The Garden Gate

Garden tips for every month of the year!

April

Now that warmer temperatures have arrived, it is time for us to enjoy all those great flowering plant which surround us (although I sympathize with those of you that have allergy problems). It's a great time of the year to be working outdoors. However, it is time to do some spring cleaning in the landscape.

Among the annuals we can plant this month include Celosia, Coleus, Calliopsis, Dusty Miller, Exacum, Gaillardia, Gazania, Geranium, Hollyhock, Impatiens, Lobelia, Marquerite Daisy, Marigold, Nicotiana, Ornamental Pepper, Pentas, Phlox, Portulaca, Rudbeckia, Salvia, Streptocarpus, Sweet Williams, Thunbergia, Verbena, Periwinkle, and Zinnia.

To force annuals to have more flowers at their terminals and be showier, pinch out each branch as it grows to 5-6 inches and then pinch it off again when the shoots that come off that terminal also reach 5-6 inches. This makes for many more flowers - the technique is a type of "heading back" not advised for woody plants because it leads to weak branching, and lots of forking - but it has its place here.

Bulbs, rhizomes, or tubers that can be planted include the Achimines, Allium, Alstroemeria, Amazon lily, Aztec lily, Blood lily, Ranunculus, Caladium, Canna lily, Gladiolus, Gloriosa lily, Kaffir lily, Lily, Walking Iris, African lily, Spider lily, Tiger flower, and Tritonia.

A good time to prune spring flowering plants is right after they bloom. Plants such as Azalea and Camellias (if they need shaping) are best pruned by not using hedge pruners. Instead, if a branch is too long, with hand pruners reach back into the plant and cut it off where it starts from another branch. In this way, sunlight can reach into the plant and keep it well foliaged throughout. This is called selective pruning rather than shearing. Shearing with hedge pruners forces buds to flush on the outside "shell" of a plant and you end up with a plant that is totally devoid of leaves or "hollow" in the center. This is not the way you want Camellias, Azaleas, Gardenias, Hydrangeas, Spireas, Indian Hawthorns, Hibiscus, Althea, Fragrant Olives, or other flowering plants to be.

This month fertilize your lawn with a 30% slow release nitrogen or more, of a 15-0-15 fertilizer at the rate of six pounds per 1000 square feet.

Several precautionary statements on fertilizing your lawn wisely/safely are as follows:

• If fertilizer is spilled on the lawn, sweep it up as thoroughly as possible and put it back in the bag.
• If fertilizer lands on an impervious surface, such as a driveway or sidewalk, sweep it all up and put it back in the bag so it does not reach storm water drains where it can contaminate surface waters.
• Irrigate in the fertilizer with ¼ inch water. This will put the nutrients at root level, where they can be taken up most efficiently. Do not wait for rain to come! Nitrogen can evaporate as ammonia gas the longer it lays undissolved. This is an unnecessary loss of nutrient as well as a type of air pollution.
• When fertilizer near any water bodies, be very careful to keep the fertilizer from reaching the water. Leave a 10 foot strip between the fertilized area and the water if you are using a rotary spreader without a deflector. If a deflector (a device that prevents fertilizer from being dispersed on one side) is in place, leave a three foot strip.

Planting charts from the University of Florida say that in April we can still plant the following vegetables: Beans (Snap, Pole, and Lima), Cantaloupes, Cucumber, Eggplant, Kohlrabi, New Zealand Spinach, Okra, Peppers, Pumpkin, Southern Peas, Summer Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Turnips, and Watermelons. By May, because of the summer heat factor (i.e. some vegetables have trouble when it gets really hot) the list of vegetables to plant drops to Sweet Potatoes, Eggplants, Okra, Southern Peas, and Peppers.

To catch vegetable garden problems early, scouting (examining carefully) vegetables for pests 2-3 times a week is suggested. Examine plants toward the edges of the garden first as many pests start at the edges and work toward the center with time. As you walk the rows, look for things that fly up such as moths and beetles. They usually are there to lay their eggs. Check out several of each type vegetables you are growing, looking for spots, or dead areas on leaves, stem, and fruit that might be the early sign of disease. Look at both the top and bottom of leaves. Try to do most of your scouting when foliage is dry. Wet conditions would facilitate the spread of pathogens on your clothing and hands. Handpick fruit or leaves that show signs of disease but take them out of the garden - don't just drop infected plant materials in the row! Handpick insects and either squash them, or drop them in a jar of rubbing alcohol to drown.

Now is the time to evaluate trees to check on their overall health. By now, healthy branches on those trees should have flushed with leaves to their ends. If they have not, that branch is in trouble and a tree care professional should be consulted.

Trees are some of our most valued assets in any landscape, so why is it so many fail to respect their roots and trunks by growing grass beneath them (everything done for that grass is not in the best interest of the trees), doing excessive digging or adding of soils beneath them, using strong chemicals such as weed killers anywhere near the tree drip line, placing impervious surface over their roots, using them for fence posts, building tree houses in them, using line trimmers that cut into their bark and mowers that skin them each time they pass. No wonder so many mature trees decline before their time. Old trees, like any living organism, don't handle change well. They handle stress by shortening the number of years they live. We can make a difference; we just need to give them the respect they have earned.

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