To – Dos:
Interior
- Test carbon monoxide and smoke detectors
- Run water and flush toilets in spaces used less frequently
- Vacuum refrigerator coils
- Check and clean your range hood fan
- Clean microwave and oven
- Clean garbage disposal
- Check locks on doors and windows
- Clean windows
- Inspect your whole plumbing system for leaks
Exterior
- Maintain yard growth
- If you have Weiglea in your yard, it’s time to prune
- Shape up those Forsythia bushes
- Mid-July is a good time to cut back your Mums, Asters, Sedum and Montauk Daisies to keep them under control and to ensure good branching
- Turn your planting containers regularly to maintain even growth
- Deadhead perennial plants regularly to encourage re-bloom
- If you are planting, plant late in the day, not in the hot sun, and be sure to water in deeply
- Cut flowers for the house in the early morning or evening hours and try to choose flowers that are half open. To help your flowers last longer, add 1 Tb. sugar, 1⁄2 tsp. of white vinegar and 1⁄2 tsp. of bleach into 1 qt. of water and use to fill vases as needed. Your cut flowers will stay fresh longer if they are not placed in front of an open or sunny window. Change the water often.