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May Activities
TREES AND SHRUBS:
~SHRUBS
AND TREES should be fully leafed out by now. Look for dead branches and
trim away before high winds do the job for you. Wait until winter for heavy
pruning of live branches on deciduous plants, except for spring blooming
shrubs that might need a little shaping. Also fertilize spring blooming
shrubs as well as new fruit trees and crape myrtle with a balanced formula
(all the numbers equal).
PERENNIALS:
~PERENNIALS
that have just finished their annual showing --- such as amaryllis, iris,
and agapanthus --- will also need some additional nutrition. Top dress with
bone meal and cottonseed meal (3 lbs. Per 100 sq. ft.) and water well. Bone
meal, which raises pH and cottonseed meal, which lowers pH, make a great
combo to load a little nitrogen for healthy leaves and a lot of phosphorus
to boost next year’s blooms.
ANNUALS/VEGETABLES:
~ANNUALS
for warm season blooming should already be seeded or can go in now all over
Texas as transplants. Some favorites are cleome (spider flower), celosia
(cockscomb), cosmos, tickseed (coreopsis), gomphrena (bachelor button),
Indian blanket, penta, blue daze, Texas bluebell (lisianthus), moss rose,
and zinnia. Seeds for morning glory or cypress vine can be spread….and next
year they’ll spread themselves!
GENERAL:
~GRASS
should be cut at a higher height as the month progresses so that the roots
are shaded. DON’T be tempted to SCALP, but it can be cut shorter initially.
Once a week should be enough to mow. If you are mowing more than every 5
days, you probably put too much quick-release nitrogen (and too much water)
on your turf. Wean it back slowly to make it more drought tolerant and save
some mowing time. Leave the clippings on the yard (unless your three week
vacation leaves it looking like a hay meadow!) if you use a mulching mower.
If you fertilized with a slow-release formula in April, wait until mid-June
or after to reapply. And no matter how tempting, NEVER use a “weed and
feed” product. It is too late to apply pre-emergent for summer weeds. This
quick fix destroys more shrubs than the teenage neighbor’s basketball! |
