Now that spring bulbs are in full bloom and shrubs and flowering — trees are decked out in bright colors, take time out for some soul warming visits to spring gardens and displays. Bring along a digital camera, a notebook and fill it. Study the new bulbs and other plants, especially the combination’s you could use in your own garden. Bulb growing is a phase of gardening you cannot overdo – it’s the most rewarding of all ornamental planting.
Transplanting Month
May is the big month for transplanting tender plants from coldframes and greenhouses into the garden – also for sowing seeds of all the tender vegetables and annuals. Be sure, however, that you know your local conditions before planting out tender material. One or two enticing days can be followed by a late frost which can do untold damage. Don’t take chances.
It’s the last call for planting roses, perennials, shrubs and fruits; except for the more northerly sections these should be in growth by now. If planting is delayed until just before warm weather, the plants will suffer a setback. The roots will not be established enough to supply the actively growing top. Severely cut back the tops of all late-planted hardy plants.
Evergreens can still be planted. When preparing the soil for rhododendrons and other broad-leaved evergreens, use plenty of peatmoss and leafmold, then cover the soil over the roots with a mulch of leaves and pine needles.
In The Vegetable Garden
In the vegetable garden, beets, carrots, lettuce and other crops sown earlier are in need of thinning out. It’s a chore but don’t neglect it. When crowded in rows, plants receive such a check in growth that no amount of care will help them. Fast, continuous, unchecked growth is the key to quality vegetables. Lack of nutrients, lack of water to make nutrients available and a soil of poor structure are other causes of poor growth.
When transplanting vegetables, whether from a row in the garden, a flat or plant band, save all the roots possible. These soft, tender roots are easily injured. It is also essential that food is available to these young plants. Mix a tablespoonful of complete fertilizer with tile soil in the spot prepared for each plant. In addition, dip the bare roots of transplants – vegetables or flowers – into a liquid solution of a high analysis fertilizer, such as 13-16.13, and pour a cupful of this solution into the hole before planting.
Where the season permits, sow warm-weather crops such as corn, beans, melons, squash and cucumbers. If space does not permit growing the more rampant vines, use bush squash and midget watermelon. Midget corn, planted a foot apart in 2-foot rows or interspersed four or five seeds in spots (hills) among the vine crops, will yield delicious ears and not interfere with the vines.
Middle May Forward
From the middle to the end of May, earlier in the more favored sections, all the annuals can be sown outdoors. These follow no hard and fast rules. Salvia, for example, sown in the vicinity of New York City in May will refuse to flower but sown the same time in northern New York State will flower in August. The South African annuals – dimorphotheca, ursinia and others – do better in the higher, cooler regions than in regions of high humidity.
However, larkspur sown during the first week in May in any region, and asters, sown in a coldframe at the same time, will provide excellent cut flowers in August. Cockscomb, sown in May, will also yield blooming plants in August. These can be dug and potted for porch or terrace where they will bloom for along time.
Give Chrysanthemums Good Soil
Give chrysanthemums a good soil if the best flowers are to be secured. An inch of peatmoss spread over the entire area plus dried cow manure, 3 pounds per 100 square feet, will do wonders on a poor soil. Work these into the top 6 inches. If you’re buying plants, they will be either rooted cuttings or plants from small pots; the latter are best. It’s too late to divide your own plants, except in the northern sections, but plants can be increased from cuttings in any area.
When planted in a place by themselves, chrysanthemums can be given the cultural attention they require. If limited space forbids this, grow them as an edging for a path, drive, flower border, hedge or shrub planting but not in competition with other roots. Set the plants 12 to 15 inches apart in the prepared soil. This may look like a lot of waste space when the plants are small but by the end of the summer, with proper care, they will fill out the entire area. After planting, pinch out the tips of all stems with finger and thumb. This will stimulate side shoots (laterals) and thus create a bushy plant. Cultivate the soil lightly each week for a time and water only when needed. The time for extra water and fertilizer is when the plants have made enough foliage to absorb it.
Your region will determine whether you can grow the very late varieties or not. Most cushion mums, low-growing and requiring the least care of all types, begin flowering in September and last well through October, sometimes into November. Though used largely for garden decoration, select varieties that also make good cut flowers.
Cut & Divide Dahlia Tubers
Dahlia roots, generally called tubers, should be cut and divided this month prior to planting. Division requires care. The buds or eyes from which the new stems will develop are all clustered at the crown or top of the clump of roots. Some shoots may already have developed. There are no buds on the fleshy parts of roots themselves, as is the case with true tubers. A root broken away at the neck just below the bud is. therefore, useless. Each division should have one or two buds on two or three small roots or one large root. Either a sharp knife or pair of pruning shears is used to cut the clump apart. Dust all cut surfaces with sulphur, powdered charcoal or powered fungicide. Roots that do not show buds will sprout readily if placed in moist sand in a warm place for a week.
Dahlias like a soil that is well supplied with organic matter. It is not necessary to use chemical fertilizer at the outset. The normal time for active growth to begin is in August and this increases as the nights get cooler. In planting. the roots are laid horizontally in holes 6 inches deep. Cover with 3 inches of soil and when the shoots are well up fill in the remainder of the hole. Space the dwarf types 2 inches apart, the taller growing ones 3 to 4 feet.
When the shoots have made several sets of leaves (they come in pairs). pinch out the young stems above the second pair of leaves. This will result in four sterns, one from each leaf. Some growers use six stems, in which case one of the new stems is pinched later. Dwarf types do not require pinching to make them branch; just let them grow naturally. Soil cultivation, for a time, is beneficial. A cover mulch placed over the soil in July eliminates the need for further cultivation. retains moisture and keeps weeds under control.
by J McKane
