Beverley Square West Association

In the Garden Corner 5-6/09 Vera Julia Gordon

May 28, 2009

June. It has been a season of spectacular blossoms and exuberant growth, partly because of our abundant rainfall. Summer bows in on June 21 with the summer solstice, so after that the days begin to be shorter and the nights longer, but it takes a while for it to be noticeable.
The soil has, finally, begun to warm, so all those purchased plants and those you have started from seed should go into the ground. Before you plant, work in some compost and fertilizer. If roots are coiled around in the pot, gently tease them out a few inches before setting them in the ground. Dig your hole larger than the pot and backfill. Plant them at the same depth as they are growing in the pot. Plant bulbs, tubers, corms, and rhizomes when they arrive. Most nurseries ship in accordance with best planting dates for the area. Plant them roughly twice as deep as the diameter of the bulb, except for iris which should lie on the ground, half in the soil. Water in well and remember the importance of the second day?’s watering. The only reason not to water is actual rain, not a prediction of rain.
Water all summer. An inch a week is a basic rule, but heat and wind can dry out soul, and some plants just need more water: hydrangea, impatiens, coleous. Monitor them. Keep lawns mowed ?– about three inches high to avoid burn. Leave the cuts on the ground so the nitrogen and other nutrients can return to the soil. Keep weeding; it is easier after a rain or watering when the soil is softer. If you do not have time for a full weeding, at the least, pick the weeds?’ flowers so they will not self-sow!
Dead-head lilacs and rhododendron, but cut off only the flower clusters, not the leaves just below or you lose next year?’s flowers. Dead-head repeat blooming roses by cutting to just above a five or seven leaf cluster. Keep watch for signs of Asian Long-horned beetles: one inch diameter holes on trunk or branches, half inch tan egg masses or sawdust on the ground from the burrowing. Call 1-800-STOP-ALB if you see anything suspicious.
It is too late to start a totally new lawn, but never too late to repair brown spots: break up the soil, add some compost, smooth the soil, sow the grass seed, cover the seed with a thin layer of soil, step on it to ensure the seed really contacts the soil, then water lightly. (Don?’t wash the seed away.) Keep the soil damp and in ten or so days you should see sprouting. Check your garden to be sure you have no standing water. Mosquitoes are already breeding so there is no need to encourage them!
As wisteria finish blooming, they begin to send out l-o-n-g ?“whips?”. Prune these back to an inch from the point from which they started to grow. You will need to do this several times each summer. Forsythia?’s ebullient growth should be cut back now, for the sprint 2010 flowers will come from this year?’s growth, so cut not to get the size and shape you want to have. You may wish to cut some branches almost to the ground. If your pyrocanthus (fire thorn) is showing flower buds, even if on long branches, you may wish to leave them to develop the handsome fall berries; cut off growth beyond the flowers tokeep the bush trim and then cut back in general next Spring.
It is not a good idea to leave pet food out, especially at night, and secure your garbage cans. We do have raccoons and opossum in the area ?– yes, right here! There was a female opossum with fifteen kits on her back a few weeks ago in the 500s block of Argyle. This is the time of year when we can really relish our gardens ?– so enjoy your June garden.