June/July 2008 Garden Tips
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
• It’s time to grab your plant stakes and head to the garden! June is a great month to stake larger varieties of perennials such as delphiniums. While staking young tomato plants, begin leaf-spot control on all your other tomato plants as well. Staking too late in the season contributes to blossom end rot. This is also the best time to tie your climbing roses to trellises.
• Now that you can work the ground easily, it’s time to replace those old broken stepping-stones with some beautiful natural stone steppers from your local landscaping center.
• Perform last pinching of chrysanthemums to promote compact, bushy plants.
• Prune and shape new growth on arborvitae, junipers, yews, and trim your evergreens and hedges. Prune your pines, spruce, and fir trees in early to mid-June.
• Mulch your garden after the soil has warmed up later in the month.
• Do last picking of rhubarb at month’s end to allow roots to store energy for next season.
• To ensure a healthy lawn, mow your grass at 2½-3 inches. Always water early in the morning, and never mow when the lawn is wet.
It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.
— Lewis Grizzard
• To keep a lawn growing actively, it needs about one inch of water per week. To check how much water your sprinklers are putting out, simply put a rain gauge on the lawn.
• The thatch layer in the lawn should be at about one-half inch. If it is more than three-fourths of an inch, you should consider de-thatching or power raking. If you aerate, addition of gypsum to the soil after aeration will also help loosen the soil and allow good root penetration and water movement into the soil.
• If you usually mow and throw away those grass clippings, think again! Grass clippings are generally high in nitrogen and will aid in composting if properly mixed with other materials. Also, the clippings can be used as mulch around flowers in your garden. However, if you have recently had herbicides applied, your clippings should not be used as compost or mulch.
• July is a good time to trim maple trees.
• Continue to remove spring bulb foliage as it browns. If those spring-flowering bulbs aren’t doing well, dig them up after the foliage has died and divide them.
• Apply slow-release fertilizer in midsummer to provide good plant performance until frost.
• Before late summer, transplant and divide perennials.
• Continue to water young trees and shrubs weekly.
Resources
GardenMinnesota.com
Minnesota Grown
minnesotagrown.com
Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association
651-633-4987
Patio Town
Burnsville • 952-894-1553
Maple Grove • 763-425-9277
Oakdale • 651-773-7440
6 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
