World Around You - Gardening Tips for May and June

Attention all you gardeners out there, the new issue of the District’s "Gardening in the Panhandle Newsletter" has just been published.

The following "Garden Tips for May and June" written by Theresa Friday, UF IFAS Horticulture Agent in Santa Rosa County, is just one of the columns in the newsletter. As you can read, there is plenty to do.

Flowers

• Annuals to plant include celosia, coleus, crossandra, gaillardia, geranium, hollyhock, impatiens, kalanchoe, marigold, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, penta, phlox, portulaca, salvia, torenia, verbena, vinca and zinnia.

• For a more tropical look, install colorful foliage plants like coleus, copper plant (Acalypha), croton, alternanthera, ornamental sweet potato and ‘Magilla’ perilla.

• Bulbs or tubers to plant now include agapanthus, blackberry lily, clivia, gloriosa lily, crinum, flag iris and Louisiana iris.

• Fertilize annual and perennial flowerbeds. Choose a product that contains nitrogen and potassium, but little or no phosphorus for this purpose.

• Rejuvenate houseplants. Take them outdoors and inspect for spider mites and mealybugs. Shift pot bound specimens to a size larger pot.

• Set out caladium bulbs in prepared beds. Plant them 18-inches apart and 2-inches deep.

• Control black spot on roses by applying fungicides on a regular basis.

• Keep spent blooms on roses and butterfly bushes cut. Cutting flowers is good for the plants and will give you more flowers in the long run.

• Allow the foliage on spring bulbs to grow. Do not cut it off until it turns yellow and falls over.

Trees and Shrubs

• Finish pruning spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, spiraeas, camellias and forsythia by early June.

• Mature palms should receive an application of granular fertilizer. Use a special palm fertilizer that has an 8-2-12 + 4Mg (magnesium) with micronutrients formulation. Apply one pound of fertilizer per 100 sq. ft. of canopy area or landscape area.

• Do any necessary pruning of junipers in May.

• Inspect maple trees, especially silver maple, for infestations of maple soft scale. Look for a white substance with some black on one end. Individual maple scales are about ¼-inch in diameter and resemble bird droppings. They occur mostly on leaves and can cause defoliation unless controlled.

• Inspect the undersides of azalea leaves for lace bugs. Go to http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG32600.pdf for more information.

Fruits and Nuts

• Fertilize citrus with a special citrus fertilizer. Be sure it contains about 1.6 percent magnesium, about 0.5 percent manganese and small amounts of copper and boron.

• Harvest peaches, nectarines and plums as soon as they mature, before the squirrels and birds get to them.

Vegetable Garden

• Vegetables that can be planted outdoors include eggplant, lima beans, okra, southern peas and sweet potatoes.

• Side-dress vegetable gardens with fertilizer containing nitrogen and potassium. A fertilizer such as a 15-0-15 can be used. Use approximately 2 to 3 cupfuls (1 to 1 ½ pounds) per 100 feet of row.

• Increase watering frequency and amount as tomatoes load up with fruit.

• Sweet potatoes are started from plants or "draws". Be sure to purchase only certified weevil free sweet potato plants.

Lawns

• Calibrate the lawn sprinkler system so that approximately ½-inch of water is applied each irrigation.

• Water lawns in the morning to help prevent disease problems.

• Watch for excessive populations of spittlebugs as they can damage centipede lawns. These small, black insects with 2-orange strips across the back can cause yellow or reddish streaks down the grass blades which eventually turn brown.

• Chinch bug damage in St. Augustine lawns appears as straw-colored areas in full sun. These tiny insects are black with white wing patches on their backs.

If you would like a copy of the newsletter just let me know and I’ll be happy to send you one. Happy gardening!

Bill Mahan is a FL Sea Grant Agent and director of the Franklin UF-IFAS Extension Program. Contact him at 653-9337, 697-2112 x 360; or via e-mail at bmahan@ufl.edu.