Bonus Tip: Pair annual flowers with ornamental grasses for a spectacular effect. The blooms of the annuals contrast nicely with the dramatic, airy seed heads of ornamental grasses.

Punch Up The Color with Mums and Pansies!
Instant impact! That’s what you’ll get when you add ready-to-bloom chrysanthemums and pansies to beds, borders, and containers. These easy-care plants relish cool weather and provide an injection of color in your September garden. Look for stocky plants that are still in bud so that you can enjoy them longer. Blooming plants are great if you need color for a same-day event, but they’re further into their bloom cycle and won’t last as long as budded specimens.

Bonus Tip: Chrysanthemums are available in two basic types: florist and garden. Florist mums make wonderful gifts, but do not do well outside. For landscape use, look for garden mums.

Improve Your Soil With Amendments
Fall is a great time to improve the soil in your September garden. After you remove dead and dying vegetables and flowers, spread a 2- to 3-inch-deep layer of rotted manure or compost over the surface of the soil. Spade or rototill it into the top several inches of soil and rake smooth. If the area had been mulched previously, just spread the soil amendments over the mulch and then rototill everything at the same time. In smaller beds, use a garden fork to turn the soil. If you want to protect your soil from wind erosion during the winter, sow a cover crop of annual rye grass now in September. It grows quickly and keeps the soil in place until spring. By then, the grass will be dead and you can turn it under to add an extra dose of nitrogen to your soil.

Bonus Tip: If you have a source of fresh horse or chicken manure, spread it directly over your garden in early fall. Winter snows and rains help break it down so its high nitrogen content won’t burn your crops in the spring. At other times of the year, fresh manure needs to be properly composted before applying.

Plant Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Enjoy a bounty of bloom in your garden next year by planting spring-flowering bulbs now. Tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, and other early-bird bloomers can be massed in beds by themselves or tucked in between established perennials and shrubs. Planting bulbs is easy: Just dig individual holes (8 inches deep for large bulbs like daffodils, 4 inches deep for smaller bulbs such as crocus), drop the bulb in, and cover with soil. Or, dig one large hole and toss in a dozen or more bulbs.  Planted this way, they’ll pop up in one impressive drift of color.

Bonus Tip: Select a variety of bulbs that bloom at different times to ensure color from early spring through to early summer. Some species, such as snowdrops, bloom as early as February, while late bloomers such as alliums flower in early June.

Clean Up Herb & Vegetable Gardens
The best way to prevent insects and diseases from affecting your vegetable garden next year is to clean it up this fall. Always remove rotting fruit, diseased foliage, or dead vines as soon as they appear. This is especially true with crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, melons, and squash. Pests and diseases love to overwinter on these vegetables if they are left in the garden to rot. Compost your garden refuse as soon as possible and, if your crops have been ill over the summer, consider burning the remains or bagging them for garbage pick-up.

Bonus Tip:  Make sure any leaves or tendrils are cleaned off tomato cages and supports before you store them for the winter. It only takes one insect egg case or spore clinging to the support to cause problems in your garden next spring.

Bring Tender Houseplants Indoors
If you haven’t done so already, bring vacationing houseplants indoors before frost. Give each plant a cleansing spray from the garden hose, then inspect them closely for insect hitchhikers hiding in the foliage. Wipe the pots clean to remove any soil that may have splashed up on them during the summer. Let them dry and then carry them into the house placing them on saucers to protect your floors from runoff. Some plants may also have put on a lot of new growth over the summer and will require a bit of pruning to shape them up before you bring them inside.

Bonus Tip: To prevent unexpected soil pests from moving indoors, sink each pot in a bucket of water for a few hours before bringing the plant indoors. This process drowns or uncovers any slugs, snails, worms, or beetles hiding below the surface of the soil.

Enhance your Landscape With Trees & Shrubs
September is an ideal time to add shrubs and trees to your landscape. Hydrangeas, roses, and other flowering shrubs and trees flourish during the cool, moist fall weather. Just be sure to do a little research before you add any plants to your landscape: Look for varieties that are hardy in your climate and won’t grow too large for the space you have. And always remember that even the smallest sapling will eventually grow into a tree that could swallow your home if planted too close.

Bonus Tip: Improve winter survival of trees and shrubs by watering them deeply right up until hard frost.  The soil should be moist before it freezes solid.

