View full size'Crimson Bouquet' roseIt's been a long, wet spring. But, with a little luck from the weather gods, May will bring some sunshine to get us busy in the garden. If you haven't caught up with your weeds (which, like
never seem to mind the rain and chill) you might want to get cracking before they take over.
If spring-blooming shrubs, such as lilacs, need shaping, prune them after they finish flowering.
Give lawns a spring dose of fertilizer.
Fertilize roses (and savor them as they start to bloom). Control aphids by washing them off with the hose.
Remove spent flowers from rhododendrons. Feed rhodies and azaleas with a fertilizer made for acid-loving plants.
Mother's Day weekend is a traditional time for planting patio containers in USDA Zones 7-9.
Many garden vegetables can be planted outside this month in western Oregon: snap and lima beans, brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, cucumber, dill, eggplant, kale, summer and winter squash, onion, potato and watermelon.
Around midmonth in the Willamette Valley, set out seedlings of warm-weather vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins.
wait till the soil is consistently above 70 degrees.
Plant dahlias, gladioluses and tuberous begonias as soil warms up. Stake the dahlias as you plant them so that you don't pierce the tuber later.
-- Homes & Gardens staff
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