May Is Full of Color

red carpet roses in a vase

hydrangia blooming early

May is almost over, but it has been a busy garden month with nice, spring weather and rain showers some afternoons, which helps keep things watered.  We haven't had that for quite a few years.  The summer flowers are starting to go crazy, along with the poison ivy!  So be careful of the "leaves of 3, let it be!"  Make sure you know what it looks like so you can avoid it.

pepper plants in the garden

May Activities:
    ·         Plant summer annuals and herbs
    ·         Fertilize established flowers every 2 months
    ·         Pick strawberries
    ·         Mulch all beds for summer, so it is 2-4 “ deep
    ·         Put out hummingbird feeder; oil wire to deter ants
    ·         Mist houseplants frequently during this month
    ·         Cut back established mums by 1/3 and fertilize
    ·         Divide hostas
    ·         Start regular watering schedule
·         “Dead-head” (pinching off spent flowers) on most flowering plants
·         Can  still plant summer vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, squashes, cucumbers, etc.  Plant  on a cloudy day, so they are less stressed by heat.

purple heart, lantana & yarrow

Some Easy-Care Plants and Combinations

If you have lots of sun but don’t like to water often:

·               Ornamental grass, coneflowers and lantana(P:Perennials- come back year after year)

·               Yarrow(P), purple heart(P) and zinnias(A:annual)

·               Liatris (Bulb), Coreopsis (P), Verbena(P & A)

·              Blackeyed susans (P), Red-hot poker plant (P) and Ice Plant(P) or        Sedum (P & A)

·               Ornamental Grass,  Purple Coneflower(P), Sedum (P), and Blanket Flower(P)

·               Gladiolus(bulb), Irises (rhizome) and Daylilies(P) & Creeping phlox(P)

shasta daisies, gladiolus, yarrow

If you have afternoon shade and water moderately:

·         Shasta Daisies (P), Sages(P & A) and Petunias (A) (Supertunias can take more)

·         Roses(P), daylilies(P) and begonias(A)

·         Hydrangeas (P), marigolds (A)

·         Gardenia Bushes, Hibiscus (P)

·         Porch plants:  Asparagus fern, spider plant & begonias

 potted caladiums and elephant ear

If you have mostly shade:

·         Impatiens(A), Coleus(A), Hostas (P)

·         Ferns( A), Lenten Rose (P)Caladiums (annual bulb)

Basic Plant Care for Southern Gardens: 

1.      Mulch beds and pots well. 

2.      Water deeply (at least an inch) every week for the best flower production. 

3.      Pinch off faded flowers, to produce more flowers. 

4.      Feed with 3-month fertilizer granules when planting, or apply plant food added to water every other week.

herb pot

some carrots just pulled

Vegetable and Herb harvesting:  The more often you pick the fruit and vegetables, the more it will produce.  For instance, green beans, try to pick every day or two, refrigerating till you have enough for serving.  Harvesting in the morning or evening is best.  For Herbs, pinch off tips/ends to use leaves, like oregano, basil, etc in the morning before the heat of the day.  This will give you the best flavor and also encourage branching.  

birdbath with daylilies and gerbera daisies

Plant Care during your Vacation: If you can find a neighbor gardener that works with their own plants, then you should be set.  If you don’t have that option, here are a few ideas:

·         Place potted plants under tree cover or in afternoon shade, having a drip hose on a timer that will drip into the pots. 

·         I have also placed a 2 liter bottle with lid (add a nail hole to the bottom) into my pot to slowly drain into the soil. 

·         For Beds, a soaker hose on a timer is best, setting it for the morning hours.

flowerbed along back fence

     TIPs for Curb Appeal:  To make the most of the front of your house (and backyard)

1.      Focus on texture and foliage for a lush-looking all-season garden.  Flowers come and go, but starting with an ever-green background will carry it through all seasons. 
2.     Then punctuate with color.  This can be leaf-color, just as much as flowers.
3.  Repeat color to unify.  If you like blues, use plants with blues and purples.  If you like bright contrast, pick yellows, purples and reds.  Same with pastels.
4.      Plant flowers in groups of 3-5 plants, like in a triangle or group, rather than straight lines for more impact and interest.
5.  For less work and cash over time, use low-maintenance perennials to fill out beds, adding a few annuals.

