Nature plans ahead for the wonderful month of May. With a usually ample supply of moisture on hand, with fully expanded leaves, and with longer warmer days, trees, evergreens and shrubs are really ready to go to work. Most of the entire years growth is made this month, and even flowering buds for next springs bloom are in the making.

Swiftly, silently and secretly, Nature’s factories work 2+ hours a day. As to how it does its work, it is made known to us through the things we see from our surroundings.

Zinnias one of the most satisfactory annual flowers for Midwest gardens, may be seeded May. They prefer full sun, and do best in a rich, well-drained soil. For mass effect, sow the seeds in rows about 15 inches apart and thin the plants to about six inches apart in the rows. Beds should be at least six feet wide to produce a nice display of color. Sow the dahlia-flowered type in separate colors in the back rows and use the Lilliputs of appropriate color combinations for the border.

Any patching of lawns or landscaping with grasses either with sod or seed should be finished now. Blue grass seeded this late is usually a failure, so use a mixture of redtop and rye grass with a little bluegrass and white clover. Landscaping with late seeding and sodding mean more watering and weeding.

Cut the grass about two inches high now and as often as necessary to keep it in good condition. The clippings may be left on the lawn, unless they are unusually heavy and the weather is cloudy and wet. Heavy, wet windrows of clippings sometimes are so matted down that young grass is smothered out. The whirlwind type of lawn mower usually cuts up the grass and scatters it without leaving definite windrows.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 6:11 am and is filed under Landscaping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.