• How much water should you apply? Each week a shrub needs one gallon per foot of height. Visit Shrub Watering

• Low limbs in the way when you mow? You can safely remove one fourth of the foliage of any healthy tree during the growing season.

• Collect the seeds from foxglove stalks. Scratch the soil around the plant, scatter the seed and cover with a bit of earth. Water occasionally and the seedlings that sprout this year will bloom next year.

• Look for small new seedlings under your Lenten rose. They can be transplanted now to other spots.

• Lure slugs and snails under a hollowed out half-cantaloup near your hosta. Check at noon every few days and scrape them into a bucket of soapy water.

SECOND WEEK

• Use soaker hoses and a water timer to irrigate annuals, perennials and shrubs. The hose conserves water and the timer makes it easy. Most hoses apply 1 gallon per foot per hour.

• Check your lawn for circular, dead, brown spots. Could be "Brown Patch" but correct your fertilization and watering practices before you reach for a fungicide. Visit Lawn Care Calendars

• Remove stakes and guy wires from trees that have been planted for several months. They can stand on their own now.

• Mulch your vegetable garden. Try using three sheets of newspaper to cover the ground around each plant, then cover the paper with straw or leaves. Otherwise, pine straw or wheat straw by itself works fine.

THIRD WEEK

• Plant annuals in small beds that make a visual impact but are still easy to water. Try color bowls or large container plantings near the entry to your home

• Fertilize outdoor houseplants regularly. Constant watering in the summer washes nutrients from the soil.

• Raise the height of your mower by one notch. It will help your lawn grass withstand dry weather. Remove the faded flowers from geraniums and marigolds to help them make more blooms.

• Pick okra and squash regularly. Just one fully ripe fruit halts blooming on the entire plant.

FOURTH WEEK

• Keep your lawnmower blade sharp. A ragged cut makes grass use more water.

• Big green caterpillars on parsley and fennel are the precursors to beautiful swallowtail butterflies. Try not to kill them if you can help it.

• Tree roots are almost bone dry! Give them 15 gallons per inch of trunk thickness once each week if regulations allow. Visit www.georgiadrought.com

• Prune back your hydrangeas when most of the blooms have faded. You'll quickly get lots of new branches, which may give more flowers this fall.

• If restrictions allow, water your lawn only once per week but make it a deep, thorough soaking: one inch of precipitation.