Improve Your Lawn With Some Maintenance
Give your lawn some attention this month. Most cool-season lawns benefit from dethatching, aeration, and fertilization. You can also seed or sod new lawns at this time or fix bare spots in older lawns. It’s also the season to control perennial weeds such as clover and dandelion. In the fall, these weeds prepare for winter by pulling nutrients and starches from their leaves into their roots. When you apply a lawn herbicide in the fall, the plants will also draw the chemical into their roots and die. Southern grasses such as bahia, Bermudagrass, zoysia, and St. Augustine can also be fertilized this month. Choose a fertilizer that contains controlled-release nitrogen that will feed the turf as it needs it.

Bonus Tip: There’s no need to purchase lawn tools such as aerators, dethatchers, or rototillers: They are all available to rent at your local home improvement store.

Dry Flowers For Winter Enjoyment
Savor the colors of your September garden all winter long by creating dried bouquets of your favorite flowers. Strawflower, globe amaranth, celosia, sedum, statice, yarrow, and artemisia are just a few examples of flowers that are easy to dry and preserve beautifully for winter bouquets. Just cut the blooms (leaving as long a stem as possible) in the morning after the dew evaporates. Bundle them, and hang them upside down in a dry, well-ventilated, dark location. After a week or two they can be taken down and mixed together to create everlasting bouquets or wreaths.

Bonus Tip: Use a piece of foam core at the bottom of your vase to keep dried flowers in place. Just stick each stem into the foam base for stability.

Engage With a Child
Now that school is back in session, engage the budding scientist in your life with a terrarium project. Terrariums are fun and allow children to create a miniature world all their own. Plus, kids learn valuable lessons about how soil, plants, water, and air interact in a perfect environment. They can even choose between a jungle or desert themes.
Jungle-theme terrariums can include plants such as peperomia, pilea, fern, nerve plant, selaginella, begonia, philodendron, and saxifrage. In a desert garden, try mammillaria, echeveria, sempervivum, portulacaria, crassula, kalanchoe, sedum, and haworthia.

Bonus Tip: Any glass container can be transformed into a jungle terrarium. Avoid the urge to water too frequently: Misting your plants once a day provides needed humidity without flooding the container. Dish gardens planted with desert plants should only be lightly watered once or twice a month.

1. Make sure your plants are getting enough water, especially newly installed landscaping. You’ll want to keep the soil moist, but resist the urge to overwater your plants.
2. A basic guideline to follow: Yellow leaves means you are giving plants too much water and brown leaves mean not enough water.
3. Either water early in the morning or in the early afternoon. The best time is in the morning as plants make best use of water at this time and this helps prevent rot and fungus.
4. It’s been a hot summer, so you’ll want to take care of your lawn. Only feed your lawn with slow-acting fertilizers and be sure to mow your lawn and trim the edges regularly.
5. Do not mow your lawn too short!  This is a common mistake that is unnecessarily hard on your lawn, and actually promotes the growth of noxious weeds.
6. To prevent a heat stressed lawn, cut your fescue grasses at 3 – 3 ½” or higher.
7. If you notice any yellow patches or areas of your lawn that aren’t growing well, make sure you increase the water distribution. Look for areas that are getting overwatered and underwatered and take steps to correct this imbalance.
8. During the summer heat, continue to weed your garden bed areas. You can weed by either spraying selective weed killer or pulling weeds by hand. If you’re hand weeding the best time to do it is when the soil is damp- it’ll be much easier.
9. Summer is a great time to do light pruning and clean up and improve the health and look of your landscaping. Remove any dry leaves from your perennials and annuals and any faded blooms.
10. Add or replace mulch around trees, shrubs & in bed areas to a depth of 3” to 4″ This helps maintain moisture during dry weather.
11. Make sure you’re monitoring your plants for insects and disease damage. If you notice any, treat the area as needed. There has been a large increase in insect pests due to mild winters. Spray as needed!
12. Wait to plant your fall perennials until the outside temperatures begin to drop over night. This typically will be some time in September.

July weather in the south is hot and humid. This leads to a significant spike in insect populations and fungal diseases. We highly recommend that you are diligent in your pest prevention methods during summer. Monitor your lawn and landscape plants regularly for signs of any diseases or infestation. Identify the pest or pathogen responsible, then research the best method for eradicating that particular insect or fungus. Fungicides and Pesticides usually have very specific labeling and tend to be targeted for a very specific pathogen or insect. If you plan to spray yourself, it is critical that you obtain a product labeled for use on the specific threat you intend to target. It is also imperative that you read the instructions for use carefully, and follow all manufacturer recommendations for pretective equipment. Generally, late evening is considered to be the best time to spray during the hot summer season. At Davis Kee Outdoor, we can help with all common lawn and landscape pest and fungus issues.

