Spring Gardening Chores

Spring Gardening Chores

By Joe and Susan Noonan, Bexar County Master Gardeners

It’s springtime and there are lots of gardening chores for April and May.   Consider replacing your turf this year with either hardscaping or drought tolerant ground covers. Always remember that in south Texas we are either in a drought, going into a drought or recovering from a drought.

Color

--Warm-season color includes trailing lantanas, cosmos, zinnias, firebush, copper plant, moss rose, purslane, Dahlberg daisy, purple fountain grass, bachelor buttons and pentas.  For shade areas choose from begonia, impatiens, caladiums, coleus and pentas.  Wait on periwinkles until late May.

--Mandevilla, bougainvilleas and hibiscus are great patio plants.  Let your bougainvillea get root-bound and stressed between watering for best blooms.

--Deadhead (pinch/cut off) spent flowers to encourage more bloom.

--Roses should be blooming with color.  Continue to fertilize them for continued blooming.

--Let your wildflowers go to seed before mowing.

--Seeds that may be sown directly in the warm soil include amaranthus, celosia, morning glory, sunflowers, and zinnias.

--Fertilize container plants and hanging baskets plants on a regular basis with a water soluble fertilizer product and be sure that a slow-release fertilizer such as Osmocote has been mixed into the potting medium at the label-recommended amount.

--Remove pansies, snapdragons, dianthus, calendulas, kale and other winter plants when they get ragged.

Ornamentals

--Plant caladium tubers after mid-April when the soil warms and night temperatures are above 60 F.  Caladiums prefer a loose, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter.  They thrive in shade with dappled light, and their colors of green-white, green-pink or green-red fit into almost any landscape.

--Firebush for sun and firespike for full shade are two of the best hummingbird plants.  Hibiscus, cigar plant, dwarf Chinese trumpet creeper, lantana, and firebush on the patio will bring hummingbirds in close for observation.

Shade Trees and Shrubs

--Do not prune oak trees now.    This is prime oak wilt season.  If you make any kind of wound from a trimmer or mower on an oak tree, paint it quickly with some type of latex paint.

--You can still plant new shrubs and trees in April if they are container-grown.  Use generous amounts of mulch on the surface over the roots and water as the soil dries, usually about once per week through the hot summer.

--In heavily shaded parts of the landscape where grass is difficult to maintain, choose one of the well-adapted ground covers such as English or Algerian ivy, Asian jasmine, or mondo grass.

--Prune pillar or climbing roses, wisteria and Carolina jasmine as soon as they have finished flowering.  Vigorous landscape shrubs will need frequent pruning.  These include eleagnus, pyracantha, ligustrum and photinia.  As spring flowering shrubs complete their blooming, do any necessary pruning.  Prune to retain the natural shape of the plant.

Turf Grass

--Proper mowing, efficient watering and good nutrition are the best way to minimize weeds in turf grass.  Spot apply liquid broad-leaf weed killers on warm days to eliminate henbit, chickweed, dandelions, clover and non-grassy weeds.  Read and follow label instructions.  Always read the labels on lawn products.  For example, Scott’s Bonus S Fertilizer should never be used under oak trees which can be a negative issue in our neighborhood.

--Fertilize your lawn after the second “real” mowing.  A “real” mowing is when you are cutting lawn grass and not winter weeds.  April 15, tax-filing day, is a good target.  Use a slow-release lawn fertilizer with a ratio of 3-1-2 or 4-1-2---Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) such as 15-5-10 or 19-5-9 or 20-5-10.

--Mow St. Augustine at 3 inches, Zoysia at 2 inches and Bermuda at 1.5 inches.  Mow when the grass is ⅓ higher than the recommended height.  Never cut off more than ⅓ the height of the blades of grass.

From www.thehillcountrygardener.com  Tom Harris, Ph.D.   See also www.plantanswers.com by Jerry Parsons, Ph.D.