May is here; air and soil temperatures are warming back up after bouts of winter-like freezing weather in April. Gardeners will enjoy spending time tending to their landscapes. Below I have highlighted some gardening /landscape tasks for May and June.
As gardeners, we should be aware that the tick population is on the rise. We should take steps to reduce tick bites and the spread of Lyme disease. Cornell Cooperative Extension has created brochures and fact sheets to help you, your children, and pets to minimizing interactions with these pests while outdoors. Find the brochure titled Ticks, Create a Tick Safe Zone at cceonondaga.org/environment/invasive-nuisance-species/terrestrial-animals/ticks. One can reduce tick populations in the landscape by creating buffers, fencing off ornamental and vegetable beds, detaining rodents, and mulching. Take action now to help safeguard your gardening and outdoor experiences this season.
Mowing your lawn, make sure mower blades are sharpened. Set the mower deck to 3 to 3 ½ inches high. This will help increase your lawn grass density while shading out the weeds. Also let grass clippings fall back into the lawn, they will break down and add nutrients back to the soil.
Lawn Care
Cornell University Department of Horticulture Turfgrass has booklets and video that can be downloaded to help guide lawn care. The site address is hort.cornell.edu/turf.
Now is a good time to repair the bare lawn spots from winter’s wear and tear. Select grass seed from the kind you already have growing. Consider the location; sun and shade grass varieties are available. Make sure to water what you have seeded. Irrigate in the morning hours.
Does your lawn need fertilizing? Did you test your soil to see how much phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer your lawn needs? Lawns should have a pH in the range of 6.0 to 7.0, which is slightly acidic. Check with your local Cornell Cooperative Extension Office to see if these tests are offered. If your lawn falls below or above these soil pH ranges, add either lime or sulfur to bring the pH to the proper range. Follow the instructions given from the pH test.
The ideal time to fertilize grass is when it is actively growing, usually the end of May to beginning of June or around Labor Day in September.
Make sure your mower blades are sharpened. Set the mower deck to 3 to 3 ½ inches high. This will help increase your lawn grass density while shading out the weeds. Also let grass clippings fall back into the lawn, they will break down and add nutrients back to the soil.
Tree & Shrubs
Spring flowering deciduous shrubs produce blooms on last season’s growth. These shrubs should be pruned after the flower blooms are spent. Pruning by pinching off or cutting will help boast next year’s flower production and adds to the shaping of the shrub. Lilacs, spireas, rhododendrons and azaleas are a few of these shrubs that benefit from pruning in the spring.
Needled evergreens such as yews, hemlocks, pines and arborvitaes can be trimmed and shaped in May. Just snip off the tips of soft new growth which will help promote compact bushy growth.
Flowers and Vegetables
Leave the foliage of spring flowering bulbs growing until it turns yellow; nutrients are going back into the bulbs. In early June, dig up tulip bulbs. Clean off the soil and make sure the bulbs are dry before placing them in storage (cool, dry and a dark location) until fall planting. Other spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils, hyacinths, and crocus can be moved to a new location after they have bloomed and the foliage has past.
Cool season annuals and vegetables seeds can be sown directly in the ground or transplanted in the soil or in containers. Make sure to harden off transplants before transplanting. It is better to transplant on a cloudy day.
Many folks plant their dahlias, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants over Memorial Day Weekend or early June. These are considered tender annual flowers and vegetables. Usually by those dates we are safe from a frost here in Central and Western NY. Be cautious. They may need to be covered if a frost is predicted later than those planting dates.
May and June is a good time to plant perennial plants. Be sure to follow the plant labels for placement in your garden.
A good guide for growing vegetables in the home garden can be found at Cornell Garden Based website at blogs.cornell.edu/horticulture/vegetables/. You can also rate the vegetables that they grow by participating in Cornell’s Citizen Science Vegetable Varieties program. For more information on rating the vegetables that you grow check out the website at vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu.
— Holly Wise, Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County Consumer Horticulture Resource Educator
