Best Garden Yet: May Edition

May 1, 2024 Fawn Rueckert

YAY for May!! May is such a fun month in the garden, the threat of snow is gone for most of us, unless you are gardening in some of the higher elevations here in Utah. I've made a list for you according to what I do here in my zone 6b/7a garden. By no means is it exhaustive, but it can give you a good idea of what you can plan to do this month in your garden.

Outside-

By the first or second week you can plant out most of your warm season tender annuals. Some that you might wait on are celosia and peppers that like nights over 55 to 60 degrees. These can be planted later in the month.
Dahlias can go in the ground safely, plant them about 4-6 inches deep. Even if we have some cooler weather in the beginning of the month they will still be working to emerge and should be just fine.
Keep weeding! Your July self will thank you for staying on top of those pesky weeds.
Pinch your cool season hardy annuals. Pinching involves removing the growing tip of a plant to encourage branching. Some cut flower varieties that benefit from pinching are snapdragons, agrostemma, godetia, trachelium, dahlias, marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, basil, and celosia.
Take some time to enjoy your garden! Sit on a bench, swing in a hammock, have a bonfire.
Add a birdbath, birds make excellent pest hunters. Welcome them to your yard with a place to drink and bathe as it warms up.
Scout for pests like aphids. A strong jet of water from the hose can be a good way to handle an early infestation.
Put netting on your cut flower varieties. Horizontal netting helps support long stems keeping them straight and upright.

Inside-

Start a second round of warm season annuals so that you have a succession of flowers to enjoy.
Make sure you put on your sunscreen before heading out to the yard!
Start a list of bulbs you want to add to your garden in the fall. You think you’ll remember that tulip variety you were drooling over but it’s best to take some notes.

Seeds to start -

Direct sown flowers- Cosmos, amaranth, marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers
Indoors-basil, gomphrena, ageratum, celosia, (any of the above can also be started indoors if you have more luck that way)
Direct sown vegetables- beans, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, melon, pumpkins.
Plant out these vegetables and flowers- tomatoes, peppers (when it’s warm enough), eggplants, basil, zinnias, ageratum, gomphrena, annual asters, marigolds, cosmos, celosia, dahlias, geranium, amaranth

Happy gardening in May! See you with a new list in June.

Best Garden Yet: April Edition

April 1, 2024 Fawn Rueckert

April is when things really start to get fun in the garden! This month we should see some of the first real cut flowers in bloom. Here's a list of some of the things I do in April in my zone 7A Cut flower garden. If there's something I've missed, please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below.

Tulips from the Sego Lily Flower Farm Spring Subscription

Outside-

WEED! This really should have been at the top of the list last month. The better you are at getting to the weeds in the spring, the less weeds you'll have later in the summer. Get them while they're small and before they go to seed. I love hoes like this to help me get to the small weeds quickly.
Add mulch to your garden beds. Small annual additions of organic matter can help you improve your soil and suppress weeds. Don't go crazy, one to two inches is great.
Plan a day just for irrigation. Make sure all your new plants have drip irrigation to them and that your existing drip lines and sprinklers are working as they should. I flag broken lines and other issues with landscape flags when I come across them as I clean up my beds in the spring. That way I don’t waste time looking for that drip line I know I accidentally cut. (I know I’m not the only one that does this, right?)
Disbud your young peonies. If you have peony plants that are in their first two years of growing, you can help them channel more growth into their roots by disbudding. With your thumb and your forefinger simply snap off the small new buds. I tried to do this when the buds are pea size or smaller. This will let your plant focus on growing more roots and become a stronger, bigger plant sooner.
Plant out your cool season annuals. If you planted in March, this is a great time for a succession or for your first round of cool season Hardy annuals. I love to plant my lisianthus at the very beginning of April. Other things I'll be planting this month- snapdragons, scabiosa, rudbeckia, feverfew, statice, digitalis and more.
Plant some raspberries. They love to be planted when it's still a little cool. Check out this blog post for some inspiration!
This is a great time to plant perennials and shrubs. It gives them some time to get established before our hot weather kicks in.
Water your tulips if we don't get enough natural precipitation. You can check moisture levels by sticking your finger in the ground.

Indoors-

It's finally time! Break out those warm season seeds and get sowing! You will still want to wait till after the last frost date to do any direct sowing though.
Wash your buckets. If you are going to have some tulips, daffodils or hellebores blooming, make sure you're harvesting into clean buckets. Clean buckets are the key to long vase life.
If you haven't already, start keeping notes in a garden journal. Write down when things bloom, when you spray if you spray, which tulip varieties were your favorites, and so on. Your future self will thank you.

Seeds to Start-

Direct sown flowers- Ammi, agrostemma, larkspur, nigella, bells of Ireland, bachelor buttons, bupleurum, scabiosa, baby's breath, cosmos, sunflowers(towards the end of the month)
Indoors- celosia, zinnias, nicandra, basil, gomphrena, ageratum, china asters, dahlia seeds, amaranth, marigolds, cosmos
Direct sown vegetables- peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, radish, turnips
Indoors- tomatoes early in the month, melons, cucumber and squashes later in the month.
Plant out these vegetables- broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage

Happy gardening in April! See you with a new list in May.

Best Garden Yet: March Edition

March 2, 2024 Fawn Rueckert

I can't believe it's March! The winter months flew by this year and I am so excited to get my hands in the dirt outside. I've made a list for you according to what I do here in my zone 6a/7b garden. By no means is it exhaustive, but it can give you a good idea of what you can plan to do this month in your garden.

Outside-

Prune roses, fruit trees, and other woody shrubs that do not bloom in the spring. For those spring bloomers you want to wait to prune till after they bloom.
Spray dormant oil before your roses and fruit trees leaf out. Dormant oil can help suffocate any overwintered pests and keep aphids down to a minimum.
Direct sow some cold hardy annuals. I have a list of options down below.
Clean up any perennials that were not cleaned up in the fall. Cut back to any new growth you see. This might be my favorite task, the garden looks so fresh and clean, with peeks of new growth.
Take a soil test sample. Save yourself time and money before buying any fertilizer or amendments by knowing what you actually need. USU Analytical Lab has some great instructions on how to take soil samples.
Mid month you can plant out your first round of cold season hardy annuals and perennials. I'll be planting things like snapdragons, fox gloves, statice, scabiosa, feverfew, rudbeckia, forget me nots, delphinium, agrostemma, godetia, phlox, dianthus, stock, yarrow, and more. These were all started indoors in January and February.

Inside- (you know that there will be at least a few snowy or rainy days this month)

Sharpen your tools! Treat those hard working tools to a little spa day. They will work much better for you when they're sharp and clean.
Divide your dahlia tubers. This gives you an idea of how much space you'll need to plant all your tubers, and if you have some to share.
Towards the end of the month you can start some of those warm tender annuals and vegetables that have a slower growth rate. Hold off on anything quick growing though, like zinnias or cosmos. I'll have a list down below.

Snapdragon plug ready to plant mid-March

Seeds to start -

Direct sown flowers- Ammi, agrostemma, larkspur, nigella, bells of Ireland, bachelor buttons, bupleurum, scabiosa, baby's breath
Indoors- snapdragons, feverfew, scabiosa, delphinium, phlox, digitalis, straw flower, yarrow, stock, rudbeckia, statice, godetia, gomphrena, ageratum
Direct sown vegetables- peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, radish, turnips
Indoors- peppers, tomatoes towards the middle to end of the month.
Plant out these vegetables- broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage

Happy gardening in March! See you with a new list in April.