And now a word from Mark Cullen

Below is an excerpt from the "Gardening With Mark" June Newsletter. You can sign up for the newsletter at Mark's website, www.markcullen.com

June is the month of mulch.

You will get most of your plants – annuals, perennials, roses and others – into the ground sooner or later this month and when you are done, you can sit back in the hammock and enjoy.

Well, almost.

The Gardeners Secret Weapon.

The last remaining thing for you to do before you settle in for a comfortable summer in your garden is to mulch. This is the gardeners’ secret weapon – and the main reason why you CAN sit back and relax all summer. Here is why:

1. A 5 cm (2 inch) layer of finely ground up cedar or pine bark mulch insulates the soil from the drying effects of the sun and wind. You will reduce your watering by up to 70% as a result.

2. The same mulch provides a barrier to the germination of weed seeds and many weed roots – the result – an 80 to 90% reduction in weeding in the first year. See how easy that was?

Bark mulch is inexpensive (wasn’t that long ago that it was considered a waste product…), easy to apply, smells good, looks good and lasts for up to 3 years (with an annual freshen up layer added). Need I say more?

Celebrate mulch and shake your booty all the way to Home Hardware for a few bags.

On a personal note, I am looking forward to the month of June for a whole bunch of reasons.

I Travel west and east in June to award winners with Home Hardware!

I am traveling to Lloydminster, Alberta for the grand opening of one of the first ‘Mark Cullen Approved’ garden centres at Home Hardware. The Rurka family is one of the great, outstanding retailing families in Canada (note all the awards that they have won!) and I am delighted to welcome them into the first year of the Mark Cullen Approved garden centre program.

Be sure to join me and the Rurka family on Tuesday, June 16 th. Details at www.hhlloyd.com.