March happenings in the Garden

My Kawanza Cherry tree in bloom.

Creeping phlox

We are on the next wave of blooms here in North Atlanta: Kawanza Cherry and dogwood trees, Indian hawthorn and azalea bushes, with Homestead purple verbena and creeping phlox.  It is so colorful, but the yellow film of pollen all over everything is the price we get to pay.

 

We had our Backyard Gardener's Workshop #2 on March10th,  where I demonstrated how to re-pot your tomato seedlings after 6 leaves appear.  Have new container ready.  Use a fork to gently lift the sprout out of container, de-tangling the roots.  Gently place in a new container, burying the stem up to the leaves, adding soil to fill in around it.  This will make a stronger root system, and ultimately a stronger plant. Water gently. In the 1st or 2nd week of April, move the seedlings outdoors to a sheltered area for a few house each day, gradually increasing the amount of time.  This is called hardening off and will acclimate the seedlings to wind and stronger sunlight.  Watch closely so as not to let them dry out and bring indoors if frost threatens.

I also demonstrated how to re-pot houseplants.  Look up the requirements for the specific plant you want to re-pot.  Some lie to be root-bound, others do not.  Usually, you re-pot if the plant has outgrown the container, or looks like it is wasting away in Spring when it should be showing signs of new growth.  Have the plant watered a few days before re-potting, but not soggy.  Tap the bottom of the pot or squeeze the plastic pot around the sides, gently loosening the plant around the edges. Untangle the roots.  If multiple plants, pull or cut roots apart to divide.  Have a new container ready: 2 sizes bigger, if leaving plant whole.  If dividing, have a second pot.  Put plant in pot, gently adding soil up to where the soil line was before.  Resume watering , fertilizing once a month through the growing season (Spring and Summer).  You can give your houseplants a vacation when days and nights are warm.  Water with a dose of fertilizer and set them outside in a sheltered place for a while.  Before bringing them back in, apply bug spray, so you won't bring bugs into the house.

Spike, yarrow & Homestead purple verbena

We have had mild enough weather, that I have started to set out the plants that I wintered over.  I want to make sure that I have something bright and blooming April through September to draw the humming birds.  Flowers that draw hummers are tubular-shaped, like honeysuckle vine, cardinal flowers, sages, verbenas, snapdragons, nicotiana, petunias and calibrachoa.  To draw butterflies plant asters, butterfly bush, lantana, fuchsia, heliotrope, iris, nasturtium, blanket flower, marigolds, verbena, sweet alyssum hollyhock, cone flowers and phlox.

I "layered" some hydrangea branches this past month.  I take a throw-away plastic pot and make a slit down one side to the a hole at the bottom.  I pull that slit back and put the branch of hydrangea, up through the hole in the pot. Then I add soil around the branch, covering at least 2 nodes(places where leaves would come) on the stem and water gently and regularly.  In a month or so, the buried nodes should produce roots instead of leaves.  After this happens, you can sever the branch below the new roots and have a new bush started!  Pretty cool.  You could do this with many different bushes.

mums, Shasta daisies & garden girl

This past week I started watering the filled pots and beds.  Things were starting to get a bit droopy with the absence of rain and warmer temperatures.  I also dug up some Shasta daisies that were out-growing their space and crowding other plants.  I try do this every 2 or 3 years if they need to be contained.

volunteer cilantro

  I added some more herbs to the herb garden, lemon thyme, dill (for make pickles out of the cucumbers) and Texas tarragon.  These are new for me, so we will see how they do.  I have been harvesting the cilantro that came up volunteer (fallen seeds from last year) and drying it with my dehydrator.  I just trim the side leaves with scissors. Love having cilantro on hand for all the Mexican meals and salsa that we like.

Strawberry flowers, soon to be strawberries

I dug up the stray strawberry plants and put them in the patch where there were holes. They are flowering and will have berries to eat in a week or so. So excited!  Nothing like strawberries straight out of the garden.  In the South it is good to mulch them with grass clippings or straw so that they don't burn out over the summer.  Keeping them well-watered and picked every day will produce the most strawberries.




My next Backyard Gardener's Workshop will be April 14th.  I will demonstrate how to plant summer vegetable and herbs in the ground, and talked about the anatomy of healthy pots and hanging baskets.