May 2003

Edible

Plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and vine crops (cucumbers, muskmelon, winter squash, pumpkin, watermelon) after May 15.

Be prepared for late spring frosts. Cover tender plants with row covers, cardboard, blankets, hot caps, or newspaper. Do not use metal or plastic for protection; they can conduct cold to plants.

Water vegetable transplants with a starter fertilizer. A starter fertilizer is high in phosphorus, which helps to promote root development.

Try grape tomatoes in your home garden. The oblong shaped grape-like fruits are produced in cluster of 30-40. They are crack resistant. Recommended grape tomato cultivars include ‘Gabrielle,’‘Summer Sweet’ and ‘Green Grape.’ The fruit of ‘Green Grape’ remains green at maturity.

Ornamental

Watch for the web-making Eastern Tent Caterpillar in crabapples and other flowering fruit trees. The dark caterpillar is two inches long with a white stripe on its back. Caterpillars come out of web at night to feed. For control prune out branch web is on or knock caterpillars into bucket of soapy water.

Prune early spring flowering trees and shrubs.

Plant tender bulbs like gladioli, dahlias and caladium after May 15.

Watch for mushrooms popping through lawn after warm spring rains. They will not spread. Knock them down with a lawn mower. Chemical treatment is not necessary.

Do you know that on average, American homeowners use ten times more chemicals per acre than farmers? These chemicals can pollute nearby lakes and streams. Try the following management practices to reduce the harmful impact on the environment.

• Avoid over fertilization. Use fertilizers with slow-release forms of nitrogen. Have your soil tested. Soil testing booklet available.
• Use pesticides wisely. Identify the pest or problem before spraying.
• Avoid over watering. The average American uses about 100 gallons of water per day for landscaping and gardening.
• Vegetables, flowers and lawns need the equivalent of 1-1 1/2 inches of water per week.

Use crushed aluminum cans or styrofoam peanuts to fill the bottom of very large containers. This will reduce the weight and the amount of potting soil needed.

Use hydrogels in small containers and hanging baskets that dry out quickly. These particles will absorb between 60 and 400 times their dry weight in water. This absorbed water is slowly made available to the plant roots.

Do not put gravel in the bottom of containers to keep the soil in. Gravel at the bottom can keep the soil too wet around the plant’s roots. Instead cover drainage hole with a small stone, a piece of screen or a coffee filter.

Add a slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote to container garden soils before planting. The fertilizer is released slowly when the plant is watered.

Apply two inches of mulch around newly planted trees or shrubs. Keep mulch a few inches away from tree trunk and plant crowns. Do not pile up mulch in mounds around trees. This practice can hold moisture around trunks and cause crown and stem rots. Extend mulch out one to two feet beyond the planting hole.

Attract ladybugs to the garden by planting dill, catnip, thyme, daisies, coneflower, yarrow, tansy, alyssum, marigolds and salvias.

Remove the flower stems on rhododendrons after flowering. Not doing this will reduce flowering next year.

Broadcast annual poppy seed in bare sots in the flowerbed. Tamp down with a rake and water lightly. No need to cover with soil.

Do not cut back foliage on bulbs such as tulips and daffodils until June. If flowers have become smaller or less abundant, bulbs may need to be divided because of overcrowding. In June dig up bulbs and respace.