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Coloring Flowers

Stop! Don't throw out the leftowvers just yet. Did you know that you can use your left over fruits and vegetables to grow more fruitd and vegetables? In this blog I will name a few of thes vegetables.  I will tell you how to regrow Celery, Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple from the pieces that you might usually toss in the trash.

Celery:  Take the bottom of the celery you cut off and soak it in warm water for about 24 hours. Next plant it in fertile soil with the cut side up. Water Daily. in about 1-2 weeks you should start to see the tops of baby celery.

Sweet Potatoes:  To grow a sweet potato is all you need is the end of one of your old sweet potatoes. Cut off the end of the potato, place toothpicks around the outside of the potato and submerge the tip in water allowing the toothpicks to support the remainder of the piece of patato above the water. Palce the potato in a nice sunny spot near the window and watch the roots start to grow in about three weeks.  Once the roots form it is ready to plant in the ground.

Pineapple:  You can grow a pineapple by planting the top of your scrap pineapple.  Once you have removed the top you need to peel away about 1/2 in. of the leaves at the bottom of the stalk. Next you need to trim the bottom and sides of the stalk till you see little brown dots around the rim. This is where your roots will come from. Now you need to let the pineapple dry for two days to prevent it from rotting.  Then place the pineapp.e top into a bowl of plain water. Remember to change the water every 2 days. Once you see lots of roots growing it's time to plant the top in a pot that drains well with about 9 inches of soil. They grow slow, but soon you will have a healthy pinapple bush that one day, a couple of years from now, will produce a pinapple.

I hope you have enjoyed our blog.  Good luck growing your scraps. We would love to hear about your experience on our Mister Landscaper Facebook Page. If you enjoyed this blog and want to learn about other scraps you can grow do a search on google.com for "plants you can plant from scraps".  And as always, Mister Landscaper the best way to irrigate all of you fruits and vegetables.

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome week.

July is Smart Irrigation Month, which reminds us that to be wise in how we irrigate our Landscapes and Gardens areas. Water is our most precious resource. It is very important to conserve our water during the hot summer months and when in drought areas of the country. Conserving your water will save you money as the price of water continues to rise.

Here are some smart ways to water your garden or landscape:

You don't need to water your lawn every day. During the summer months you only need to water every five to seven days. Your lawn only needs about one inch of water a week. You can buy a rain gauge to help keep track of how much water your grass is getting. The best time to water your lawn and plants is early in the morning or at night when the temperature is lower.

Mister Landscaper sells a timer that you can set to water your landscapes & garden beds when you want to. This will make smart watering very easy and avoid over or underwatering your plants. Mister Landscaper also sells a DIY easy to install low-flow Micro and Drip Irrigation kits that will use 50% to 70% less water then standerd irrigation. This will help keep the green in your garden as well as in your wallet! In the long run you will save water, time and money. Using mulch or graound cover also helps to retain moisture in the soil which means you have to water less overall.

For Smart Irrigation Month Mister Landscaper created a coloring book as a fun way to help teach kids about how to water wisely.  You can download it by clicking this link.

Some other simple tips to save water and re-use it in the garden are...

If you are going to take a bath use the water after you are done to water your plants.

If you take a shower put a bucket in the shower to catch the water. When you are done use it to water your plants.

Rain Barrels, we have all heard of them.  Getting one set up is not that hard, and you can use Micro and Drip Irrigation with them. Companies like Aqua Barrel make small pumps that cary the water in the barrel's to attached hoses for easy use.  Check them out at http://www.aquabarrel.com

If you have any other smart watering tips you can join us on Facebook. We would love to hear from you.

http://www.facebook.com/MisterLandscaper

I want to wish all of you a smart watering day.

This is the week when we celebrate the birthday of America, July 4th. Wow! What an awesome opportunity to think about how great our nation is - and how blessed we have been as a nation.
 
I wanted to consider some of the things that make America great. As I thought about this, it occurred to me that many of the things that make America a great nation start with the word "freedom." This is not a word to take lightly. Many people have fought and even given their very lives to preserve, maintain, and continue to allow our country that privilege. Here are just a few of the freedoms we have that make us unique in the world:

1. We are free to have an opinion - and voice it. No matter if people like it or not.

2. We are free to invent, create, and build a business in the hope that we have something to offer that others will be able to use and enjoy.
 
3. We are free to better ourselves. A person who starts off as a fast-food restaurant employee does not have to remain that way. They can choose to be better, work to improve, and, if they want, find a better place in life.
 
4. We are free to choose. We have the freedom to choose what we do, what we want, and how we act and react to those choices.
 
5. We are free to find fault with our leaders. No matter your political persuasion, that's a big one because no man or group of people is perfect. Being able to shine light on the wrongdoings of leadership without fear of being sent to prison - or worse - has helped to keep those that would be tyrants at bay.
 
6. We have freedom to build a future. Our course is not set. We can make ourselves better, make our nation better, and build families, companies, gardens, and lives that are marked by a continued movement toward greatness.
 
Mister Landscaper invents, develops, and manufactures quality products in America - instead of the alternative - because we believe that by providing Americans with the opportunity to work we are not just making better products. We are improving ourselves and giving others the opportunity to better themselves.
 
Our products are of the highest quality. We oversee production from start to finish, and we check them consistently. We can guarantee they work because we made them here - in America. We know what went into them, and we know the quality our customers expect to get out of them.
 
Thank you to our customers for allowing us to continue to make the highest-quality Micro and Drip Irrigation products on the market today.
 
Happy Birthday, America. Have a wonderful 4th of July!
 
