MAY GARDEN CHECKLIST
- PATROL FOR PESTS - Warm spring days invite pests to feed. Bait, trap
or hand pick snails and slugs. Spray neem to control spotted cucumber beetle
and aphids. Spray Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria that kills green worms,
on broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower if plants are attacked.
- PLANT WARM SEASON VEGETABLES - This is the month to put in corn, summer
and winter squash, cucumbers, pumpkin, beans and basil. Plant herbs.
- IRRIGATE - As spring rains decrease, continue to irrigate newly planted
shrubs and trees. Mold a basin around the trunks and soak plants deeply.
once a week. Use soaker hoses or drip irrigation tubes if you are too busy
to drag the hose about.
- PLANT PERENNIALS - Add bright summer color to your landscape by planting
cheerful perennials. The following are easy to grow: Nepeta, Shasta daily,
coreopsis, gaillardia, daylily, delphinium, campanula, lupine, foxglove,
sidalcea, columbine and penstemon.
- PINCH 'EM - For bushier plants with more flowers, take your forefinger
and thumb and tip pinch geraniums, fuchsias, marguerites, tall growing
marigolds, snapdragons, dahlias and zinnias. Tip pinch rhododendrons to
maintain shape. Remove old faded trusses from rhododendrons also.
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