Home Gardening

North Mississippi Gardening Tips
May, 2004

FLOWERS

May in a north Mississippi flower garden is a sight to behold. All danger of frost has past and tender bulbs and plants can be put in the ground now.

One of the most popular tender bulbs for the southern shade garden is the caladium. These tropical foliage plants are treated as annuals in northern Mississippi. Foliage colors are shades of red, pink, or white, with prominently colored midribs and contrasting backgrounds and borders. Nurseries and garden centers offer caladiums as potted plants or dormant tubers.

Caladiums require a warm soil (minimum of 70 degrees) high in organic matter with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Caladiums traditionally need protection from full sun for best growth and color, but some of the newer varieties tolerate limited exposure to full sun for a couple of hours daily.

When using caladiums in the landscape planting masses of same colored plants is more effective than plantings that mix colors and types together. Use masses of the white-colored foliage types to bring light to those dark, shady areas of the landscape.

When choosing perennial or annual flowers as you shop the garden centers this spring, consider the site. Is it sunny, dry, shady, or damp? It is always easier to suit the plant to the site rather than to change the site to fit the plant.

TREES AND SHRUBS

If there is no rain, be sure and water the trees and shrubs you planted last fall or winter weekly. These plants will need some extra care their first growing season to become established and do well. Watering properly and when needed is the key to success during the critical first year of growth.

It is too late to successfully plant balled and burlapped container grown shrubs or trees unless extreme care is taken. Wait to prune flowering evergreen shrubs like rhododendron, mountain laurel, and azalea until after they have finished blooming, but before new growth is mature.

Spring flowering evergreens like the ones mentioned above should be fertilized after flowering. Broadleaf evergreen shrubs such as hollies, boxwoods and cleyeras should have been pruned before the new growth begins. If you haven't given them their spring trim yet it is still ok to do so, but do it before the new growth matures.

Check for damaging insects on evergreens, especially euonymus, gardenia, azalea, photinia and camellia. Spider mites, scale, lacebug, leaf miner, spittlebug and leafhopper are the most likely to attack now. Call your local Extension office to get the latest pesticide recommendations to control these insects.

VEGETABLES

It's harvest time in the vegetable garden if you planted spring cool season veggies like radishes, carrots, green onions, and various greens. As these vegetables are harvested, it's time to make way for the planting of the warm season vegetables like snap beans, tomatoes, squash, peppers and melons.

If you haven't soil tested, and do not know the fertilizer requirements, a good general rate is one pound of 15-15-15 per 10 feet of row. This application should be good for about six weeks. Fertilize tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber and okra every six weeks throughout the growing season with one pound of 5-10-15 for every 10 feet of row. Continue to fertilize other growing vegetables with 5-10-15 about every six weeks for the rest of the season at the rate of one pound per 10 feet of row. As these vegetables grow throughout the month, keep the vine groups and tomatoes properly supported and trained.

There are a host of insects and diseases that can plague vegetables. Scouting for these problems and taking action as soon as you observe a disease symptom or insect is the key to control. If you spot a disease problem and cannot determine what it is, snip a leaf, flower or fruit and take it to your county Extension office for assistance. If it is an insect try to capture the critter, or take a sample of the damaged plant part with you to the Extension office.

FRUITS AND NUTS

Controlling fruit tree diseases and insects in the home orchard is an ongoing problem. A preventive spray program should have been initiated at bloom and should be continued right up to harvest for effective control and quality fruit. The most practical method is the regular application of a complete home orchard spray, which contains a fungicide and insecticides.

Watch for the symptoms of fire blight on pears and apples this month. The disease can be identified by the tip growth of the branches turning black and hanging on the tree. Cutting and removing the effected tip growth is the only practical control. Cut the affected twig several inches below the area of shriveled bark on the branch. Dip your pruners between cuts in alcohol or a bleach solution so as not to spread the disease.

If you set out new fruit trees, vines or brambles this past winter, remember to keep them watered well during the dry weather of the first growing season. Be careful when mowing around fruit trees and do not damage the bark. Damaged bark could provide an entrance for disease or insects. Better to eliminate the need for mowing or trimming around the trunks by mulching this area. Mulching keeps the weeds down and retains moisture.

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.