May! What a bounty of color it brings us! All fall and winter, we have dreamed and planned for this month.
Now we must check the results and ensure that our color effects are what we thought they would be.
We must be sure that our tulips blend with each other and with all the spring-flowering shrubs and perennials planted nearby.
This is the ideal time to garden. So let’s make the most of it.
Care Of Spring Bulbs
If you find an off-color group of tulips, lift the bulbs as soon as they have finished blooming and put them elsewhere to die back.
Mark the spot where bulbs have been removed so that a different variety may be put there in the fall.
Allow foliage of all spring-flowering bulbs to turn brown before removing.
Dying foliage of heavy clumps of tulips and narcissus can create unsightly spots in the garden.
To remove this blot and to make room for annuals, the leaves may be folded over and kept in compact bunches by wrapping with a rubber band.
Narcissus foliage may be braided or tied.
Planting Annuals
Wrapping and braiding of bulb foliage will make room for earlier planting of hardy annual seedlings or sowing seeds.
Remember that some annuals such as poppies, portulaca, alyssum, and annual chrysanthemums prefer to be sown where they are to remain.
Move annual seedlings on a cloudy day, if possible, and provide shade until they no longer show signs of wilt.
Strawberry boxes may provide shade if plants are small or by prunings from feathery shrubs such as spirea.
Pinch back spindly annuals, leaving 2 or 3 sets of leaves.
Planting Shrubs
It is not too late to plant evergreens and flowering shrubs, but care must be taken to keep them well watered.
Balled and burlapped specimens arc easier to handle, but bare-root shrubs and trees can still be set out if properly handled.
Spray new growth to revive it and provide light shade for several days until shrubs are established.
If the leaves of deciduous shrubs wilt and die, do the following:
- Strip the leaves off gently.
- Cut back all branches several inches.
- Keep plants well watered.
New leaves will soon appear if the roots are in a healthy condition and have not been allowed to dry out.
Watch For Birch Leaf Miner
If you find small black flies on the leaves or hovering about your birch trees, they are probably the adult forms of the birch leaf miner, which gives the leaves a scorched brown appearance.
Since it is the young that do the damage, do the following:
- Spray about 10 days after the eggs are laid with Sevin (wettable powder)—one tablespoon to a gallon or one pound to 100 gallons.
- Cover the entire tree with spray.
A second generation may appear in late June or early July.
If you do not have large enough equipment to reach the top of the tree, call in a tree surgeon.
Beat The Lawn Weeds
A strong, healthy lawn is practically weed-free.
About May 15, give your lawn its second feeding with a well-balanced fertilizer such as 5-8-7 or 5-10-5, using 10-15 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft.
You may add to the above an equal amount of Milorganite, dehydrated manure, or cottonseed meal, but if you do, spread the combination at the rate of 20-30 lbs. per 1000 square feet.
Set your mower at 1” inch to 1 ½” inches in cool weather, raising it to 2” inches as the season gets warmer.
Remember that watering must be thorough enough to soak the soil to 4” to 5” inches.
A slight sprinkle can do more harm than good.
Start your control program now with applications of 2,4-D to rid your lawn of such weeds as the following:
- Dandelion
- Plaintain
- Buck horn
- Chickweed
- Henbit
- Wild onion
Headstart On Edging Beds and Borders
To renew the curved edges of beds and borders, use your garden hose, placing it as desired along the ground, then cut your edge with a sharp edging tool.
Since plastic hoses move easily, fill the hose with water to hold it in place.
Several stakes and a string will make a good straight edge.
Setting a guide for edging is often safer than trusting your eye. Otherwise, the results may be disappointing.
For permanent edging, consider some of the metal types available on the market.
These can be set flush with the lawn. Or, you can add a single or double row of bricks or bluestone, set in sand, along the edge of the garden or at the base of a wall to make a mowing edge.
Any of these devices will save you hours of tedious, back-breaking work.
Mulberry White Fly On Azaleas
Were your azaleas infested last year with clouds of tiny white-winged flies? Or did you notice that the leaves were covered by a wet-shiny, sticky substance followed by a black mold?
This is caused by the mulberry white fly. In its young stages, it sucks the juices from the underside of the leaves, secreting a syrupy liquid onto those below, thus making an ideal place for black mold to form.
Spray about May 15 with a contact insecticide such as the following:
- Nicotine sulfate
- Malathion
- Lindane
- A mixture
Follow with a second application 7 to 10 days later.
The third application about June 15 should carry the plants through the season unless they become reinfested from another source nearby.