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May
Garden Calendar
By
John Chapman
Weather:
We certainly have had a lovely mild spring and it even
rained. On the average we get about seven inches of
rain per year, we are already had about half of that.
Summer temperatures will be much more the rule now than
the exception. Be sure to remove all those dried weeds
away from your property to reduce the fire danger.
Flowers: I know that many of our cool season
flowers still look great but we must get the summer
flowers in now so their roots will get established before
the heat sets in. Remove all your cool season flowers
like petunias, pansies, geraniums now and replant with
summer annuals. There are many flowers that are considered
summer flowers but only a few will last through September.
Some I like that last all summer are Lantana, Vinca,
Verbana, Portulaca, Gomphorena purple buddy & Perslane;
Mexican heather does quite well all summer too. If you
plant Zinnias don't water by sprinkling, the leaves
will turn brown, water by drip or flood. Flowers, like
summer vegetables, will benefit from a rich soil mixture
of compost.
Vegetables: Plant Seeds of Black eyed Peas, Cantaloupe,
Okra, squash and Sunflowers. Plant Transplants: Jerusalem
Artichokes, Sweet Potatoes. Place shade cloth over tomatoes
to keep leaf hoppers away which are vectors of curly
top virus. In addition to the prevention of curly top
virus carried by this pest, shade will keep the plants
in a more temperate environment. We've learned by testing
and measuring temperatures that shade cloth less than
50% reduction is cooler because it allows heat to escape;
shade cloth 50% reduction and greater traps the heat.
One of the primary causes for poor production of summer
vegetables is over-fertilization. Besides chemical fertilizers,
it's also possible to overdo it with organics such as
manure. It's better to add fertilizer as-needed, rather
than starting out with too much. If over-fertilization
is suspected, nitrogen can be leached out of the root
zone of plants by watering heavily.
Trees and shrubs: Protect young and newly planted
trees from desert winds by staking perpendicular to
the prevailing winds only if they can't stand by themselves.
Staking at right angles to the prevailing winds. Leave
the ties loose so the trunks with move in the wind and
develop reactionary wood. Old pieces of hose are useful
to prevent damage to the trunk. Mulching about the base
helps keep soil moist longer. Use caution with weed
whippers. Put a guard around the base of your fruit
tree trunks. Repeated injuries can kill trees. Watering
should be increased to a normal summer schedule. About
once a month, irrigate slowly but for a long period
(12to 24 hours) to leach accumulated salts below the
root zone. Light watering encourages shallow root growth
and also puts trees under moisture stress easily.
Deciduous fruit trees require infrequent but deep watering.
The size of fruit will be smaller if the fruit trees
suffer from a lack of water. Try a 7 to 10 day cycle
for the summer. For newly planted trees, protect trunk
from sun burning by painting it with the new natural
looking brown paint called Go Natural Tree Paint instead
of that jarring white latex paint. Pick early-maturing
deciduous fruit varieties, which are particularly prone
to bird damage, before full maturity. Ripened at room
temperature to lessen the bird peck loss.
Citrus may still be planted. Young two to five year
old trees transplant most successfully. Larger, older
trees are more costly, harder to transplant without
injury to yourself and the tree and suffer more from
transplant shock. It will generally be three - five
years after transplant before fruit production and that
is the same whether you plant a 2 year old tree or a
10 year old tree. Go small! Citrus like the sun but
appreciate being spared the scalding afternoon sun.
May is fertilizing time for citrus. Mature trees require
five pounds of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) each year,
or one full pound of nitrogen a loose measurement of
10 cups. A five-year-old citrus tree is considered mature,
so use three cups. A four-year-old citrus needs three
cups, a three-year-old needs one cup, a 2-year-old needs
2 to 3 tablespoons. Remember how old the tree is, and
how long it has been in that location. If you're on
a twice a year schedule, half of the fertilizer is applied
now, which is five cups. For a three times a year, apply
one third of the fertilizer now and the last dose in
August. Remember to spread the fertilizer in a band
over the feeder roots under the drip line of the trees
and a little beyond. Fertilizer is wasted by fertilizing
close to the trunk of older trees over the anchor roots.
