MAY GARDEN MAINTENANCE

I've found in my over 40 years of gardening that the following tips help me get through spring with a minimum of weeding and a maximum of enjoyment! Happy Spring!

·         Weeds! Those pesky plants that you don’t want where they pop up in your garden. Many may be perennials that we already have enough of, so that we can either share or compost them. Others are just plain invasive and might even crowd out or destroy our favored plants. (In the post below, you'll learn about my battle with lesser celandine.) So be sure to continue getting the weeds out as soon as you see them. There is no such thing as a weed that is too small to not bother removing. They will only grow larger, with more tenacious roots.

·         Continue dividing and spreading perennials for maximum color “punch.” As the weather gets warmer, be sure to keep the transplants watered until they “take.”

·         If you want to move your early spring bulbs, you may safely do it now. Three springs ago, I moved some tulips and daffodils while they were in bloom and put them among the daylilies. This year, they came up right on schedule with the added bonus that their leaves will be hidden by the iris and then daylilies, when the tulips fade. 

·         If you find that some of your perennials are invading others and you prefer to keep them in distinct clumps, now is a good time to separate them, before they get too intertwined. It’s best to do this task as soon as you notice a problem.

·         The question still comes up about those unsightly, yellowing daffodil leaves! My suggestion is that once the flower has shriveled up; remove its stalk to the base of the plant to prevent fruit formation. By removing it before it produces seeds, energy is not wasted, but instead food made by the leaves goes to bulb for next year’s flowers. In my experience, when they start to flop over, it is okay to cut off the top half of the leaves. That way, the remaining part of the leaves can continue photosynthesizing, sending food to the bulb (a storage stem) and, as a bonus, they spring back up. Eventually, when they are yellow, you can cut them to the base of the plant.

·         Pack them in. I’ve found that one of the best ways to cut down on weeds, besides a dense evergreen ground cover that allows perennials, etc. to grow through it, is to plant a succession of plants closely together.