Home

• Inspect and service clothes washer and dryer, cook top or stove, dishwasher, trash compactor, counter-top appliances, exhaust fans, etc., according to the manufacturers' recommendations.
• Clean condenser coils or fins beneath or behind refrigerator according to the manufacturer's instructions. When moving a refrigerator away from the wall, slide it onto a sheet of hardboard or plywood. This will protect the flooring from roller or caster damage. When you slide the refrigerator back make certain there is adequate airflow around the appliance.
• Using binoculars, inspect roof from the ground (walking on a damp or wet roof can be very dangerous), looking for loose, missing or damaged roofing materials. Repair any damage. If you have access to the underside of the roof, check during a heavy rain for leaks.
• Trim branches around the roofline to keep squirrels and other pesky animals off the roof 
• Dust light bulbs. Dust on light bulbs can reduce the amount of light emitted by the bulb. Gently dust bulbs, when you do routine dusting. However, never dust a warm or hot bulb with a damp cloth, as the bulb could break.
• Make a room-by-room inventory of everything in your house. Hopefully you will never need it, but in the event of fire, flood or other disaster, it will be important in filing an insurance claim. Photographs and/or a videotape of your possessions can also be very helpful.
• Replace worn faucet washers.

Garden

• Start tuberous begonias. Place on bed of damp peat moss or potting soil, with half the tuber exposed. Keep them away from direct sun and in a darker area until leaves form.
• Sow seeds of annuals: pansy, violas, fairy primrose, stock Virginian stock, marigolds, petunias, cosmos, lobelia, nasturtiums, sunflowers, Sweet William, Tithonia and bachelors buttons.
• Control weeds in shrubbery borders and lawns before they get too large and difficult to eradicate.
• Feed camellias after petal fall. Use Superfine Azalea, Camellia, and Rhododendron fertilizer, specially made for acid loving plants.
• Prune deciduous flowering trees after bloom.
• Almost invisible slugs and snails love daffodil blooms. Spread meal, pellets, granules, or use liquid baits to protect the blooms.
• Plant these perennials for brilliant colors all summer: bleeding hearts, candytuft, coral bells, pinks, carnations, marguerites, poppies, Shasta daisy and penstemon.
• Apply lawn fertilizer with a pre-emergent weed preventer this month. This stops weeds and crabgrass in lawns before summer arrives.
• Spray a copper-based dormant spray with a sticker-spreader on peach, nectarine, and apricots to control peach leaf curl and brown rot.