Great Grasses for the Great Lakes Region
It is wonderful to see the grasses finally coming into their own in this region. For so little effort, they perform well under often adverse conditions. They provide the garden with life and animation in all seasons. I hope I have inspired you to try a few in your home landscaping. I think you will be pleased!
May "Honey Do" List
1. Carefully remove spent blooms from rhododendrons and azaleas. Scratch in a good acid-based fertilizer around the plant bases.
2. Start a spraying program for orchard fruits. Set out coddling moth traps in apple trees. Thin apples and peaches to about 8" apart.
3. Take cuttings of lilac branches inside to enjoy their heavenly fragrance! Hammer the ends of the branches before setting them in lukewarm water. This helps the stems to draw in the water.
4. As your lilacs finish blooming, remove spent blooms to encourage production of flowers next year. If blooms are left on the shrubs, the energy of the plant will go into seed production.
5. Mid month, start hardening off indoor started plants of warm season annuals and vegetables. Start this process the last week of May for gardeners in the northern part of our region.
6. As the weather and soil warms, start planting beans and corn seed out in the garden. Wait until late May to early June to set out tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, or melons. When setting out cucurbits, lay black plastic down and add plants through the slits to encourage faster growth. These plants thrive on heat! If the weather threatens to cool, add floating row covers.
7. Use insecticidal soap on roses and other ornamentals that are showing signs of aphid infestation.
8. Continue fertilizing roses. Fertilize just before bloom season begins, or about the third week in May.
9. Gradually move houseplants outside in a shady location for the season. Start cuttings from your houseplants at this time.
10. Remove the blossoms from newly planted strawberry plants. This will encourage larger plants and greater fruit production for next year.
11. Prune the branches of ornamental shrubs that have finished blooming. Prune to maintain a natural form.
12. The last week of the month, set out the bulbs and tubers of dahlias, cannas, begonias, and caladiums. From mid month on, successively plant gladiolas until the second week of June.
13. Remove the stems and flowerheads of spring flowering bulbs. Sidedress with an all purpose fertilizer and allow the foliage to naturally
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