Container Garden Guide

Lawns are growing rapidly during May in the South and so are the weeds. Many gardeners are plagued with crabgrass. May is the best month to combat this pest with selective crabgrass killers. The seeds of this annual do not germinate until May in most of the South and the young plants are the most susceptible to the weed killers. If you want to do a complete job of eradicating all kinds of weeds call in the lawn professionals for a complete treatment to kill practically everything but the lawn grasses themselves.

Seeding Bermuda lawns is done this month in the Middle and Upper South. Because of its reputation for being tough, Bermuda is often given much less care than most other lawn grasses. Consequently, many Bermuda lawns are thin and shaggy. Adequate soil preparation, spring and fall feeding and an annual top-dressing will do wonders for a Bermuda lawn.

To be sure of a weed-free top-dressing mix peatmoss and pulverized manure, half and half. Apply this 1/4 inch deep on established Bermuda lawns over the entire area. Established lawns of every type benefit by feeding now. Use a complete plant food with a moderately high nitrogen content (10-6-4, 6-10-4, 6-8-6 or 5-10-5), three to four pounds per 100 square feet.

Vegetable gardens will be quite in evidence this year, especially since there is more of a “green focus” around the country. All heat-loving vegetables can be planted this month in all parts of the South: beans, okra, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupe, New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, peppers and corn. Make succession plantings to keep your garden producing at full capacity. As you harvest a crop apply more plant food to the rows before planting again.

Tomato blight: Cool nights, warm days and heavy morning dew greatly favor its development. Spray or dust weekly with any of the tomato dusts or sprays.

Spring time flowering shrubs should be pruned as soon as they have finished blooming. Prune back to new wood, removing the older wood that is non-productive. Shrubs that flower after June should not be pruned until winter.

Spraying

Spraying continues as usual, in spite of a somewhat depleted insect population after the severe winter. Fruit trees must be sprayed regularly. If in doubt about the schedule, ask your State Agricultural Extension Service for a spray calendar. New sprays are doing wonders for ornamentals. Malathion and Sevin is still handy for many bugs and worms.

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