May Garden Checklist

GARDEN CHECKLIST FOR MAY
In this weeks article I want to mention things gardeners need to be considering for May. The following is a garden checklist:

• Harvest lettuce as it develops. If you have leaf lettuce, clip the leaves as you need them, the plants will develop new foliage. With butterhead and crisphead varieties, pull up the entire plant and remove the roots and outer leaves. Harvest frequently because once the weather warms most lettuce will “bolt” or go to seed. Bolted lettuce is bitter.
  
  
• Keep a clean garden. Mulch around plants with 3-4 inches of mulch to help maintain moisture and discourage weeds. Organic mulches also break down slowly, releasing nutrients into the soil. Mulch also cuts down on soil borne diseases such as tomato blight.
  
  
• As early vegetables bolt, go ahead and harvest what you have, cutting off the seed stalk will not encourage new growth. Broccoli heads may not be as large, but harvest while they are full and closed. Yellow blooms means the quality is going way down.
  
  
• To ensure that you will have the largest onions in the neighborhood, fertilize weekly using a liquid nitrogen fertilizer or 27-0-0 fertilizer (1/3 to ½ lb. per 100 ft.). Onions need a constant level of nitrogen to perform their best.
  
  
• Watch for caterpillars on cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and ornamentals and take control measures early by using Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel, Javelin and other trade names). Larger more mature caterpillars are harder to control and you may have to use Sevin.
  
  
• Warm season vegetables – tomatoes, pepper, squash, okra and corn can be planted. As you plant, broadcast a complete fertilizer in the soil, then repeat in about 6 weeks. Mulch and water as needed. Watch for insects, diseases and weeds.
  
  
• Herb gardens are an easy way to have an ample supply of fresh herbs for cooking. Most nurseries carry herb plants. Many are perennials and some are evergreen and can be used in the landscape as well as to eat. Rosemary is a semi-shrub and thyme makes an attractive evergreen groundcover in full sun. be careful with pesticides around herbs – remember you are going to eat them!
  
  
• Prune spring flowering shrubs as soon as the flowers fade. If you prune in the fall or winter, you will remove next season’s flower buds.
  
  
• Check azaleas for lacebugs. This small sucking insect prefers to feed on azaleas or pyracantha but can spill over onto any kind of adjacent plants. The leaves of infested plants are yellowed and stippled on top. Black deposits from the lacebug are left on the underside of the leaves. To control, apply acephate, imidacloprid, bifenthrin, or permethrin according to label directions.
  
  
• Remember to feed hummingbirds with 1 part sugar and 3 or 4 parts water. There is no need in using red food coloring. Replace sugar water mix at least once a week if it is not emptied sooner.
  
  
• Don’t forget about bulbs for summer foliage and flowers. Most nurseries have both dried bulbs and growing plants. Look for caladiums, elephant ears, cannas, gladiolas and dahlias. Most summer bulbs like warm soil before they really start to grow.
  
  
• If you have black ants clinging on your peony blooms, don’t use the bug spray. They are snacking on the sweet fluid produced by the buds as they open. Contrary to popular belief, ants are not necessary for the blooms to open. However, peonies do benefit from the ants’ presence because, while they are feeding on the nectar, they ward off other insects that might want to eat the peony.
  
  
• Fertilize warm-season lawns – zoysia and bermuda – as soon as they are totally greened up. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer. Most of the weeds that have been blooming are winter weeds and should be on their way out. Start watching for summer weeds – crabgrass and nutgrass – and catch them as they emerge and try to stop their spread.
  
  
• Spring flowering bulb foliage needs to remain as long as possible (minimum of 6-8 weeks after blooming). Foliage can be removed at first signs of yellowing. As foliage begins to yellow it’s a good time to dig and divide clumps of overcrowded or unwanted bulbs while foliage is still visible.
  

Mark D. Keaton
Baxter County Extension Agent
Baxter County Extension office at 425-2335.