NOW THAT SPRING IS HERE, IT’S TIME FOR:
Planting
New lawns can be started this month. Sod can be planted at any time, but wait until the soil has warmed up enough to plant Bermuda seed.
Warm season vegetables including beans, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, melons, and peppers 2 weeks after the last freeze. Summer vegetables, including okra, eggplant, southern peas 4 weeks after the last freeze.
Warm season annuals including begonias, impatiens, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, celosia, 2 weeks after the last freeze. Tropical annual color plants, including hibiscus, pentas, fire bush, copper plant, purslane, moss rose, purple fountain grass, caladiums, lantanas, 4 weeks after the last freeze.
Groundcovers into well-prepared soil to take advantage of the burst of new spring growth.
Herbs into flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, and patio containers. Many herbs are attractive as well as edible.
Trees and shrubs are available in profusion this month. Transport them home carefully, protecting them from highway winds, the plant them immediately. Hand water them regularly during the first summer.
Pruning
Climbing roses, also antique roses that only bloom in spring, following flowering to remove weak growth and reshape plants.
Spring flowering shrubs and vines to reshape immediately after they finish blooming.
Low hanging limbs from shade trees to allow sunlight to reach grass beneath the canopy.
Tropicals, such as hibiscus, that have grown lanky overwinter indoors can be trimmed back now.
Fertilize
All lawn grasses should be fed this month. Use high-quality nitrogen or all-nitrogen plant food.
Container gardens. Use complete-and-balanced, water-soluble fertilizer such as 20-20-20 with trace elements. Apply a diluted solution with each watering.
Roses monthly with specialty rose food.
Use iron additive with sulfur soil acidifier to correct iron chlorosis (yellow leaves with dark green veins) Keep iron products off masonry, painted surfaces that could be stained.
On the Lookout
Cankerworms strip new leaves from trees. Larvae will hang by very thin threads from trees. Bacillus thuringiensis biological worm spray is the best control.
Cabbage loopers with the same B. T. spray or dust.
Snails, slugs, pill bugs devour tender new stem, leaf growth, apply dust or specialty bait.
Leaf rollers tie leaves of cannas, sweetgums, redbuds, pyracanthas, and others together. Apply systemic insecticide for ongoing protection before problems become serious.
Trips cause roses and other double flowers to fail to open, turn brown around petals edges. Systemic insecticide to control.
Aphids on brand new growth of daylilies, tomatoes, roses and a host of other plants. General-purpose insecticide will eliminate.
Fire ants. Treat with wide area baits and individual mound treatments or hire pest control professional who can apply the new yearlong product.
Fleas. Treat with broad-spectrum landscape insecticide. Apply preventive from the vet to the pet’s neck.
Roses for black spot and mildew. Use labeled fungicide weekly into the summer.
Powdery mildew on new growth of crape myrtles, zinnias, euonymus. Treat with approved fungicide or spray with soapy water.
Maroon colored freckles on the left of red tip photinias, Indian hawthorns suggest fungal leaf spot. Treat with approved fungicide, but be prepared to replace plants. This disease is an epidemic.
Broadleaf weed killer to eliminate existing clover, dandelions, dichondra, wild violets, and poison ivy.
Color in your landscape tip of the month:
Warm colors (yellow, orange, hot pink, bright red, white) advance visually in the garden, while cool colors (green, blue, purple) recede. Use warm colors where color will be seen from a distance. Use cool colors to make a small landscape appear larger.
Question:
Jimmie,
I have a problem; I just put in a pool after being promised by the homebuilder that the house next door being constructed WAS NOTgoing to be a 2 story home with windows looking onto my new pool. Well, you guessed it. House is now finished and of course, it’s 2 stories with windows looking directly at my new pool. I am need of your advice on what I can plant that’s hearty and grows tall enough to eventually block those windows. In the meantime, I guess my new neighbors are going to get a free “peep show”. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Sharon K. from Prosper
Answer:
Hi Sharon,
Unfortunately, I have come across the exact same problem many times over the years with other clients. My suggestions to you are first to decide what type of landscape exists around your pool? Is it tropical? Is it more formal? Is it natural? Depending on that answer my recommendations would include for tropical use large Windmill or Sabal Palm trees. If it were a more formal landscape then I would use Italian Cypress. If it’s more natural use Nellie R. Stevens Holly. Any of the above-mentioned plants will do the trick and can also be purchased at already mature sizes for immediate blockage of your neighbor’s windows. Mature plants can be very expensive however to install due to the fact that you’re paying a grower that has taken care of them for a very long time. If you’re willing to wait on things to grow you can save a lot on your initial costs. Of course, if you decide to go the cheaper route and install smaller plants you might have to spend more on old-fashioned one-piece bathing suits and very large beach towels so there is nothing good to “peep” at!!! Call our office if you need more assistance and we will be glad to help you.
Good luck,
Until next time, happy gardening………..
