Roy
Jonsson

sow it grows

THE first day of sum-
mer is only two weeks
away and it seems
we're still waiting for
the spring season to
begin.

In spite of cold and rainy
weather, mos! plants have
continued to grow —
although not up to our expec-
tations, And so, many late
spring and early summer jobs
are still waiting to be done.

- Lawns that were fertilized
in the early spring will be
needing another application.
With the heavy rains, all but
the slowest release fertilizers
tend to leach out quickly.
Weeds flourish in the cool
damp weather and may be
establishing colonies in your
lawn.

The best treatment for a
creeping weed such as a
small patch of clover is to
use a steel garden rake and
rake vigorously towards the
centre of the colony. This
will pull up the lightly rooted
cunners and allow you to find

. the central root. A quick pull
will usually snap the root
whereas slow pressure will
remove the root intact.

When a lawn becomes

7 days a week

at 8am

“DEADHEADING” bioomed flowers — as shown above — is just one of many early summer gardening jobs
to be done now that the sun is finaliy shining. The wet spring has left many North Shore gardens unkept.

heavily infested with weeds
the only solution is an appli-
cation of Killex or a similar
selective herbicide. Mix half
of what you think you need
and spot spray the weed
areas. Do not use a fertilizer-
nerbicide mix that needs to
be spread indiscriminately
over your whole lawn.

Now is also the time to

FE WATER SAVER

prune many of the bushes
that have finished flowering.
For plants such as forsythia,
philadelphus and spiraea.
prune for renewal by cutting
out some of the old wood
from the base of the plant.
thereby encouraging new
growth.

For other plants such as
camellias, they only need

HOMESTEAD

Steer or Mushroom

YY POTTING MIX

ONLY 9,”

trimming if they are too high
or growing up over the win-
dows. Heathers should be
sheared, removing the spent
blooms and maintaining just
enough greenery to support
new growth,

There is still time to prune
laurel and other deciduous
hedges before the hot weath-
er arrives. Cutting only one

side of a hedge will cause
uneven growth. Bo both sides
and the top for best results.
Excess moisture has
‘caused some plants to grow
tall and lanky. If they become
top heavy or have to support
large blooms they will need
staking. It is always better to
do this job before they col-
lapse rather than afterwards

a

Pest fertitere Ce

FISH

| FERTILIZER

We Tax WEEKEND
*NO 6.S.T. or D.S.T. on

EVERY ITEM IN THE STORE

‘We Now Offer a Professional Garden
Design and Landscape Consulting Service

including Sundays

-WIR SPRECHEN DEUTSCH / Nous PARLONS FRANGAIS

when the damage is done.
The ultimate goal of a flow-
ering plant is quite different.
to that of a gardener. For a
plant. the sole purpose of a
flower is 10 produce seed.
However. 1 don’t know many
gardeners that are in the seed
business. The production of
seeds takes far more energy
than growing more flowers.
Always “deadhead” your
plants both for uesthetic rea-
sons and to
keep them
blooming for a
longer period.
Most bulbs
have finished
their growth for
the year and the
foliage can be
ripped off. Late
flowering daf-
fodils should be
left until the tip
of the leaf has
begun to die
back. If ye you have not lifted
the large bulbs such as tulips
and daffodils for a few years,
this may be the year to do it.
Most tunicate bulbs benefit
from a dry period before
being replanted in renewed
soil in the fall.

Hauling heavy, wet loads
of compost to the garden has
not been an easy spring task. .
There is still time to add it to
the soil at planting time or
dig it in near the base of the,
plant. Adding it as a mulch is
fine but if it dries out on the
surface the bacteria will stop _
working and nutrients will
not be available to the plant
roots.

Hanging baskets are a «.

See Pruning page 16 -