 

A well manicured landscape is something to be noticed.  Beautiful Trees, shrubs, Flowers, and other types of plants fill the yard space with a combination of balance and design that can adorn the outside of a home much like jewelry on a beautiful woman.
While there are countless examples of wonderful landscape designs available online, something special began to catch my eye. I noticed that some of these landscapes had edible plants used in their layout.  This seemed to me like such a fabulous idea that I wanted to know more, so I began to research this trend and found out that it is becoming quite popular to ad edible plants to landscape designs, or even to completely use edible plants for the landscape.

There are a great many benefits to having edible plants in the yard. The first being, they are edible.  This can save some time, and money by avoiding going to the grocery store, just walk outside and pick your favorite veggie or fruit off your own plant. The Second benefit is that they are healthy.  We always talk about how we want to eat healthier around our house. What better way to do that then to surround our yards with healthy plants that encourage us to consume more fruits and vegetables.  A third benefit, is that growing edible landscapes is a "green" way to landscape a yard because the fruits and veggies that are grown in the yard don't have to be shipped across country or around the world to end up on your table.  And last, but certainly not least, if it is grown in your yard, you know what went into it, and on it, so there is less worry about strong pesticides or chemical fertilizers, and more time to enjoy the fruits of your yard.

This kind of landscaping will continue to gain in popularity as people tire of using water and other resources for large grassy areas that do little more then ornament the yard. Edible landscapes can help feed us and turn our yards into ecosystems. Fruit-bearing trees, bushes and perennial vegetables can be a part of a productive landscape, especially when mixed in with native and drought-resistant ornamentals. Ad to that low flow irrigation products such as micro & drip irrigation and one can create a sustainable landscape with not just color, but flavor as well.

With the prices of food rising in much of the country this is, no doubt, a trend that will continue to grow, leaving many a front and or back yard full of tasty treats.
 

A few years ago, a good friend of mine took the time to plant a wonderful
 small garden in his back yard. He lay down a row of squash and zucchini and
 was looking forward to what it would yield. The plants grew nice and lush.
  He watered and fertilized as required. Then they began to bud, marking the
beginning of the lovely vegetables. Everything was going according to plan.
  My friend was disappointed a few weeks later when the plants never produced
 any vegetables. He scratched his head thinking about what he might have 
forgotten to do. As he went down his checklist, it never once occurred to
him that the solution to his dilemma was as simple as four letters. B E E S!

Later, another friend of his at work told him that more than likely what had
 happened was a lack of our buzzing friends who are responsible for
 pollinating our plants. Quite simply, when the vegetable plants budded,
there were no bees around to spread the pollen. Could it be that simple? The
 answer is yes.


Anyone who has lived in Florida for a considerable amount of time has driven 
by an orange grove. The white stacks of wooden crates in the middle of the 
grove? Those are bee hives. They ensure the trees will produce oranges next 
fall. Amazing, isn't it?


Next time you are in your garden, and you notice a few of our hard working 
friends buzzing around, just let them be. They're doing you a huge
favor--what they were meant to do.
 

Whether we are gardeners, landscapers or just enjoy working in our yard from time to time, we are all busy.  Every now and then it is nice just to take a little breather and relax, keep in mind all of the hard work that has been done, and admire nature for what it is.  This weeks blog encourages everyone to do just that. Stop and smell, or in this case, look at the flowers.  Below you will find some of this springs best flower shots taken by our own pro photographer.  Some have been posted on our Facebook page, some on Twitter, and some will be seen for the first time.

Thank you to all our wonderful Micro and Drip Irrigation customers, and have a great week enjoying all that nature has to offer.

Mr. Landscaper Team

Memorial Day weekend is here.  Is it just another holiday or does it really mean something to us? Trip to the lake, the beach? Cookouts and hangouts are the order of the day. The release of a new Hollywood blockbuster at the theater is always something to look forward to? Finally, let’s all admit it having a Monday off is pretty cool.

Sacrifice, honor, bravery, determination, youth, selflessness, service… These words do not quite match what is described up above. What they do relate to is the true meaning of this holiday weekend. Memorial Day dates back to our American Civil War it was first celebrated to honor the fallen Union soldiers of that war. Soon after that, every last Monday in May has been set aside to honor every person that has given their life in the service of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Was it your grandfather in WWll, an uncle or father in Vietnam? Could it be a brother or sister wife or husband in Iraq or the war against terrorism? We all know someone.

Every year at this time, take a small amount of time to be thankful for the ultimate sacrifice they have given so we might enjoy the freedoms we have. Every privilege we have as Americans has been earned by the giving of a life. From everyone at Mister Landscaper, thank you. We are proud to be Made in the U.S.A.

Celebrate safely this weekend.
 

Spring is here, and for some of us a little farther south, it already feels like summer. Is it safe to say that winter is in the past? Well, there might be a little snow left on the ground here and there. But, it’s that time of the year we look forward to, at least those of us who actually enjoy a little horticulture activity.

Once all the initial work has been completed, such as the flower beds cleaned, pruning, planting, weeding, it is time to put the wet stuff on the green stuff. We just have to figure out what is the best and most efficient way to get that water to where we need it. Rain is best. But for some areas of our country, rain is a little scarce these days.

Mister Landscaper continues to show its commitment to customers by developing and producing great and new products--such as our NEW Mister Timer for microsprays and drip irrigation and our Red Down Spray Mister, which is a great new way for watering those plants that require plenty of water to the roots.

We are strongly committed to developing and producing new exciting products for you--our customers.

To see these new products, take a look around our Website. Did you know you can also see our products on Youtube? Plus, follow us on Facebook and watch for new posts about our new products and the great activities we have to keep us involved with you--our friends and customers.