Gardening This Weekend: May 21, 2026
Hopefully your part of Texas got a share of this much needed rain this week. And maybe more is heading your way. As you dodge raindrops and take time off this weekend, here are the most critical gardening things to accomplish.
PLANT
• New lawngrasses. Temperatures will soon soar. Moist soils and comparatively cooler temperatures are your friends when you’re seeding, sodding, or planting plugs.
• Crape myrtles and roses-of-Sharon as you find them in bloom in local nurseries. Selections will be at their best and you can get exactly the types (sizes) and colors you want.
• Summer annuals into pots or beds. Repot hanging baskets into large patio containers for instant color. It’s a great way to make a landscape look better for a special event.
PRUNE
• Broken or low-hanging branches, especially those that are casting heavy shade and causing turf to thin out and die.
• Spent flower stalks and seedheads from spring-blooming perennials. Trim dried foliage from spring bulbs.
• Unwanted shoots from spring growth on shrubs and groundcovers.
• Mow grass often (5- to 7-day intervals) and at recommended height for type of grass you have. That will keep it low and dense, better able to crowd out weeds.
FERTILIZE
• Lawns for second time with all-nitrogen or high-nitrogen food with 30-40 percent of that nitrogen in slow-release form. This assumes first feeding was made in late March or early April. If later, wait a week or two.
• Same type of fertilizer for flowerbeds and vegetable gardens. Most soil tests come back showing adequate or even excessive amounts of the middle number (phosphorus), hence the recommendation of all-N or high-N foods.
• High-nitrogen, water-soluble fertilizer to patio pots, hanging baskets each time that you water them.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Caterpillars on fresh spring foliage. Control with Bacillus thuringiensis biological worm control. Just ask your nursery professional for “B.t.” It is the best for controlling looping types of caterpillars (“inch worms”) and it works on all other types as well.
• Snails, slugs, and pillbugs. Dust the plants and the ground around your plants with Sevin. You can also use one of the snail and slug baits. Rake and remove fallen leaves and even mulch that is up around the plants’ stems.
• Chiggers. If you spend time on bermudagrass that has not been mowed recently or hiking in tall grass or weeds, protect yourself with DEET repellent applied to your feet, ankles and legs, also to your shoes, socks, and pants’ cuffs. Use the same repellent against mosquitoes to protect yourself from West Nile and other diseases.
• Fire ants follow rainy spells. Watch for their mounds to pop up. Use individual mound treatments for quick kill of bothersome colonies near high-traffic spaces. Apply area-wide baits to clean up entire landscapes within a few days.