Gardening This Weekend: April 5, 2018

If Easter found you doing other things than gardening last weekend, you may be playing catch-up. Here are your most critical goals.

PLANT:

Warm-season grasses from sod. In South Texas plant bermudagrass from seed. Wait until later in month to seed bermuda in North Texas.
Warm-season annuals including marigolds, zinnias, cockscomb, cosmos, pentas, angelonias, coleus, wax begonias and purple fountaingrass among others.
South Texas gardeners plant lantanas, periwinkles, moss rose, hybrid purslane, firebush, Texas Gold esperanza and copper plants. Wait until later in month to plant those in North Texas.
Warm-season vegetables. Plant tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, cucumbers, corn right away. Stay with small- and mid-sized tomatoes for best production. Large types like Beefsteak and Big Boy don’t set fruit well in Texas.

PRUNE:

Azaleas, wisteria, Carolina jessamine, Lady Banksia roses, crossvine, forsythia, quince, viburnums and other spring-blooming shrubs and vines to reshape. Avoid formal shearing.
Keep garden tidy by removing browned stems and spent flowers from spring-blooming perennials. Leave foliage on daffodils, summer snowflakes, and other bulbs until leaves turn brown so they can make and store food for next year.

FERTILIZE:

Lawn with high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen fertilizer with half or more of that nitrogen in slow-release form.
Same lawn fertilizer to all trees and shrubs and groundcover plantings. Have soils tested by TAMU Soil Testing Laboratory every 3-4 years to monitor changes in nutrients.
Water-soluble, high-nitrogen plant food to patio pots, hanging baskets, new annual flower and vegetable transplants to get them off to a quick start.

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ON THE LOOKOUT:

Clover, dandelions, dollarweed, dichondra, poison ivy and other non-grassy weeds with a broadleafed weedkiller spray containing 2,4-D. Read and follow label directions for best results.
Snails, slugs and pillbugs devouring tender new growth. Apply Sevin dust or bait to plants, soil. These feed primarily at night.
Aphids congregating on tender new growth of shrubs, perennials and other plants. They are always pear-shaped, but colors will be green, red, brown or creamy yellow. Try blasting them off with hard stream of water. If that fails, most general-purpose organic and inorganic insecticides will eliminate them.
Cabbage loopers on leaves of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and other cole crops. Apply B.t. biological worm spray.

Posted by Neil Sperry
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