem if not nipped in the bud. The easiest way of protecting yourself from these creatures is by taking precautions in order to keep them out of your house.

These mice, if not gotten rid of in time can be the reason for a lot of damages in your house. They also start multiplying in no time. This means that even before you realize, the mice will build their own little community in your home. This is why there is constant need for education on how to get rid of mice.

Early May is the time up north to divide overgrown clumps of daylilies, Shasta daisies, garden chrysanthemums, hardy perennial asters, perennial phlox, physostegia, plantain lilies (funkia), lythrum, garden heliotrope and speedwell (veronica).

It is especially important to divide garden mums that have survived the winter. Small divisions of the clump containing a stout sprout and a good piece of root produce better plants and more abundant blooms. Garden chrysanthemums are not hardy perennials in the North. They do not come through the rugged winters like peonies, iris and other hardy garden perennials. Some winters they survive almost 100% and other winters only a small percent come through alive.

New plants should be secured and planted early in May in order to get maximum growth and flowering. Later plantings result in smaller plants and fewer flowers. This also is a good time to plant regal lilies, and all of the summer and fall flowering varieties of hardy garden perennials. Spring flowering varieties are better planted in late summer or early fall. Gladiolus corms and dahlia tubers are planted in early May.

June may be bride’s month to many people, but to the busy southern gardener, it is “groom” month. Lawns – Watering, fertilizing and mowing make up the grooming operations for the lawn this month. The effect of nitrogen fertilizer applied in April will have about worn off by now and a light feeding is necessary.

Few gardeners realize that an average grass plant in one season may make as much as two or three feet of vegetative growth. This plus the fact that over 300 grass plants are on each square foot of lawn area make it easy to realize why regular feedings are necessary to maintain beautiful lawns. Regular applications to the lawn area will maintain good color. Irrigate your lawn, do not sprinkle. Thorough soaking once per week should be sufficient. Mow frequently and to the proper height. The average height of cut for Bermuda grass lawns should be 1 1/2 to two inches. Most people mow much lower and are not aware of it.

The study of our native wild flowers is a most fascinating hobby. It’s now the first week in May. For real thrills, we leave Kansas City about three in the morning and at 6:30 are having breakfast in the Ozarks beside a sparkling, rocky stream, bordered with bluebells and sweet William. Dogwoods are in bloom on the rocky slopes, and look at those birds foot violets – some are bicolors… arent they just about the cutest ever? And shooting stars in pink and white, and yellow… click, click of my digital camera and I have them in natural color pictures to enjoy next winter. Watch closely, you may see a scarlet tanager, a redstart, the big pileated woodpecker or perhaps the little cerulean warbler. Thats real honest to goodness fun.

Many perennials can be successfully grown from seed in your own garden. Save or buy seeds of delphiniums, columbines, dianthus, lupines, gaillardias, pyrethrum, linums, coreopsis, violas and veronicas. The seed may be sown in separate beds or in long rows as vegetables would be planted. It is easier, however, to carry the plants over the winter in beds than in rows. Some of the plants will be large enough to move to a proper location in the flower border this fall, but better results are usually obtained by spring planting.

Gardeners know better than most people, that everything man has came out of the earth. Therefore they respect earth. But if you have decided to make a garden, you must first remember that on the face of this earth there are many places with no soil and that a garden can be made only where there is soil. If you live in a city or a town, I am thinking of your back yard. which probably looks as if it were covered with soil. But the dirt may not be soil at all. It probably was soil once. And you can make it soil again”provided you know what soil is.

Gardening is so much fun that a lot of people, when spring comes around, rush to a seed store, come home laden with seeds, and start planting. Many of them never rush to a seed store again, because they find they “cant make things grow.” Nobody ever made anything grow. A seed is a tiny high-powered bundle of determination to grow. All the gardener has to do is put it where a seed can grow. The people whom spring beguiled into a seed store and could never beguile again”those people usually put the seed in dirt all right., but not in soil.