Garden Tips - May

For Your Lawn

• Apply grub control if there is evidence of moles and other rooting rodents in your lawn.

For Your Vegetable Garden

• Plant asparagus.
  
• Plant warm-weather vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, after all danger of frost has passed.
  
• Top-dress garden with aged cow manure.

For Your Flower Beds

• Start setting out annual plants when danger of frost has passed.
  
• Begin feeding your roses.
  
• Fertilize new beds and side-dress established perennials with all-purpose fertilizer.
  
• Time to transplant most of your perennials.
  
• Set out summer-flowering bulbs, such as dahlias, gladiolus, and lilies, if danger of frost has passed.
  
• Plant your window boxes and container gardens.
  
• Inspect your irises for borers. Telltale signs include veining or holes on the underside of fans.

For Your Trees and Shrubs

• Feed your broadleaf evergreens with a fertilizer formulated for acid-loving plants.
  
• Check shrubs for scale. Treat if necessary.
  
• Check birch trees for signs of leaf borers. Look for discoloration and veining in the leaves.
  
• Prune flowering shrubs after they have flowered and before next year's buds have set.