§ Prune your spring flowering shrubs (lilacs, forsythias, spireas, etc.) after they have finished blooming. You also want to thin these out by removing up to one-third of the older branches at or near ground level.
§ Check your trees, especially wild cherry, for tent caterpillars: remove and destroy tents (they look like a white cotton-candy mass on branches).
§ Keep newly planted trees and shrubs watered (unless it’s a rainy month). Do not let the soil dry out.
§ Plant gladiolus, dahlias and other summer bulbs.
§ Stay out of your garden when plant foliage is wet. Walking through a wet garden spreads disease from one plant to another.
§ If you are having a problem with earwigs and sow bugs, try trapping them with rolled up newspapers that have been moistened with water. The insects will hide in the paper by day. Gather up the traps and dispose of them frequently.
§ Closely examine your ornamental plantings for disease and pests. Check your dogwoods for borers; boxwood, holly and birch for leaf miners; evergreens for spider mites and aphids.
§ Mulch flowers, established vegetables and evergreen shrubs. Grass clippings are great and easier to handle if allowed to dry first. Remember, never use clippings from a lawn that has been treated with an herbicide.
§ Allow leaves on tulips and daffodils to mature; do not cut off until brown. Fill in spaces in your flower beds with annual flowers.
§ Pinch annuals when 4-6 in. high to promote bushy growth; for example, zinnias, petunias and salvia.
No comments:
Post a Comment