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Monthly Garden Tips

June

Azaleas

Finish any needed pruning this month. Remove dead and damaged wood.
Take tip cuttings of new growth to root. Take 4 inch cuttings, remove leaves from the lower half, dip in rooting hormone, and stick in rooting medium, such as ½ sand and ½ vermiculite. Keep moist and out of direct sun. Or you may want to just bend a branch to the ground, rub the bark to wound it where you want the roots, and put a brick or rock on it to keep it in place with the wounded area on the ground. When new roots grow, in 2 to 4 months, cut it loose and transplant.
If new leaves are yellow with green veins, they aren't getting enough iron. This is a common problem for azaleas growing in soil that isn't acid enough-the plant cannot get the iron out of the soil. Have you soil tested and if the pH is too high, treat with iron sulfate.
If older leaves are yellow, they need more nitrogen. Fertilize with an acid-forming fertilizer recommended for azaleas, after flowering in Spring.

Bulbs

Remove yellow and brown leaves when they pull off easily, without resistance.
Make a map or other notation of where your bulbs are and where and what kind you want to plant in the fall.
There is still time to plant summer and fall blooming bulbs, such as cannas, gladiolus, and dahlias, and roots of caladiums and elephant ears.
Add stakes for glads and dahlias as you plant them, to avoid damaging roots later.

Flowers

Check for clearance sales on plants and garden supplies.
Keep deadheading spent blossoms to prolong flowering and keep plants looking tidy. Pinch back coleus to keep them from blooming and to make them bushier.
If you cut back asters, and other tall, floppy, late bloomers, by about 1/3, when they are about a foot high, they will be bushier and flower better.

• Annuals-
  Set out drought-tolerant annuals such as zinnia, marigolds, moss rose, celosias, and globe amaranths.
  Cut back geraniums when they become leggy, and make cuttings to root for new plants. Stick the cuttings in a pot of soil and keep moist until new growth starts. Then water just enough to keep from wilting.
  Bedding plants that will grow containers and bloom through the heat of summer, include scarlet sage (salvia), petunias, wax begonias, ornamental peppers, and Madagascar periwinkle.



• Perennials-
  Remove faded flowers from peonies and fertilize. Put a handful of bonemeal around the plants and scratch it in. Keep free of weeds, and water during dry spells.
  
  Bearded Iris needs to be divided and reset this month, if crowded. If you do it later, you might hurt next years blooming. Dig up the clumps and wash off, so you can see any rot or borer damage. Use a sharp knife to cut away unhealthy parts, and divide the healthy rhizomes. Dust cut parts of rhizomes with captan, before planting, to prevent infection. Cut the fan portion to about ½ it length, to remove any leaf spot. Reset rhizomes no more than an inch deep.
  
  Early flowering perennials that have past their peak, need to be cut back, including, iris, peony, delphinium, yarrow, astilbe, coralbells, coreopsis, daylily, and red-hot-poker. Cut the flower stalks and leave the leaves at the base of the plant.

Herbs

Harvest mint and basIl every day, the more you use them, the more tender shoots they grow.
Keep the blooms pinched off basil, so the energy will go to making leaves, not seeds.
Start cutting herbs for drying this month. Spray them off, gently with the water hose, the day before you plan to cut them. For the most flavor, cut after the dew has dried, but before the sun gets real hot. To dry herbs, hang in bundles, in a dry, well ventilated place. Not in direct sun, it will fade them.

Houseplants

Be sure to keep potted plants that have been moved outside watered. Protect from direct sun and strong wind. Check the soil before watering, clay pots and sunny days call for more water than plastic pots and cloudy days.

Divide and repot rootbound ferns, now, and they should fill out again by the end of summer. Trim dead and damaged fronds back to the soil. Check for scale insects. Protect from direct sunlight.

Lawns

Water deeply, instead of shallow and often. The roots will go deeper. Lawns need an inch of water a week. You can use a rain gauge or set out a container, while you're watering, to measure the amount.
If you need to repair you lawn, by reseeding or laying new sod, do it now so the new turf will have time to become established by the end of the season. Keep well watered.

Mulch

Mulch around trees and shrubs as soon as the soil warms to keep down weeds and conserve moisture. For best results, mulch needs to be 3 to 4 inches thick.

Roses

Keep feeding roses. Spray as needed for fungus, such as black spot.
When cutting the flowers, cut so that at least 2 five or seven leaflet remains on the stem, so the shoots produced will grow flowers, not just leaves. Cut at a 45 degree angle, about ¼ inch from the leaf. A new shoot will develop from the base of the leaf.

Shrubs and Trees

If they need it, prune Spring-blooming shrubs and trees as soon as they finish blooming.
Watch for powdery mildew, a fungus that looks like a white powdery substance on flowers and leaves.
Since the planting season for shrubs is winding down until fall, you might find some late-season sales at the nursery. Some container-grown shrubs that can still be planted include gardenias and azaleas, if you keep them well watered during the hot, dry weather. Or you can put them in pots for your deck or terrace, and set them out in the fall.

Rhododendrons - snap off old blooms, being careful not to break off new growth, right behind the bloom. Keep new plants watered.
Check for bag worms and other leaf eating caterpillars on junipers, birches, and cherries. Treat with BT as needed.

Crepe Myrtle-Pick out new plants now, while they are in bloom, so you can get the color you want. Keep in mind that they come in different colors and sizes. Some varieties only grow 3 feet, others grow 20 feet. Check with Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, or your local nursery about the varieties and sizes.

Hydrangeas-You can change the color of French or mophead hydrangeas to make them pink or blue, by changing the pH of the soil. To turn pink, add a cup or two of lime around the base. To turn blue, add a few teaspoons of aluminum sulfate. It won't happen overnight, it may take a season or two to see the results.

Gardenias-Should be blooming this month. Watch for signs of iron chlorosis (iron deficiency); yellowing leaves with green veins. Treat it by adding Epsom salts to the soil, or spray with iron chelate.

Strawberries

When strawberries have finished blooming, thin the plants , 6 to 12 inches apart, and fertilize with 5-10-10 fertilizer, or similar at ½ cup per square yard.
You can start new plants for next spring, by placing a pot of soil under the plantlets, at the end of runners. After the plants form roots, cut them loose from the parent plant and plant them in a new location. They should produce the next Spring.

Vegetables

Time to plant heat-loving vegetables like cantaloupe, collards, eggplant, luffa, okra, peanuts, peppers, pumpkin, Southern peas, sweet potato slips, and watermelon.
If you started an early garden, it's time to add new plantings, to extend the harvest.

Tomatoes-Keep suckers (miniature stems that grow at 45 degree angle at the joint of other stems) pinched off. You can root the suckers for a late crop!
Hornworms love tomatoes! They can strip a tomato plant in a short time, so watch for them. You can pick them off by hand (they don't bite or sting), or spray with Bacillus thuringiensis (Dipel or Thuricide) according to package directions.

Harvest tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, and okra, frequently so they don't stop producing.
As you finish harvesting cool season crops, such as cabbage, kale, broccoli, and lettuce, toss the plants on the compost pile.Then replant the row.
Wait until the end of the month to plant Winter squash. If it's planted too early, it won't be as sweet, or store as well.
It may be necessary to start a spraying program to control insects in the vegetable garden. An organic alternative to Sevin is rotenone.