Horticulturalist Melinda Myers offers tips and suggestions for each month of the year.
Keep planting as long as you have space, time and plants. Water thoroughly and often enough to keep soil moist and mulch to reduce your workload and help new plantings.
Conserve water by using a watering wand, soaker hose or drip irrigation. You’ll deliver water directly to the soil and avoid wet foliage that can led to disease.
Continue to monitor for pests like Japanese beetles, aphids and mites. Hand pick small populations and look for other eco-friendly methods and products to manage damaging insects.
Ground ivy, quackgrass and bindweed are perennial weeds that can quickly take over your garden. If hand pulling and cultivation haven’t worked, you may decide to use a total vegetation killer. These products kill the tops and roots of the weeds and any good or bad growing plant they touch. Protect nearby plants using this technique. Remove the bottom of a plastic gallon jug and place over the weed. Spray the weed through the upper opening. Allow the jug and plant to drip dry before moving on to the next weed.
Stop pinching fall-blooming perennials at the beginning of the month.
Stagger deadheading, pinching and pruning within each flowerbed. This will keep you in flowers all season long.
Check limp and pale irises for borer. Dig up rhizomes, cut off soft and borer-infested portions of the rhizome and replant. Make a note to cut back and clean up iris foliage in the fall to reduce the risk of future infestations.
Don’t be alarmed if alyssum, French marigolds, lobelia and other heat sensitive annuals stop blooming during extremely hot weather. Water as needed and wait for cooler weather and blossoms to return.
Fertilize leafy vegetables, sweet corn, and root crops when they are half their mature size. Apply fertilizer to tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans and vine crops when they have started producing fruit.
Continue to plant warm season vegetables like tomatoes, pepper and melons. The warm soil and air will help get these plants off to a robust start.
Dig or pull beets and radishes when the root is full size. Proper thinning and well-drained soil are important for proper root development. No roots? Use the greens to spice up your salads.
Do not be discouraged if the bottoms of your first few tomatoes are black. Known as blossom end rot, it often affects the first few fruit. The blackened ends are caused by a calcium deficiency, usually due to fluctuating soil moisture, not a lack of calcium in the soil. Avoid root damage caused by late staking and keep consistently moist. Cut off the black portion, compost and it is safe to eat the rest of the tomato.
Pick herbs as needed. Cut short pieces off the ends of the stem. Make the cut just above a set of leaves. It looks neater, and the plant recovers faster. Wait until just prior to flowering for the most intense flavor.
Prune summer-bearing and everbearing raspberry plants after harvest. Prune all of the older canes that bore fruit that summer back to ground level.
Monitor all your houseplants indoors and out for pests. Check under the leaves, along the stems and throughout the plants for signs of pests.
Lightly prune arborvitae, yews and junipers once the new growth has expanded. Clip stems back to a healthy bud or side shoot to container growth.
Established and mulched trees can go the longest time between waterings. But even large established trees may need supplemental water during extended dry periods. Water thoroughly until the top 12 inches of soil under the dripline is moist.
You can still plant balled-and-burlapped and container trees and shrubs. Select plants with healthy green leaves. Avoid plants with brown leaf edges, indicating drought stress or pest problems.
Check older crabapple varieties for apple scab. This fungus causes leaf spotting and defoliation. Rake and destroy leaves as they fall to reduce the source of disease next season. Consider replacing disease-susceptible crabapples with newer scab-resistant cultivars.
Monitor lilacs and other shrubs for powdery mildew. Look for a white powdery substance on the leaves. Infected plants will survive, but their appearance declines as the season progresses. Reduce problems by increasing the light and air circulation. Thin overgrown plants during dormant season to increase light and air flow and to decrease disease.
Improperly watered lawns suffer more problems than those that depend on rainfall as the sole source of water. Make the most of your efforts by watering thoroughly as needed.