Mow and water your lawn and landscape on a regular basis, but don’t overwater. If you have sprinklers, or other irrigation, consider installing a rainfall sensor so that your system recognizes the amount of rainfall your landscape is receiving from thunderstorms and rain showers. This simple sensor will prevent the system from engaging when the grass has already received adequate water, and prevent over-watering. If you don’t have sprinklers, or irrigation, then you want to remain aware of the amount of water being lost to evaporation and runoff. You should water once or twice a day if there is no rain. You definitely want to keep your lawn mowed but also avoid over mowing. Grass tends to grow quickly in the summertime, but you never want to be cutting more than 1/3 the height of the grass. Mowing grass too short can lead to stress on the roots, dehydration, and discoloration.

It is recommended that you continually deadhead your annual and perennial flowers so they can rebloom later on in the season. You can also pluck the top buds of several popular flowering plant species to limit seed development, which results in the plant blooming more. If you have questions, Davis Kee can help.

Be aware that poison ivy is an issue. This poisonous and invasive plant is constantly finding its way into Chattanooga area gardens, yards, and landscapes. You can identify this noxious pest by its signature look-three pointed leaflets per leaf. If you see poison ivy, do not touch it directly! Poison Ivy can be controlled by pulling it up using gloves or yard tools, as well as brush killing products. Follow all manufacturer label instructions when using brush killer. For those brush clean up jobs, contact Davis Kee to get the job done!

Fertilize your vegetable and herb plants with a nitrogen rich fertilizer about once per month in the summertime. This will keep your garden plants strong and healthy. We do not recommend using fertilizer on dry soils. It is preferred to wait until after a rainstorm or irrigation has watered your garden to apply fertilizer. The summer months are also a good time to prune trees and shrubs. You can be thorough with this process, but limit your pruning to removing less than 15% of the leaves of a plant if you want the plant to remain healthy. The first priority is any branches that are already dead, or appear to be dying. Call Davis Kee Outdoor for assistance with this and other summer projects!

Remember to harvest your herbs, fruits, and vegetables. July is peak season for all sorts of critters that would love to take your freshly ripened produce. Birds, deer, rabbits, and insects can all steal or destroy your crops before you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Check your garden every day and harvest as soon as your crops reach sufficient ripeness to pick.

Get ready for fall by planting fall vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, carrots, turnips, and radishes. These can all be planted now for maximum enjoyment when autumn rolls around. It’s nice to have something to look forward to, and our long growing season here in the south affods us that luxury.

For assistance with all of the above, and much more, contact Davis Kee Outdoor today!

As 2020 gives way to 2021, here are five recent  trends that grew in popularity in 2020 and are worth keeping an eye on in 2021. 

Vegetables & Herbs

The pandemic has led to fears of food shortages and an increased recognition of the risk of going to the grocery store. This has led to a remarkable increase in new herb and vegetable gardens in 2020. A popular trend has been to incorporate raised garden beds, herb planters, and other food-growing environments into hardscaping projects. Davis Kee predicts this trend will continue and grow.

Relaxation Prioritized

Being at home more during the pandemic led many people to expand and improve their outdoor living areas. Outdoor furniture such as patio chairs, hammocks, and swinging benches became staples of hardscaping projects in 2020 as people looked for alternative spots to relax at home. At Davis Kee Outdoor, we fully expect this trend to continue into 2021. 

Water Features

Water features have increased in popularity in recent years, and this trend shows no sign abating. At Davis Kee Outdoor, we expect that fountains, spillways, and ponds with waterfalls will continue to find their way into hardscaping projects in 2021.

Wildlife Harmony

Beekeeping in urban and suburban environments has seen a tremendous surge in demand recently. Another trend on the rise is people keeping chickens. As 2021 gets underway, we at Davis Kee Outdoor expect to see an increase in wildlife environments being built into hardscapes along with the traditional bird houses, bird baths, and bird & squirrel feeders.

Outdoor Cuisine

The custom backyard grill is an amenity that is increasingly being incorporated into hardscaped spaces. This allows people to save space for outdoor living and creates a luxorious seamless appearance. At Davis Kee Outdoor, we predict that grilling outdoors will continue to drive this trend well into the future.

Expert Help Is Available

These are a few of the trends to watch out for in 2021. For more information and ideas, contact Davis Kee Outdoor today! Winter is a great time to plan your project so your newly hardscaped space can be ready for use in 2021.