GARDENING CALENDAR

June

• Groom perennials; feed with organic fertilizer to encourage continued bloom.
• Continue to fertilize bedding plants and annuals. Protect your new transplants from heat!
• Water DEEPLY so you won't need to water so often.
• Keep weeds pulled!
• Plant your basil outdoors now.

July/August

• Lawn care: water about 1" once a week. Use E-Z-Wet or Perc-o-late to keep lawns lush. Mow a little higher (2-2-1/2") to shade the grass roots. Use a mulching mower and leave the clippings on.
• Deadhead annuals to promote continued flowering; keep fertilizing.
• Fertilize the vegetable garden. Plant fall/winter crops: carrots, beets, broccoli, and gourmet greens.
• Fertilize roses with steer manure and organic rose food.
• Water your shrubs and perennial beds DEEPLY to encourage deeper rooter systems.

September

• Shop for spring-flowering bulbs: daffodils, crocus, tulips, hyacinths, and exotics.
• Lawn care: mow, fertilize, thatch, and lime. Good time to seed new lawns or to lay sod. If cranefly larvae levels are high, control now and in October.
• Fall blooming camellias are in their prime-shop now!
• Plant mums, dusty miller, pansies, flowering kale for fall and winter color.
• Plant fall and winter vegetable transplants now.
• September and October are excellent times to plant trees and shrubs.

October

• Mulch perennials and semi-hardy plants.
• After the first frost, cut fuchsias back to the edge of the basket and store for the winter. Check monthly for water.
• Dig up and store geraniums, tuberous begonias.
• Reduce feeding and watering of houseplants.
• Divide perennials.
• Prune cane berries.
• Keep leaves raked off lawn; recycle by composting.

November

• Cut back mums to 6" when they finish blooming.
• Finish planting bulbs!
• Keep weeds pulled! Control shotweed now.
• Clean up and cut back perennial beds.
• Plant budded camellias now.
• Winterize ponds and fountains.
• Mid-month: spray peach trees for leaf curl (1 of 4).
• Fertilize lawns with a good fall fertilizer.
• Birds need food, shelter, and water for the winter! Click here for information on Sky's supplies for birds and bird lovers.

December

• Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, & roses (1 of 3) and to peaches (2 of 4).
• Transplant trees & shrubs now.
• Mulch roses if weather requires.
• Order your custom-flocked tree here!
• Shop early for best selection of holiday greens, Christmas trees, poinsettias, amaryllis.

January

• Apply dormant spray to trees, shrubs, & roses (2 of 3) and to peaches (3 of 4).
• Mulch plants to protect from cold.
• Take Christmas trees to be recycled as mulch.
• Keep bird feeders filled - food is scarce now!
• Buy Northwest Flower & Garden Show tickets!

February

• Best selection of roses and fruit trees!
• Plant primroses, pansies for early color.
• Shop for berries, asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, and potatoes.
• Purchase fragrant flowering shrubs such as witch hazel,daphne, and sarcococca.
• Apply final dormant spray to peaches, deciduous trees, shrubs, & roses.
• Prune fruit trees; purchase Orchard Mason Bees to pollinate them.
• Plant sweet peas as soon as the soil is warm enough.
• Bait for slugs with a pet-safe slug bait such as Sluggo™ or Worry Free™.
• Plant evergreen perennials: heuchera, hellebores, euphorbias, & more.

March

• Cultivate vegetable garden; add fertilizer, compost, and lime.
• Plant peas, potatoes, onions, cabbage family, lettuce, and spinach.
• Lawn care: mow, thatch, and apply fertilizer and moss control.
• Prune roses and remove mulch.
• Groom your perennial beds; remove old foliage, fertilize lightly, and top dress with compost.
• Fresh selection of perennials, shrubs, and trees arriving now at SKY NURSERY.
• Fertilize rhododendrons and trees.
• Shop for summer-blooming bulbs.
• Orchard Mason Bees will pollinate your plants as the weather warms.
• Start tuberous begonias indoors for full summer baskets.
• Lots of spring color in now! Brighten your garden.

April

• Plant cold tolerant bedding plants such as alyssum and dusty miller.
• Lawn care: MOW! When the soil warms, treat for crane fly larvae with beneficial nematodes.
• Continue to plant March vegetables; start planting carrots, beets, leeks, Oriental greens.
• Bait for slugs with a pet-safe slug bait like Sluggo™ or Worry Free™.
• Apply organic fertilizers with mycorrhizae.
• Plant summer bulbs: dahlia, glads, lilies, tons more.

May

• A mild winter means bugs and slugs are more prevalent than ever-keep a close watch on your plants!
• Fertilize rhododendrons after bloom and remove spent flowers. Keep watered during the summer to ensure good flower bud set for next year.
• Apply organic lawn food and dolomite lime to your lawn. If necessary, seed or re-seed now.
• Prune spring-flowering shrubs after bloom.
• Remove spent flowers from spring-flowering bulbs. Leave the foliage until it has withered and turned brown.
• Fertilize roses with alfalfa meal, Sul-Po-Mag, and organic rose food. Watch for aphids on new growth.
• Mulch with Cedar Grove Compost to help conserve moisture.
• Plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, corn, and other warm season vegetables.
• Fertilize heavy blooming annuals such as fuchsias, begonias, & geraniums every two weeks.
• Great selection of herbs, bedding plants, vegetables, perennials, groundcovers, and ferns available now.
• Plant containers with blooming annuals for color all summer. Top dress with Osmocote.