Monthly-Garden-Calendar

The Merry Month of May is here, look forward to warmer days, clearer skies and lots of days in the garden. Here are the tips for May to keep your garden in good shape. Thank you Suzanne for your words of wisdom every month guiding us to more beautiful surroundings.

*Set out annuals after danger of frost is past. Transplants become less stressed when set out on a cloudy, calm day. Set out in late afternoon and protect from strong light and wind.

*Plant annual flower seeds.

*Plant dahlias and cannas after last frost date.

*Continue pruning spring flowering trees and shrubs after they bloom. Van Houten spirea, lilac, forsythia and mock orange should be pruned by removing the oldest and largest canes at the base of the plant.

*Dead head peonies.

*Pinch mums and asters until July 4.

*To keep pine trees small, remove ½ of the candle of new growth. Removing all new growth will result in bare branches as pines drop their oldest needles each fall.

*Cut back and layer perennials such as phlox, Joe Pye (when 3' tall), NE asters (when 24” tall) and monarda to control height.

*Shear candytuft back after blooming to promote bushiness.

*Stake or provide support for tall growing perennials or ones that tend to flop.

*Spray roses weekly for black spot. Alternate different systemic fungicides such as Immunex and Funginex.

*Spray peonies with a fungicide if it’s a cold, wet spring.

*Continue weeding and mulching.

*For powdery mildew on phlox, lilac and monarda, spray with dormant oil.

*To increase the number of foxglove in your garden, gently bend the finished flowering stalk down to the ground. When the seedpods are brown and totally dry, rub them onto the ground. When the new seedlings are big enough, transplant them to where you would like to have them in your garden. They will flower in 2 years (foxglove are biennials). Do this each year and you will have a garden full of foxglove.

*Keep a 5 gallon bucket of coarse sand, moistened with used motor oil, in your tool storage area. When you return your tools for storage, plunge them a couple of times in the sand mix to prevent rust and keep them clean.

MULCH

*Your flower beds to improve soil texture and preserve moisture.

WATER

*If it does not rain, water your tulips and daffodils weekly.

*Roses need to be watered once/week all growing season. Give them 10 gallons of water, 5 gallons for minis. Do not water every day. Roses prefer to get a good drink all at once.

*Spring flowering shrubs after they bloom. Osmocote or Plantone work well.

*Deadhead daffodils and tulips and fertilize with Bulbtone.

*Feed bearded iris with 5-10-10 after the flower stalks emerge.

*Give compost to heavy feeders: phlox, peonies, astilbe, clematis, reblooming daylilies.

*Fertilize clematis with Rosetone AFTER they finish blooming.

*Boxwood: 6 weeks after you gave them their first cottonseed meal, give them another application plus 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts.

*Roses: give them a snack of one of the following: Miracle Grow, fish emulsion, alfalfa meal or Rosetone on May 1.

*Perennials: continue feeding with compost tea.

Horsechestnut/Fringetree blooming (May). Look for:

Lesser peach tree borer. Clearwing moths lay their eggs in the limb crotches of cherry trees (especially young ones).

RX: spray crotches with Thiodan in April, early July and late August.

Euonymous scale: white (male) and brown (female) specks (scales) encrust stems and leaves. They are sapsuckers. Adult scales are protected from insecticides by waxy coverings. Control measures, therefore must be aimed at the unprotected immature stage. There are 2 generations per year.

RX: Spray with dormant oil in early spring.

Holly leafminer. Light infestations require no attention other than to pick off and destroy infected leaves. For serious infestations, spray with Orthene.

Pine needle scale. RX: spray with dormant oil.