In most parts of the country, this is a very pleasant time of the year as spring begins to transition into summer. If rain has been falling in reasonable quantities, lawns are looking lush and verdant. Many flowering shrubs are bursting into bloom with vibrant colors. Trees finally have a full canopy of fresh green leaves.

Think of this as your reward for all that hard work you put in during the fall and spring!

At this time of the year, garden chores feel less like work and more like fun; at least if you are like Cheryl and me.

Let’s start with the lawn. There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to lawn mowing. The first sees it as a test of macho motorized skill, swerving around trees at full throttle. It’s an off-road ATV… with blades! WhooHooo! The other sees it as a necessary evil to be completed as quickly as possible. It seems the first school consists mainly of teenagers who slowly graduate to the second school over a number of decades. Although some never seem to graduate from that first group their entire lives!

Whether it’s you or your teenager aboard the mower, remember to set the blades to a height of not less than three inches. If you give your lawn a Marine-style buzz cut you are weakening the grass putting it at risk of weed and pest infestation and extreme stress from drought. Just because your neighbor wants a lawn that looks like a putting green doesn’t mean you have to. Your lawn will be stronger and healthier.

You should also avoid mowing your lawn when it’s wet and keep the blades sharp so that they cut, rather than tear, the blades of grass. Leave the clippings on the lawn and they will return much-needed nutrients to the soil. If you have a mulching mower, so much the better.

Lawns need watering about once a week or so, when you’re not getting a decent amount of rainfall. A thorough watering once a week is far better for your lawn than lighter, more frequent watering because it forces the grass to push down deep roots creating a stronger, denser lawn.

At this time of year, weeds seem to spring from your flower beds almost overnight. Weeding is often cited by gardeners as their least favorite garden activity. The trick is to take care of it regularly – daily if possible – so that the weeds don’t have a chance to take hold and begin to multiply. Cheryl and I prefer to weed early in the morning for two reasons. For a start, it is still pleasantly cool, and secondly weeds are often much easier to pull up if the ground is still a little moist from an overnight dew.

Here’s an idea: The 60-second weed watch. As you leave the house for work in the morning, pause outside and pull up as many weeds as you can in just one minute. At the end of the week, you’ll have pulled a lot more weeds than you’d think. To avoid wet knees and dirty fingers, keep some kind of kneeling pad and a glove by the door.

Take a look at your perennials and annuals and deadhead where necessary. For most plants, deadheading simply involves pinching or snapping off the dead or withered flowers or snipping them with scissors.

Deadheading will keep your flowering plants looking neat and fresh but serves a higher purpose. It makes the plant put out more flowers in an attempt to produce more seeds as part of its need to procreate. So deadheading is likely to keep new blooms appearing over a longer period of time.

Check your roses for signs of black spot disease. Many gardeners swear by a cheap home remedy that consists of 1 or 2 teaspoons of baking soda plus a few drops of dish detergent dissolved in a half-gallon of water. Remove any diseased leaves and spray the mixture gently on your roses, preferably early in the morning.

Above all, this is a great time to enjoy your landscape. Take time to stop and smell the roses… and everything else in your garden.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, including archived columns, visit www.landsteward.org