North Mississippi Gardening Tips
April 2009
Theme Gardens
Planting a garden around a theme can be a fun project for you, your family, or can be a great club, group or community project. Some typical garden themes could be: Shakespearean Garden, Medicinal Herb Garden, Fragrance Garden, Tea Garden or even a Garden for the Blind with scented or textured leaves. Perhaps more appropriate for the season would be an Easter Biblical Garden. There are many plants suitable for this type of garden. Some are mentioned in the Bible, others could be included through their mention in legends and traditions associated with this religious holiday. Some plants to include would be: the hyssop (a branch was used to give a drink of vinegar to Christ on the cross), tansy, chicory and mint (believed to be some of the bitter herbs of Passover to be eaten at Easter-time), Easter lily (Christian symbol of resurrection), aloe (used by Nicodemus and John to prepare the body of Jesus for burial), mustard, wormwood (both mentioned in scriptures in the Bible), and, of course, a dogwood tree which tradition says was the tree from which the cross was made. You could even include a redbud or Judas tree which legend says was the tree from which Judas hanged himself after his betrayal of Jesus.
Shrubs and Trees
Continue planting container-grown trees and shrubs, but pay strict attention to watering during the first growing season to help get them established. To prevent water from running off, create a temporary berm, or dike, of piled up soil around newly planted shrubs in clay soil. Smooth out the berm when the plants become established. Start training young trees and larger tree-like shrubs after they’ve had a full season of growth in their new location. If you didn’t plant a high-quality tree with a strong trunk and well spaced branches, you may have to prune regularly at first to improve its structure. Do not be too quick to pull out shrubs that are damaged by cold. Cut back dead branches above the ground, but leave the roots in place until June. If you haven’t seen any new growth by then they have gone home to their fathers and you can yank out the rest of the plant carcass. For blue flowers on your mophead, lacecap or French hydrangeas, maintain a soil pH between 5 and 5.5. An acid soil increases the availability of aluminum, which turns the flowers blue. Apply aluminum sulfate or sulfur to reduce the pH to this ideal range when you see new growth emerging.
Vegetables
You ever wonder what the cutoff dates are for seeding or transplanting certain vegetable crops?
Well, it is not too late to seed some cool season vegetables. Below is a table that has the recommended cutoff dates that have not passed yet for cool season vegetables. It also includes cut off dates for some warm season vegetables. These are just guidelines based on meteorological data for north Mississippi. So, if you miss these by a week or so, just say a pray and it should all be just fine.
Cool Season Vegetables—Recommended planting
cut-off dates for spring
Vegetable / Cut-off date:
Beets / April 5
Carrots / April 15
Swiss Chard / April 15
Collards (set plants) / June 15
Mustard / April 10
Radish / April 25
Turnips / April 20
Warm Season Vegetables—Recommended planting
cut-off dates for spring
Vegetable / Cut-off date
Bush snap bean / May 10
Pole snap bean / April 10
Bush lima bean / April 10
Cantaloupe / May 15
Cucumbers / May 15
Eggplants (set plants) / May 15
Water Gardening
If you removed, cleaned and stored your water pump for the winter, it is time to drag it out and start that water feature back up because spring is here! Be sure and clean any debris or leaves from your water garden. If you didn’t cut back the plants surrounding (marginal plants) or in your water garden last fall now is the time to do that. Divide your bog plants just before or as new growth is emerging. Rhizomes such as those of striped rush can be divided into sections with shoots and roots. Fibrous rooted plants such as pickerel rush can be teased apart into separate plants. Keep the marginal plants confined to containers like a nursery pot, which makes fertilizing and future dividing easier.
Flowers
Perennials such as Japanese anemone, boltonia, gaura, swamp sunflower, Joe-pye-weed, peony, and tansy will become top-heavy and require support to prevent them from flopping over their neighbors. Support these perennials early in their growth using specially designed plant supports such as peony rings, tomato cages or plastic stakes and string. Position these so the plants will eventually hide the supports.
To avoid staking some perennials you can select the more compact or dwarf cultivars or prune them at least eight weeks before flowering. These pinched or pruned perennials produce more but smaller flowers than those that are not pinched. Plants that respond well to pinching include aster, beebalm, garden mums, Joe-pye-weed, pink turtle head, spike speedwell, and Autumn Joy sedum.
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.