Quick Tips For Better Gardens

By Jos Van Hage

 This is the time of year to prune evergreens such as cedars, spruce and junipers. Shear the new growth of the plant to keep it looking tidy and  well-shaped.

Prune all the early flowering shrubs after they have finished flowering. These include lilacs, forsythia, honeysuckle, viburnum, weigela, mock orange, and caragana. These early bloomers are pruned after they finish blooming rather than in the spring because they set next years blooms, this year after they have finished blooming. If you were to prune them in the spring, you would be pruning off the flowers. Even if you don’t want to prune them you should remove the old finished flowers  before they set seed so that the seed pods do not take away energy away from the rest of the plant.

If you want lots of blooms on your roses, remove the finished roses before they form the rose hips. Rose hips (like the ones in the photo) take away energy from the plant that would produce more flowers. It is also a good idea to check your rose plants often for any signs of aphids, mites, spittlebugs, or mildew, so that if the problem arises you can treat it immediately before it becomes too large.

Deciduous trees such as fruit trees and the ornamental trees often produce suckers at the base of the trunk of the tree. These should be broken off because they take away energy from the rest of the tree.

Apple trees that are heavy with fruit should be thinned out. This is done by removing some of the apples now before they mature so that the remaining apples will become larger. Also if the fruit is not thinned out  now the tree may not be able to withstand the weight of the mature apples, thus causing the branches to break.

Don’t forget to keep up on the fertilizer. Lawns that were fertilized with a slow release fertilizer in late May should get another fertilizing now. Also, trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and vegetables should receive another application of fertilizer now, as slow release fertilizers tend to last 6-8 weeks depending on weather and soil conditions.

Hanging baskets and container gardens should be fertilized weekly with 12-36-12, so that they remain healthy and productive. Always remove any finished blooms and any broken or decaying leaves and stems.

In the vegetable garden, if you have some open space, seed another crop of lettuce. Also keep up on the weeding so that you will have a healthy  garden. Weeds can cause poor air circulation and also take away important nutrients, and water from the vegetable plants.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage operates two Art Knapp Garden Centres in the Prince George area:

• Highway 16 west at Kimball Road
• Highway 97 north at Northwood Pulpmill Road
   

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