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North Mississippi Gardening Tips
June, 2003

June Notes

Gardens in north Mississippi are at their peak this month. It is hard not to have a beautiful garden in June. Our most common garden perennials bloom this month--daylilies, rudbeckias, verbena, salvias and many, many more. Annuals set out earlier this spring are continuing to fill in our flowerbeds. Don't forget that deadheading the spent blooms of annuals and some perennials keep them blooming longer and looking neater. If you like your chrysanthemums and dahlias bushy don't forget to pinch them back. Stop after July 1 so that you will not disrupt the bud formation and future bloom. Continue to mulch your beds with organic mulches, such as pine bark or pine needles. Mulching retains moisture and keeps down those nasty weeds--keeping you from having to water and weed, as the days get hotter.

Annual and Perennial Flowers and Vines

You can continue to plant potted perennials and annuals this month if you will stay on top of the watering during the several weeks it takes these plants to root into their new location. Don't forget to water during the dry weeks of late summer and fall as these plants will not be as keep rooted and established as those you put out in the early spring.

Fill in those empty spaces in your beds with tough, summer bloomers like lantana, periwinkle, rose moss, and sedums. These plants can take the heat and still look good. Check your garden center or nursery for the newer selections in these groups of plants.

Continue to fertilize plants with a complete fertilizer like 5-10-5 on a 6-8 week schedule through the end of the season. If you use a slow-release fertilizer follow the label instructions for the frequency of application.

Those slimy, nasty snails and slugs will eat hosta, caladium, impatiens, elephant ear and coleus. If you see the telltale slimy trail of these pesky little critters put out bait or you could use the shallow pans of stale beer to lure the little drunkards into the pans where they drown.

Trees and Shrubs

Keep a close eye on your fruit trees this month as the fruit continues to ripen. Insects and disease are out in full force and without a regular spray program your luscious fruit will probably get eaten by worms or rot from some horrible disease. Your county Extension office has the spray recommendations for fruit trees to control these pests. Continue to shape your evergreen hedges of boxwood, photinia, hollies, and others by removing part of the new tip growth. Avoid cutting all the way back into last year's growth as the plant will not look as good and the regrowth will be slower.

The first big spring flush of rose blooms is over and the recurrent blooming roses need to be kept on a regular fertilizer program if they are to bloom regularly and well throughout the summer. For those like hybrid tea roses that are so susceptible to blackspot a regular preventive spray program is a must to keep this dreaded disease from defoliating your roses. I like hybrid teas, but I do not have the time to maintain them properly, so I use mostly the old-timey roses (antique roses) that are naturally resistant to disease. Most of these roses only bloom well once during the growing season, but not having to spray or coddle them is an all right trade-off for not having to use pesticides.

Vegetables and Herbs

Your summer veggies should be well established and growing. Don't forget to sidedress your corn when knee high and your "running" vegetables like watermelon, cantaloupe, and squash when the plants first begin to "run." I just dig a 4" deep trench down the side of my rows of "viney" crops and cover the bottom of the trench with ammonium nitrate (34-0-0) fertilizer. I then cover the trench and wait for the rain.

Harvesting vegetables and processing them quickly ensures the best quality and flavor. Here's a list of common vegetables and tips on when to harvest:

Lawns

Moss thrives in areas that are shady and poorly drained and where the soil is acid or compacted. Decide whether you really need grass in such areas; a gound cover or shrubs may serve the same purpose with less maintenance. Even less trouble would be to be satisfied with moss. I like moss. It doesn't need mowing or fertilizing and loves to be ignored. I encourage it to grow under the trees in my front yard and I make no apologies for it. If your life is not complete without lawn under your trees, you'll probably have to get more sunlight to the ground by thinning the tree canopy. You'll also have to provide better drainage and raise the soil ph by adding lime. I bet that moss is looking better to you already!

Bulbs

Now you can mow down that spring-flowering bulb foliage--but only if it is yellowing! If you want to dig and separate some of those spring-flowering bulbs now is the time to do it as they are going dormant. Lift and separate daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and others. Continue planting summer-flowering bulbs, corms, tubers and roots like gladiolus, dahlia and canna for late summer or fall bloom.

Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes North Mississippi Gardening Tips monthly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.