Oh
my goodness, we had an absolutely riveting presentation from Janice
Strevy of Rosewood Gardens on David Austin English roses. She has a
unique viewpoint when it comes to growing roses in our area and she
went through her processes from start to finish and made us all
realize that beautiful rose gardens are in fact a reality for us.
Take a trip to West Charlton and check it out, you will not be
disappointed.
Perennials
are now starting to pop up so take a look and see if you need to
divide any. It’s a good time to divide the sedum and they do look
lovely with grasses so maybe you have some miscanthus that needs
dividing and if so you have a ready-made combination. Come by the
plant sale we have opposite the old Stewarts on May 7, we have
perennials from our gardens to share with you and we can give you
tips on planting, care and plant combinations.
If
you didn’t feed your garden in the Fall, now is a good time to
spread 5-10-5 fertilizer around. The fertilizer will work its way to
the roots right when the plant needs it. Your bulb beds will also
benefit as the bulbs need to grow next year’s bulb right after this
year’s flower has gone by. That’s why we deadhead the bulbs but
leave the foliage on them until they naturally dry out. Do some
shallow cultivation to root out the weeds that are starting. If you
do this weekly and then mulch when the weather is warmer you will
have much less of a weed problem than if you wait until summer to
have an afternoon of weeding.
As you wander through your garden keep a close eye out for the lily beetle. It’s about a quarter inch long with a red body and black legs. This pest is unfortunately all around our area and the beetles can decimate lilies and fritillaria quite quickly. The adult beetles stay alive throughout the winter and emerge early in the spring, when they begin looking for food and mates. The adult females lay their eggs, a reddish brown mass, on the underside of lily leaves in April or May and they hatch within eight days. The young larvae are look like small slugs and they feed on the underside and the upper surface of lily leaves and on lily buds. This feeding period, which lasts 16-to-24 days, is the most destructive. From there, the beetles drop to the soil and pupate, emerging as adults about 16-to-22 days later and continue feeding for the rest of the season. As the lilies grow check the underside of the leaves and remove the eggs. You can also wipe or spray neem oil on the plants which has shown to be a deterrent. There are also a couple of pesticides available that work on the beetles.
In
your veggie garden you can continue to add organic material all year,
remember that you can plant your transplants right through it. Take
some time to decide where you are going to put your tomatoes and
peppers this year – hopefully some distance away from where they
were last year. Dig some holes where the plants are going to go and
then cover the area with plastic; garbage bags work well. The idea
is to warm up the soil because tomatoes and peppers do not like to go
into cold soil, peppers will sulk and I have years when they put on
very little growth when I planted them too early. You are looking
for night time temps of about 50 degrees so the first week in June is
generally a good time to plant out. If your soil is warm and your
transplants are hardened off they will get a very good start and you
will be surprised how quickly your tomatoes will catch up to those of
your neighbor who planted hers mid May!
Just
a couple of dates to remind you about: our plant sale that I
mentioned earlier is on Saturday, May 7 during the Northville annual
garage sale days. We are opposite the old Stewarts.
Then Wednesday
June 8 through Saturday June 11th we have our annual flower show at
the Northville Public Library. The theme this year is Travel
Destinations so be sure to come by and look at the wonderful
arrangements that our members create.
As
always, if you have any questions, our address is PO Box 675, Northville and happy gardening to all.
