The Natural Gardener

Greetings, gardeners! Let the season begin! The landscape is budding, lawns are greening and nurseries and garden centers beckon. May is a month of promise, but it can also be daunting because now it’s time to turn winter gardening dreams, visions and plans into reality.

Did you see winter slip by without making plans? Take some time now and your improved landscape will reward you. If your goal is continuous color, check the bloom times of various plants. If you want a specific color scheme, find plants appropriate for landscape areas, containers, or window boxes. If you plan to raise vegetables, consider varieties for sunny spaces and check how long they take to mature. Thinking of adding a tree or shrubs? Research which do well in our area, and definitely check their mature size!

Now you can make your shopping list. This will keep you from buying ‘one of everything,’ as we all are tempted to do.

Refer to your gardening journal, notes or photos from last year to remind you which plants to move, divide or replace and what voids need to be filled. If you haven’t kept records, start now and you’ll be glad for the information later.

Gardening Tasks
By now you have enjoyed spring flowering bulbs. Snip off faded flowers so energy goes to the bulb for next year’s growth. Don’t remove foliage until it dies back as it is needed for future plant energy. Tuck in early blooming annuals such as pansies to provide color and hide straggly leaves. You can also add perennials to help in the future, but be careful where you dig!

Before adding new plants (or bulbs in the fall), mark the location of existing plants. This prevents you from digging them up accidentally or slicing bulbs with a sharp tool. You can buy markers at a garden center, or use transparent plastic silverware as an inexpensive and unobtrusive alternative. Plant type and color can be added with a permanent marker. I do this with lone tulips and later move them to related clumps.

Spring-blooming shrubs can be pruned as soon as they complete flowering; finish by early June to provide enough time to set next year’s flower buds. Renewal pruning can benefit suckering shrubs including lilacs, forsythia and bridal wreath spirea. You need to remove one-third of older stems to ground level. For pruning information, check a basic how-to book or the University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX) web site for publications to download or purchase.

Planning to expand your planting space? Use a garden hose to outline proposed beds. This provides a good visual reference and you won’t be disappointed later to discover you chose the wrong site, size or shape.

It’s helpful to prepare your beds before shopping and planting. Work compost or fertilizer into the top 6 – 12” of the soil, rake it smooth and then let the soil settle. A soil test can determine if it needs specific amendments. This can be done commercially or through UWEX.

If current or new annuals and perennials will need supports, put them in early and avoid struggling to tie up mature plants.

Lawn care
Take a critical look at the lawn for color, density and overall vigor. Our wet Wisconsin springs can encourage some turf diseases, so check carefully.

May is the second-best time to seed or overseed lawns (mid-August through mid-September is best). It’s also a good time to deal with spongy, brown thatch that keeps water and nutrients from reaching grass roots. Get advice from a professional, or check the UWEX web site for publications on lawn care and problems.

Tired of mowing and lawn care? Consider adding large areas of native plants or ground cover. Both can bring interesting texture and color to the landscape.

A variety of vegetables
Look for new and hardier varieties and check how long they take to mature. Choose shorter maturity times for our climate.

In early May, begin transplanting parsley, head lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, early cabbage, collards, kale and onions. Opting for seeds? By mid-May, you can start snap beans, late cabbage, Brussels sprouts and sweet corn.

You may need to postpone planting tomatoes in ground until early June to assure warmer soil. Containers can be started sooner.

Vegetables need sun. If you are short of sunny garden space, mix some plants in with sun-loving flowers or use containers. Be sure these are large enough and heavy enough not to tip as the plant matures. Garden publications have many creative container ideas or you can check http://learningstore.uwex.edu.
Winter is behind us, the gardening season is unfolding. Enjoy!

 

FLOWERING: 2009 debuts and winners
Gardeners are always eager to discover what’s new. Here are some plants to consider:
All-America Rose Selections (AARS) lists three winners – the shrub Carefree Spirit ™, the floribuna Cinco de Mayo™ and the hybrid tea Pink Promise ™. AARS is a non-profit association dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses. To see its selections in glowing color, go to http://www.rose.org. Among the 130-plus AARS–accredited rose gardens are Boerner Botanical Gardens in Milwaukee and Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison.

The American Hosta Growers Association chose Earth Angel, a giant blue-green variety with creamy edges. It’s thick heart-shaped leaves make it slug resistant, it has few diseases and rabbits ignore it. Check www.hostagrowers.org.

The Herb Society of America’s annual choice is Sweet Bay. It is not hardy in our area but can be grown in a container and then over-wintered in a protected environment. Go to www.herbsociety.org.

All-America Selections www.all-americaselections.org include an early white eggplant, ‘Gretel,’ a flavorful melon, ‘Lambkin,’ an acorn squash ‘Honey Bear,’ and the viola ‘Rain Blue and Purple.’

A visit to Boerner Botanical Gardens is a good way to see how trees, shrubs and plants actually look, and to check their mature size. There are expert-led garden walks/classes and other educational opportunities. For information, call 414-525-5650 or visit www.boernerbotanicalgardens.org.

By Peg Fleury

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