Tom's Timely Tips For June

TOM’S TIMELY TIPS FOR JUNE GARDENING

• Continue to prune all plant material to remove any diseased, dead, weak or crossing branches.

• Complete pruning early spring-flowering shrubs.

• Prune evergreens and evergreen hedges into early summer.

• Continue deadheading roses.

• Fertilize roses after peak bloom.

• Complete fertilizing spring-flowering bulbs.

• Fertilize annuals and container plants.

• Fertilize vegetables.

• For staked tomatoes, remove sucker (branches that form where the leaf joins the stem) while they are one to one and a half inches long to allow easier training.

• Remove spent blooms of peony, iris, delphiniums and other flowers.

• Pinch shoot tips of chrysanthemums, impatiens, petunias and coleus to promote bushier growth.

• Deadhead your annuals to encourage more flowers.

• Supplement natural rainfall to supply a total of one to one and a half inches of water per week to the garden.

• Mow grass on a regular basis, allowing no more than one to one and a half inches of new growth.

• Leave grass clippings on the lawn to improve availability of nitrogen.

• Hanging baskets exposed to sun should be checked daily and watered if needed. Also, outdoor hanging containers should be sheltered from high winds.

• Change the water in your birdbath regularly. Standing water may become a breeding ground for mosquito larvae.

• Take houseplants outdoors for the summer but place them in the shade of a tree or the shady side of the house to prevent sun burning. They need to acclimate to outdoor conditions.

• Give pot bound houseplants a new home. Remember, only move up one or two pot sizes. Use clean containers and fresh potting soil.

• Remove foliage from spring bulbs after it turns yellow and begins to dry. Set out bedding plants to cover the bare spots using care not to damage the bulbs.

• Watch for and control black spot and powdery mildew on rose foliage.

• Use bark mulch around young trees to protect them from lawn mower damage.

• In most cases, blossom-end rot on tomatoes, peppers, squash and watermelons can be prevented. Do this by maintaining uniform soil moisture by mulching and watering correctly, planting in well drained soil and not cultivating deeper than one inch within one foot of the plant. Also avoid the use of high nitrogen fertilizers.

• Continue planting warm season vegetable crops such as beans, squash and cucumbers.

• The best time to harvest most herbs is just before flowering, when the leaves contain the maximum essential oils.

• Before pouring gasoline into the fuel tank of your lawn mower, garden tiller or other garden equipment, be sure to turn off the engine and allow it to cool for at least five minutes.

• Identify garden pests before you attempt to control them. If you decide to use chemical control, read the label carefully.

• Add to, aerate and moisten compost pile to speed decomposition.