BUSY AS A BEE

BY BETHANY O’REAR

Early summer and the natural world are buzzing with activity. Flowering shrubs are finishing a first flush of bloom or getting ready for a show. Warm season vegetables are setting fruit. Lawns are green and lush. Flower beds are filling out. So much going on, so much to do, not enough time. Where to start? Let me help you prioritize your garden tasks to help your lawn and garden perform their best and you can work smarter not harder.

Homeowners often make things more difficult for themselves than is needed when it comes to lawn care. How? By picking the wrong mowing schedule and fertilizing at the wrong time. Lawn care needs are very specific to turfgrass type. Let’s look at five of the most popular types. For example, Bermudagrass likes a short haircut to a height of 1-2 inches and so does Zoysiagrass, but it’s recommended that Bermu- dagrass be mowed every 5-7 days while the schedule for Zoysiagrass is twice as long—10-14 days. St. Augustine should be clipped to 2-3 inches every 7-14 days. Tall Fescue should be permitted to grow, well, tall — mow to a height of 2 to 3 1/2 inches every 7-14 days. Centipede prefers a height of 1 1/2 -2 inches (though shorter is better) every 10-14 days. So, if you’re in the habit of mowing weekly, you might cut yourself some slack. Also, when the summer heat is bearing down, consider raising your mower ½ inch, no matter what the turf type. As for fertilizer, timing depends on turf type as well. Warm weather grasses like St. Augustine, Bermudagrass and Zoysiagrass appreciate an application of fertilizer in July, when their growth surge is strongest. Tall Fescue shouldn’t be fertilized in the early summer after April and no later than May for Centipede.

By late June, Nature has been so kind to us that your garden may look a little too lush for your taste. If you like a formal appearance, it may be tempting to get out there and “clean up” a bit but resist that temptation when it comes to flowering shrubs. For example, many azaleas set their flowers for next year in early July. Pruning now could reduce next year’s bloom. The rule of thumb for azaleas is to prune in late spring after bloom, cut for a natural shape, not a “poodle cut,” and avoid over-fertilizing. Gardenias are another flowering shrub which should be pruned after bloom in the spring flush. Oakleaf hydrangeas don’t need to be pruned annually, though many gardeners do so to increase productivity. If you do choose to prune, do so in the early summer just after bloom. Oakleaf hydrangeas set next year’s bloom buds in late July and early August so delaying pruning until late summer could cut off next year’s display. Roses are a mixed bag because of the wide selection we can grow in Alabama. Generally speaking, though, hybrid tea roses should be pruned hard in late winter, heirloom and species roses should be pruned after bloom in the spring and shrub roses (like “Knockout”) can be shaped all year long.

So, you’ve saved time by not pruning in June and July. Where should you focus your attention - preven- tative maintenance and planning for the fall. That may sound like dull stuff but for minimal effort you can get gangbuster results. In the flower garden it means deadheading perennial flowers like Coreopsis and Shasta daisies to encourage fall re-bloom (if you’re short on time, skip the purple coneflowers as they’ll rebloom without pruning). Trim annuals and tender perennials that respond to pruning like “Cut and Come Again” Zinnias, Marigolds, Geranium and Cosmos. Back away from the Begonias and Russian Sage, however, as they don’t need trimming. Now is also the time to get a handle on weed control. Hand pull weeds and apply or supplement with an organic mulch. Mulch is a magical ingredient—it suppresses weed growth, moderates soil temperatures, adds to the fertility of the soil and retains moisture. Organic mulches take many forms including pine straw or pine bark. No need to pay extra for dyed mulches as they add no greater benefit than ordinary wood mulches and need to be topped off more frequently to maintain constant color.

In the vegetable garden, preventative maintenance means spraying for diseases on a regular basis before significant disease impacts tomato, pepper, squash and similar plants. Spraying of tomato plants for foliar diseases should be started within a week of

Happily, most garden stores and retail centers sell 3-in1 sprays, both in traditional and organic compositions. No matter which product you select, be sure to read the label to ensure that it is the correct choice for your particular plant and your particular pest. Additionally, the product label includes important information related to spray rate, frequency and precautions. Of course, you can give yourself a head start by planting varieties of any vegetable that are bred for disease-resistance and making sure to rotate your garden so that crops in the same family (which carry the same diseases) are not repeated from year to year. Two of the most commonly grown “families” of vegetable crops should be rotated but they may not be obvious “kin.” The nightshade family includes eggplant, Irish potato, pepper and tomato while the gourd family includes cucumber, summer and winter squashes, honeydew and pumpkin. The point of crop rotation is to avoid replanting any member of the same family in a garden section two years in a row. If all this preventative maintenance doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, planting the fall garden sure does. In July, you can sow your fall garden with beans (lima and pole), cucumbers and winter squash. You can also set out another round of some of our favorite transplants – eggplants, peppers and heat-tolerant tomatoes, like Bella Rosa and Amelia. Enjoy these