Mountain West May Garden To-Do List

Get outside to enjoy the garden . During these unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic , horticulture has become even more of a abatement — a way to get outdoors , unite to nature , and recharge . Delight in the blooms of daffodils and tulip , relish the heady fragrance of lilacs ( Syringaspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–8 ) and yield trees , and enjoy the many pollinator hard at work in your garden . Take a mo to respire it all in .

go off up the irrigation system . While we are n’t out of the woods yet in terms of a surprise recent - season snow , I reverse on my irrigation system in May . crack your backflow preventer to ensure all valve are closed , and turn on the water at the main valve in your planetary house . Run each post to look for making water or break , and make repairs as necessary . I reconfigure the drip irrigation zones in my vegetable garden as I plant each layer and add drip personal credit line to flowerpots to ensure logical watering throughout the summertime .

implant the veggie garden . Where you live in the Mountain West will determine your Robert Lee Frost - destitute engagement , which is a general road map of when it ’s safe to plant . ( Of course , in 2019 many of us had blow and several days of coldafterthat date , so keep an eye on the prognosis ! ) In the other part of May , I institute seminal fluid of coolheaded - season vegetable ( greens , solution crops , etc . ) and set out planting vegetable starts ( tomatoes , Madagascar pepper ) and warm - time of year veggie seed ( cucumber , squash , beans ) later in the month . Be certain to monitor lacrimation as seeds begin to develop and plants to take beginning .

add together novel bush and perennial to your landscape painting . Local nurseries are building up their inventories with shrubs and perennials . as luck would have it , now is a capital time to both purchase and plant . When implant , make indisputable to dig the cakehole doubly as wide as the pot and just as bass . I typically tot up some compost when backfilling , count upon the soil and type of plant . Adjust or add irrigation if necessary , and cover with mulch .

bestow your houseplant alfresco . I already watch temperatures closely in May for the planting of yearly and vegetable . I also monitor for when it ’s safe to put my houseplants outside . Once nighttime temperatures are systematically above 45 ° to 50 ° F , I move them outside into a semi - protect space — under a terrace , cover , or pergola — that provides some shade and hail protection . Using the nebulizer adherence on the hose , I give the houseplant a good rain shower to clean off debris , wanderer mites , and anything else . I also give them a foot - me - up by adding some fertilizer .

Brighten the landscape with annual . Planting annual in containers is one of my favorite thing . The instantaneous pop of color they supply brings a smile to my face . set off by removing older root clumps from the previous year and adding young filth . Then add a slow - release fertilizer to get the organ transplant off to a good scratch and minimize work through the season . Play with compounding of dissimilar colors , heights , and textures . I mostly watch the thriller , makeweight , and spiller model . The thriller is one large focal plant life , the filler comprise of smaller flora that add volume and color , and the spiller are flora that will spill over the border of the pots .

put up your local nurseries and botanic garden . Our local nursery and botanic gardens are adjust as quickly as possible to the endlessly changing position of the home pandemic . Many are offer education programs online and converting their businesses and plant sales into online shopping experiences with curbside pickup . Please carry on support our extremely valued local horticulture resources in whatever style you could . We will get through this together .

— Michelle Provaznik is executive director of the Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins , Colorado .

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Mountain West November Garden To-Do List

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Southwest May Garden To-Do List

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