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Timely Garden Tips
Timely Garden Tips
Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is around the corner. Garden centers have many flowers that would make a wonderful Mother’s Day gift. Pick a nice potted flower that you can plant in the garden for a lasting memory.
In the Vegetable Garden
If you plan to start plants from seed, now is the time to get going. The garden centers have all the seed starting supplies and seeds of every description.
In most places it is a bit late to start your warm weather vegetables from seed indoors. Stop by your garden center and buy them now for your vegetable garden while there is a good selection of plants.
The cool weather vegetables such as asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, chives, collards, kale, lettuce, peas, parsnips, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips can be planted directly in the garden. They can be planted a few weeks before the last frost and the ground can be worked.
Flower Garden
Look over your flower garden and make a list of what you would like to move or add to it. For some added interest try planting purple basil or Swiss chard among your flowers.
Remember to leave the foliage on daffodils and tulips so that the bulbs make enough energy for next year’s blooms.
Easter lilies that are past blooming can be planted outdoors after the last frost and the night time temperatures are over 40-degrees. Remove the spent flower and place the bulbs 2 to 3 inches deeper than they grew in the pot. Place some shredded leaves or pine straw mulch around the bulbs. They are hardy perennials and will bloom again next summer.
Do you still have an amaryllis left over from the Christmas holiday season? Do not toss it out! After the last frost and the soil has warmed up, plant it in a sunny spot in your garden. It may send up another beautiful bloom during the summer. In the fall, after the first frost kills the leaves, lift the bulb out of the ground. Brush off clinging soil from the bulb and trim off the roots and dead leaves. Store the bulb and replant in the spring, treating it like other tender tropical perennial bulbs such as caladium, calla lily, canna, dahlia, elephant ears, gladiolus and tiger flower.
If you live in the warmer southern growing zones, you can leave many of the tropical bulbs in the ground in the winter. Check for the hardiness of the bulb for your growing zone. In many cases a thick layer of mulch will protect the bulb from the freezing winter cold.
Shrubs and Trees
Look over your roses, hydrangea, lilac, viburnum and other shrubs and trees. Examine them for winter damage. Prune all dead and weakened wood. On flowering shrubs do not do any pruning until they have finished flowering.
Be sure to visit your local farmer’s market.
Timely Quote:
“May, more than any other month of the year, wants us to feel most alive.”
- Fennel Hudson
Successful gardeners use the principle of working with nature to practice the easy, economical and environmental methods that can make gardening relaxing and rewarding.
Flowers that grow on spikes are a favorite among many gardeners. Coleus, foxglove, gladiolus, hyacinth, lavender, obedient plant, orchid and salvia are some common flowers that grow on spikes.
Are You a Gardener?
Many people do not think of themselves as gardeners. If you have a lawn, a few houseplants or grow some flowers and vegetables, you are a gardener.
It can range from beautifying your home to providing wholesome organic food for your family.
Gardening Can Be Easy and Relaxing
You might have just a few houseplants in containers on a window, patio or deck.
If you have more space it might be a small flower bed or a larger area to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and honey bees.
Some will concentrate on roses of every color and type. Others search for as many different varieties of flowers that they can find.
If you have a sunny location it could also be a few tomato plants in containers or a large area for vegetables and herbs that will feed the entire family with enough to preserve for the winter.
Keep It Simple
If you are new to gardening the secret is to keep it easy and start small. Each year you can expand your garden a little more. Your native soil may be very sandy or it may be heavy clay with a lot of rocks. For plants to grow properly you will need good garden soil by adding organic material to the native soil.
One year you may plant some flowers or shrubs along the front of your home. The next year add a flower bed along the driveway. And the year after that a flower bed around your mailbox or the tree in the front yard.
A vegetable garden works the same way. Plant what your family likes to eat. You may start with 100-square feet and plant half of it with tomatoes and the rest with lettuce, Swiss chard, parsley, dill and basil. These will supply you with fresh vegetables and herbs continuously during the summer.
Next year as you improve the soil you can expand your vegetable garden to include peas, beans, carrots, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. By growing your own food you can be assured that your food is truly organic and free of pesticides.
It does not have to be a big project if you break it down into smaller easy to do steps. If you spend 10 or 15-minutes each day or every other day it never gets ahead of you.
Environment
Composting your yard and kitchen waste is also one small step. Composting is environmentally friendly and you will keep from adding to the landfills. Adding finished compost will also improve your soil and fertilize it at the same time. It is nature’s way of recycling.
Mulching around your plants with leaves collected in the fall will improve the soil and at the same time make your flower garden and vegetable garden almost entirely weed free.
Gardening Thought
“Earth is here so kind
That just tickle her
With a hoe and she
Laughs with a harvest”
- Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857)
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