On Mother’s Day, enjoy the truly spectacular flowering season
I cannot recall any other spring season that had as many trees and shrubs flowering all at once than this year has. Of course, my memory is not quite what it used to be and it may be possible that I have previously enjoyed many seasons like this one, but this year is truly spectacular.
Moms get to enjoy a great show at the time of the year!
It seems that every single crabapple, wild cherry, flowering plum, peach tree, shadbush, red bud, lilac, flowering quince, forsythia, flowering almond, flowering dogwood and cultivated apple tree are all trying to outdo each other in a beautiful display that has lasted more than 2 weeks now. Some folks are not at all happy with the solid week of cold, wet weather that we have experienced, but I will gladly take these cold spring temperatures over the hordes of blackflies that showed up this year as early as mid-April, when the temperature was in the 70s and even low 80s.
My asparagus bed, which produced an early harvest in late April, seemingly stopped growing when night temperatures went down to the 30s and I have yet to harvest a second flush. As usual, my rhubarb and horseradish croaked over the winter as did my Green Envy Echinacea.
Most gardeners never have a problem with these perennials, but for some reason they will not persist for me here in Conesville. I just started seeds of cucumbers, Brussel sprouts and a fantastic winter squash I ate in Florida called “Seminole Pumpkin”. This squash has the tan skin color of a typical butternut, but the fruit are smaller, rounder and the flesh is moister with a more intense orange color. An added bonus is that the skin is even edible when thoroughly cooked. I am not sure the fruit will ripen in our relatively short growing season, but I certainly hope so!
Those of you who have already transplanted vegetables into the garden may be noticing a distinct purple color on some of the plants, especially tomatoes. This often indicates a nutrient deficiency (magnesium) but in this case, there is no deficiency in the soil. It is just that the roots cannot absorb nutrients when the soil is cold. Resist the urge to add fertilizer and just be patient until the soil warms up.
Indoors, the annual ant invasion has begun as many species of ants forage for food and water. In most cases this too will end once the ants can utilize their normal, outdoor food sources. If you need to use a pesticide indoors for the ants I would recommend a product that contains boric acid. This relatively non-toxic substance has been used by people as an eye wash for decades. When mixed with sugar and water it attracts ants as well as cockroaches and other indoor pests that it will kill by ingestion. There are several over the counter products that contain boric acid for ant control at your local garden center.
If you collect rainwater in barrels of cisterns for watering the gardens,
I suggest you add some “mosquito dunks” or some other similar product that contains the bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis, which kills mosquito larvae (wigglers) but is pretty much harmless to other organisms. The donut shaped “dunks” last for up to 30 days. I saw on the news that there has already been one confirmed case of West Nile Virus in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Crows are most susceptible to this disease but humans may also be infected by mosquito bites.
Try to refrain from lawn mowing until the grass is at least 3 inches tall and then remove no more that ½ inch at a time. Keeping the grass tall is the best way to prevent many weeds from becoming established. This simple practice may eliminate the need to apply herbicides later on this season, as the taller grasses simply shade out the weeds.
This is the best time to prune back spring flowering shrubs, such as forsythia, and lilac, after the flowers fade. You can generally remove up to one third of the total growth without harming these tough and deer resistant shrubs!
Next week I will offer some suggestions of plants that are naturally deer resistant. Bob Beyfuss lives and gardens in Schoharie County. Send him an e-mail to rlb14@cornell. edu.