Kinnow mandarin (tangerine) does not shed its fruit,
and so becomes alternate bearing which; means having
a big crop one year and a small crop the next. To have
fruit each year, mandarins need to be thinned. This
can be done by hand when the fruits are about marble
size, or wait until the fruits will not pass through
the tines of a garden rake and thin out fruits with
the rake. Lemons are the only citrus fruit that really
needs to be pruned some to keep the growth uniform.
If the top is pruned some the lemon tree won't get so
tall and keep the fruit closer. Don't worry when you
see developing orange and grapefruit citrus fruits on
the ground. If 2% of the fruits set, you'll have an
ample crop. Apply nitrogen and zinc fertilizer to pecan
trees to produce normal size leaf growth and to enhance
kernel development. Pecans also need more water than
most other shade trees
Bougainvillea will bloom better if starved for water.
Too much water and fertilizer can cause leaf growth
at the expense of flowering. You may notice dime-sized
pieces of bougainvillea leaf missing; cutter bees gathering
nesting material cause it. While they may make the plant
look somewhat tattered, there is no harm and no real
control to correct the problem. It's just something
we live with. May is the best time of year for transplanting
cactus. If you cannot find the information you need
at your local library, call the Desert Botanical Garden
or the Cooperative Extension; they have handouts on
transplanting cactus.
Lawns: Temperatures have warmed to the point
you can sow Bermuda grass. Apply at the rate of two
pounds per 1,000 square feet. Plugs, sprigs or stolons
of the hybrid Bermuda, St. Augustine can now be planted.
If you favor hybrid Bermuda, probably the two best choices
for home lawns are EZ-Turf, and Bobsod -both are hybrids
so they don't produce seed. You can order sod or purchase
it from nurseries and garden centers. Zoysia was the
grass used in the Bank One Ballpark the first year.
It didn't hold up so now they use Bobsod. Bobsod has
a horizontal growth pattern and has more biomass, which
means it has a spongier feel, is also a little more
shade tolerant than other Bermudas and recovers from
use more quickly.
Now is the time to lower your lawn mower one notch each
mowing down to half of an inch and keep it there until
the winter rye grass dies. This will encourage new growth
and renovate your Bermuda lawn. If you don't stress
and kill the winter rye grass by close mowing and just
let the summer heat kill the rye, the rye will shade
the Bermuda and your Bermuda grass will die from lack
of sunlight. One of the best renovating practices for
your lawn is to allow air to the roots by aerating.
You can rent a solid core-aerating machine at most equipment
rental stores. If you your lawn is super thick and you
haven't thinned it out by verticutting or dethatching
it in several years, now is time to do it. Fertilize
with a 3-1-2 ratio like 21-7-14 fertilizer once a month.
Mow hybrids from one-half to one and one half inches,
cut common Bermuda from one-half to two inches.
Pesticides: Buy knowledge, not pesticides. If
a professional company maintains your landscape, insist
they apply pesticide sprays only as needed and only
to affected plants. Request spot treatments of problems,
and don't allow blanket sprays. Remember that with pesticides,
more is not better. Effective scouting for pest problems
is a valuable service provided by qualified professionals.
Pay for expertise, not chemicals.
____________________________________________________________________
If
you have a specific question for John please leave them
on his voice mail 480-898-5636 or email him at john@johnchapman.com
. Please leave your question, name, city, and phone
number. For more of John Chapman’s gardening tips
listen to news radio 620am KTAR Saturday morning 7:40-8AM.
On Television watch John’s garden segments on Jan
D’Atri’s Heart and Home on Sunday 12:30pm
and replays Monday evenings 8 pm AZTV broadcast 27,
Cable America 4, or Cox 13
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