Melissa’s

gardening & design

Garden Maintenance

• Drip Irrigation

  Adequate watering is a critical element to a successful garden, especially potted plants, annual plants, freshly planted tree shrubs, or perennials. We install simple boxstore irrigation lines with timers to garden beds and planters. At the end of the season we drain the lines with an air compressor to ensure lines will be safe from winter's freezing temperatures.

• Mulching

  Mulching is so important for multiple reasons. It is necessary to keep control of your garden’s health and it elevates the aesthetics of your garden. Mulch helps retain the moisture plants need in the heat of the summer and the moisture they need to protect from winter damage. Not only does mulch keep weeds in check by suppressing unwanted seeds from germinating, but it can also accentuate the garden’s beauty by keeping it clear of weeds and highlighting the defined lines of a garden bed.

  
  

  Mulch comes in many forms: straw, rocks, wood chips, compost, bark, and more depending on what you want to be done with your garden, dictating where and how the mulch is applied.

• Weeding

  Whether your weeds are a light task that needs doing or have become a situation that has got out of your control and you need a hand, we are here to help return your garden to its former glory.

• Fertilizing

  This can come in different forms: granular, liquid, or crystal. You can also top-dress your beds with a seafood compost or a dehydrated cow manure, which is used to keep plants fed and help them perform at their best, adjusting ph levels and poor soil.

• Edging

  We re-cut garden bed edges or pathways to refresh their appearance and take away unruly grass and other debris. This is not to be confused with weed-wacking.

• Garden Beds

  Whether you simply want to add a new garden bed to your existing garden, rejuvenate your garden with dividing plants, or transplant or add new plants to your garden, we’re here to help!

• Pruning Shrubs

  Most shrubs need light pruning each spring and sometimes require a complete rejuvenation, sometimes resulting in a loss (generally this is only done when a shrub has been particularly unruly or neglected for a long period of time). Regardless, an unruly shrub is already an eyesore and who wants that?

• Deer Deterrent

  We do everything we can to keep deer away. If fencing is not an option for your garden (though we highly recommend it), and you are unable to spray your garden beds weekly, we do our best to spray down your beds for you when we are at your property, depending on our specified arrangement. Even so, spraying your garden beds does not guarantee deer won’t come to snack on your garden. This is an issue that is continually getting worse.

• Fall Clean Up

  Fall is a time where we cutback plants and remove leaves from the garden, taking up those hoses, emptying out the pots and generally gear up for winter. The timing for cutting back the garden can be a controversial topic, but I do it 1) because it is unsightly to leave the garden as-is over the winter, 2) because some plants might be harboring bad insects like snails and slugs, and 3) to keep fungal issues from spreading and contained (if left unaddressed, the fungus can spread and become a greater issue).