May gardening tasks

May is a sublime month for gardeners. The heat has not yet become oppressive and the temperature variations of the early spring have evened out some, leaving us with an everyday pleasantness. Following are a few things that you may want to consider doing right now. 

Plant summer-flowering plants such as gladiolus, canna lilies, caladiums, and dahlias.  Originating from corms, tubers, or rhizomes, each of them requires a consistently warm soil in order to sprout and thrive. 

Take cut flowers late in the day and immediately place in warm water.  They tend to last longer this way. When the water cools to room temperature, the flowers are ready for full enjoyment.

When they begin to get leggy, pinch back annuals such as petunias and impatiens and perennials such as gaillardia, gaura, scabiosa, verbena, and veronica. This will encourage the formation of new branches which will result in more flowers.  Remove (deadhead) old, faded flowers so that plants will allocate their energy to producing more leaves and branches. Additional flowers will follow. Cut back asters and chrysanthemums now for fuller plants and more flowers when it counts-in the fall.

Plant French marigolds (the small-flowered type) to help control nematodes in the flower or vegetable garden.  If planted close to your plants, the marigold roots will lure these troublesome microscopic worms away from them. Be aware, however, that marigolds do not, as some believe, have a mystical ability to keep harmful above-ground insects away. 

Stake or cage your tomatoes now if you haven’t already done so. Try a stake that extends about five feet above the ground.  Also, mulch your tomatoes. The benefits are notable-disease prevention, moisture conservation, cooling of the soil among others.

Prune hedges so they will fill out at the bottom.  Do this by tapering them inward from bottom to top like the shape of a pyramid. This will allow light to reach the lower branches, encouraging foliage to grow all the way to the ground.

Watch for lacebugs on your azaleas, pyracanthas, and sycamores.  These are light brown or black piercing and sucking insects with gauzelike wings that feed on the undersides of leaves, slurping the chlorophyll from the leaf cells, and causing white speckles on the top surfaces. Inspect your azaleas’ leaves. If you see tiny black spots about one-fourth inch long scattered along the leaves you most likely have lace bugs. 

Control lace bugs with insecticidal soap, acephate (Orthene), or imidacloprid (various brand names). Do it now. It is much easier to manage lace bugs in mid-spring than in the summer. 

When shopping for annual flowers, choose plants with no blooms or only a few blooms and an abundance of unopened flower buds. A six-pack covered with flowers may look beautiful now but will lose the blooms quickly and won’t form new ones for weeks. 

Fertilizer recommendations are often given in pounds per acre instead of a form that is meaningful to the average gardener.  Use the following conversions for your garden:

• 200 lbs. converts to 4 2/3 lbs. per 1,000 square feet or 8 ozs. per 100 square feet
• 400 lbs. converts to 9 1/3 lbs. per 1,000 square feet or 15 ozs. per 100 square feet
• 600 lbs. converts to 14 lbs. per 1,000 square feet or 1 1/2 lbs. per 100 square feet
• 800 lbs. converts to 18 2/3 lbs. per 1,000 square feet or 2 lbs. per 100 square feet

By the way, one pint of granular fertilizer weighs approximately one pound. 

Pick off and discard old and inferior rose blossoms regularly. This will allow new flowers to form. When cutting roses for indoor display or simply deadheading, it is best to make your cut just above a “five-leaflet” leaf. A little explanation is in order here. Roses have compound leaves composed of three to seven small leaflets. Buds growing at the base of a “three-leaflet” leaf are likely to produce weak stems and inferior flowers, while buds growing at the base of a “five-leaflet” leaf tend to produce long stems and healthy flowers. Pruning all the way down to a “seven-leaflet” leaf will be overdoing it.

I trust that these tips will help you in your gardening endeavors this month. More to come.

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, and former Perry High School horticulture instructor. He can be reached at (478)954-1507 or timlewis1@windstream.net.