JOHNSTON COUNTY HOME HORTICULTURE
June brings june bugs 
and the first days
of summer.
The focus in the gardens shifts from planting and jump starting our
plants
back from their winter dormancy to caring and maintaining them.
Summer
can be a bit of a struggle for plants and people with the extreme heat
that we get.
LAWN CARE
http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/
- When do you water your lawn? When the grass
blades are just
starting to curl and your footprints remain on the lawn when you walk
on
it. Watering too often encourages a lawn with a shallow root
system
that cannot handle drought well. Apply an inch of water, in the
early
morning.
Set your timer for 4 am if you can. See the 'How to' Technique in
this
edition of the Gardener's Dirt for further details.
- It's a good time to plant new sod in damaged areas.
Get
your
soil tested first (we have free kits).
- Grasses vary in their needs. Check out the Lawn Maintenance
Calendar
for your grass and learn how best to care for it, month by month ...
- This is NOT the time for planting or fertilizing fescue! Wait
until the
fall.
Don't mow fescue too
short. Keep fescue mowed at a height of 3 -
3 1/2 inches to help it survive hot, dry periods. It is a cool
season
grass that slows
down in the summer and if you cut it too short you will expose the
tender roots to extreme heat which will certainly damage, if not kill,
it. It is also difficult for the fescue to recover from cutting
it
too short as it is not actively growing now.
TREES, SHRUBS & ORNAMENTALS
Divide
and replant bulbs immediately, or store them in a cool, dry place
for
planting this fall. (Note: Tulips and Hyacinths generally don't
perennialize
in our area because our spring and winter is too warm.)
Give plants room to grow. Pull/transplant excess seedlings
of
marigold,
cosmos, zinnias, etc. Growing plants need room to develop, and five
healthy
plants will look better than fifty undernourished ones.
Remove faded flowers. Many annuals and perennials
will
stop
blooming once they've started to set seed, so removing ('dead heading')
the spent flowers will prolong the bloom period.
Pinch growing tips of ornamentals. Pinching the
growing
tips
will encourage compact, sturdy, branched growth with lots of blooms.
Protect plants from dehydration. Plants lose a lot of
water in
hot
weather.
If you must transplant now, do it on overcast days or late in the
afternoon,
and keep newly-planted ornamentals well watered for the first several
days.
Use a 2-3" layer of mulch to conserve water and keep roots cool.
EDIBLES
- Squash plants wilting?
Check near the base of
the plant
for a small
hole and a mass of greenish-yellow excrement. Slitting open the stem
may
reveal the villain: a fat white caterpillar! Squash vine borers
usually
kill home-garden squash plants, and control is difficult once the
caterpillars
are inside the plant. You may be able to save the plant by removing the
caterpillar, then covering the injured area of the vine with moist soil
to encourage rooting.
- Edible flowers? Yes, edible flowers! Give your mouth
something
to really talk about: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8513.html
- Spring greens are a fleeting presence in the
garden.
Long
days and warm temps trigger the plants to switch from leaf production
to
developing flowers. Once this quick process starts, there is no
turning
back. When flower production starts, leaves typically do not
taste
as good so it's best to harvest your leaves before the plant bolts
(starts
to flower). To delay bolting (and get some more leaves to eat)
try
the following - Cover spring salad greens with a cardboard box in
mid afternoon.
Remove it after sunset and give the plants a slurp of water to cool
them
down. This procedure fools the plants into thinking the days are
shorter
than they actually are and can delay bolting by a couple of
weeks.
-- Barbara Pleasant
LANDSCAPE IDEAS
- Tropical natives make excellent additions to our
gardens
in the
summer, with colorful foliage, bright flowers, and heat-loving
constitutions.
They can't survive our winters, but we can try over-wintering our
favorites
indoors. Ornamental peppers
and Jerusalem cherries are other
heat-lovers.
More exotic tropicals, such as Alternanthera (Joseph's Coat),
Plectranthus
(with lovely gray felty leaves), and Acalypha (Copper Plant), are
becoming
available. Visit the J.C. Raulston Arboretum at NCSU to see first-hand
how tropicals can spice up our summer gardens.
- Demystify mulch at: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-608.html
- Lantana didn't come back this year? Lantanas are
another
tropical
native. During a mild winter they can survive, but our harsh
winter
last year killed many off.
- Keep outdoor potted plants watered; in the heat they lose
a lot
of
moisture.
If you're going on vacation, ask a friend to check your plants
regularly.
General Houseplant care: http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06510.htm
Thanks to the Durham County Extension Office and
'Successful
Gardener'
for their generous contributions to this list.
HELPING PEOPLE PUT KNOWLEDGE TO WORK.
Got Questions? We've got answers!
Contact us.
Train
long shoots horizontally to stimulate
more branching. http://cetulare.ucdavis.edu/mg/Pruning%20Climbing%20Roses.pdf