THINGS TO DO OUTDOORS

Pass through your garden bed(s) each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but steal moisture, nutrients and light from desired plants.

Gardens need an inch of water a week from you or the heavens. Pots need regular feeding and watering.

Deadhead messy-looking bulbs as blooms fade, but continue to leave bulb foliage intact to wither and ripen the bulbs naturally.

Tender bulbs like dahlias, cannas, caladiums, gladiolus and such should be in the ground, but with the glads, you can stagger flower harvest by planting a row every two weeks until the start of July.

Prune dead, damaged, or diseased wood in trees and shrubs as discovered. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts.

Prune spring flowering shrubs like lilacs and Rhododendron. Later pruning (after July 4th here) risks damage to emerging buds for next year's blooms. Viburnums, on the other hand, need faded flowers left intact to set bird-feeding fruit.

Take softwood cuttings of Hydrangea Buddleia, Weigela, Rose-of-Sharon and roses, among other shrubs, to propagate more plants inexpensively.

Peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach and other cool season crops need to be composted and replaced by beans, beets or any 80 day to maturity crop. With salad greens, select heat-resistant varieties now for best results, and sow small amounts every 10 days. The shadier side of a tomato row or your pole beans, for instance, is nice for basil and lettuce right now...not baking sun. At this point summer squash and cucumbers are beginning to come of size; harvest them small (6-10") and frequently to ensure continued yields and tenderness.

When watering tomatoes, make certain that the fruit remains dry in order to reduce the occurrence of blossom end rot. Keep the tomatoes staked; contact with the ground can also promote blossom end rot and other decay problems.

Direct sow bush beans, corn, pole beans, squashes, cucumbers and melons for an even later crop if you didn't yet.

Turn your compost pile to aerate and hasten decomposition.



Apps for plant identification: Plant Net, Picture This, Plant Snap