10 Tips for the May Gardener

UConn Extension’s Home and Garden Center offers you more tips to grow on:

Ten Tips for the May Gardener:
1. If you want to get a head start on the season, plant container gardens and be ready to bring them indoors on cold nights.
2. When transplanting annuals and vegetables, be gentle with the root ball. These plants have small root masses that are easily damaged.
3. Now is the time to divide groundcovers such as ajuga and pachysandra to create new beds or enlarge existing ones.
4. After lilacs finish flowering, prune off old blossoms.
5. When re-seeding parts of your lawn, rope those areas off with stakes and string to keep kids and pets off.
6. Weed around the bases of trees and shrubs and apply a 2 to 3 inch layer of mulch.
7. To help control weeds consider using landscape fabric. Unlike black plastic, it is porous and lets air and water reach plant roots.
8. Think about starting a compost pile with lawn clippings, vegetables scraps and leaves.
9. Now is a good time to lay soaker hoses in flower and shrub gardens.
10. Late-blooming perennials, such as asters and mums, can be divided in spring.

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