Photo by Jack Kotz
The beginning of March is a good
time to:
••
Sow seeds indoors to be transplanted outdoors later in the month when the danger of frost is gone.
••
Repot houseplants.
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Plant summer annuals.
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Plant summer bulbs.
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Sprig grasses.
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Fertilize and spray shrubs, trees, roses, ornamentals, and lawns.
••
Continue to prune your shrubs and bushes but be sure not to cut off the emerging blooms.
••
Water your plants in the morning rather than the evening to prevent fungus forming overnight.
••
Cut back leaves from your bulbs that have finished blooming but wait until the leaves turn yellow. This gives them a chance to store food for the next year.
April usually requires a continuation of March’ s activities in your garden. This is when you get to enjoy your beautiful flowering azaleas, roses, forsythia, spirea, dogwood, Japanese magnolia, wisteria, flowering quince, gardenias,
etc.
••
Continue to plant summer bulbs, staggering the planting every couple of weeks, so that you will have flowers throughout the summer.
••
Plant summer vegetables.
••
Plant heat-loving varieties such as portulaca, marigolds, vinca, zinnias, salvia, petunias, verbena.
••
Move your houseplants to a nice shady spot in your garden for the summer.
Photo by Kathy Keane
••
Prune your spring flowering plants such as azaleas after they bloom
•
• Mulch your gardens with pine straw or wood chips, and give them plenty of water.
••
Fertilize your spring-blooming shrubs, grass, and bedding plants.
May and June are months in which you can start to enjoy the fruits of your labors with your flowers, shrubs, and
vegetables.
••
Plant daylilies and other heat-loving plants.
••
Dig up winter flowering annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
••
Fertilize shrubs, roses, daylilies, and plantings about every 4 to 5 weeks. Wait until buds show to feed annuals. If not, you will get lots of lush foliage and few flowers.
••
Prune azaleas and other flowering shrubs and other plantings to control size. Be sure to prune your azaleas before July when they set their buds for next year.
••
Pinch back the tips of chrysanthemums, coleus, and other plants to encourage more blossoms and bushier plants. Also, deadhead( remove dead blossoms) from flowering plants.
••
Watch for pests such as moles, crickets, aphids, and Japanese beetles. Treat accordingly. All spraying should be done before the hot summer months.
••
Mulch your shrubs and water thoroughly if going on vacation.
Photo by Pamela Cohen
Usually, the months of July and August are hot and often dry. Keep an eye on your plants for signs of drought
and diseases.
••
Plant a second crop of summer vegetables.
••
Divide and replant daylilies and irises.
••
Fertilize your plants, but not if there are drought conditions. They can get badly burned if they do not have enough water.
••
Prune flowers that have become too tall to encourage more blooms.
••
Take cuttings of flowering perennials and shrubs to create plantings for next spring.
••
Keep a good watch for insects, moles, slugs, etc. and treat accordingly.
••
Cut grass a few inches higher because of the heat.
••
Gently prune your hydrangeas, oleanders, and crepe myrtles.
••
Plant root vegetables toward the end of August.
••
Water during these hot, dry months, remembering to do so in the early morning, not nighttime.
Hopefully, these gardening tips will help you to enjoy our beautiful Island and help to insure success with your gardens. Be sure to take time to reflect upon what was most successful and least successful then, based on your results act accordingly for. Finally, by all means, remember our native fauna. Try to select deer-resistant plants or plant enough for both of you. NK
WINTER / SPRING 2017 • VOLUME 37
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