Rohde's
Green Sense

Rohde's May 2013 Organic Gardening Calendar

1. PREFACE
2. VEGETABLES
3. HERBS
4. FLOWERS
5. ORNAMENTAL_GRASSES
6. TREES_SHRUBS_VINES
7. LAWN_TURF_GRASSES_GROUND_COVERS
8. GENERAL_PESTS_DISEASES
9. OTHER_THINGS_TO_DO_THIS_MONTH

 

We are in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 8a with an annual minimum temperature of 15 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit,
and in Texas AgriLife Extension Service District 4 (East Region) - North (Dallas): http://urbansolutionscenter.tamu.edu/
Our soil is predominantly blackland prairie clay or "Houston Black" officially with areas of sandy Cross Timber soils north, east, and through parts of Ft Worth's Tarrant County. (ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/TX/factsheets/fact_houstonsoil.pdf).

 

PREFACE

May is for fertilizing your lawn if you did so in February. You should fertilize with Green Sense Lawn and Garden fertilizer of course.

May is also the best time for planting grass, seed or sod. We don't care sod, but we can plant it. We do have some seeds.

 

VEGETABLES & ANNUAL FRUITS

Every thing you should of been planting in April, probably has suffered from the cold spells. So plant them again, if you can find them. I still haven't planted anything yet. They are still in their 4 inch pots. I did try to start seeds in a big tray of peat pots on my new heating mat in a sunny window. I used 2 to 3 year old seed I had left over from prior years. Many germinated, but I miss judged the ideal sleeping arraignment my set up gave to cold cats. Some seedling are recovering.

Bugs will be coming if it warms up again. You need to go out daily or every other day to look. Check for white flies with our yellow sticky trap to monitor for them. White flies hit quickly and stealthy. Use horticultural oils for the nymphs and garlic spray for the adults. I don't see squash bugs or squash borers yet, but I may start spraying with BT on the bases for the borers, and spray garlic/pepper teas for other bugs. Rohde's has the garlic extract in bottles. I'll just add the serranos. And there is the blight on tomatoes. We have Serenade and other products for control.

Even watering is critical for vegetables. Most veggies need a consistent moisture level to develop their best products. When you are out looking for bugs, stick your finger or stick into the ground. If you don't feel moist soil or see damp wood on the stick 2 inches down, you probably need to water.

Spray liquid fertilizers twice a month, like Green Sense Fish Emulsion, GS Fish and Kelp, Aunt Rohde's Compost Tea, or GS Foliar Juice twice a week. Add GS Garlic Extract to help repeal bugs and help control fungal problems, or one of our pest control plant oil products if needed. Use GS Lawn and Garden pelletized fertilizer to water-in, or one of our other powdered fertilizers to side-dress or mixed into the soil, once a month in your garden.

This is the same chart as for April, but is for May also. Dates are for seeds unless specified: S=Seed, T=Transplants.

 

HERBS

Plant warm season herbs now.
Like most perennials, you can plant perennial herb anytime.

 

FLOWERS

Plant warm season annuals now.
We have the popular and recommended annuals and perennials along with Texas natives, wildflowers, and the unusual.

 

ORNAMENTAL GRASSES

Rohde's carries a large selection of varieties that do well here.
Spring planting is better than fall planting as it allows for the roots to develop before winter giving the grass better cold hardiness.
Grasses are susceptible to crown rot, especially in winter. The majority prefers well drained soils in sunny location.

 

TREES, SHRUBS, & VINES

Planting:

While fall and winter is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs, it's still a good time to do so now. You just want to get them in the ground as soon as possible to allow the roots to start becoming established before the stress of summer comes.

Ask about our delivery, planting, and guarantees. Don't forget the soil amendments; Green Sense Kelp Extracts for root stimulation, Green Sense Mycor granules to inoculate plants with mycorrhizae fungi, both bulk and bagged compost, well composted bagged manures, and a variety of mulches.

Pruning:

Prune spring flowering trees, shrubs, and vines like Althea, Azaleas, Camellias, Forsythia, flowering or ornamental fruit trees, Hydrangeas, Indian Hawthorn, Mountain Laurel, Quince, Rose vines, Spirea, Wisteria, Weigela, etc, after they bloom if needed.

Prune evergreen shrubs by cutting out entire limbs to retain natural form instead of shearing to a ball or box shape. Nandinas can be pruned this way by removing taller canes at the ground.

Different fruit trees need specific pruning to encourage strong limbs and to control the amount of fruit and where the fruit grows on each limb.

Don't prune Oaks trees that are susceptible to Oak Wilt disease unless there is snow or storm damage. The insect disease carrier, the Sap Beetle, will be active. It is very important to apply Rohde's Green Sense Tree Goop to the wounds immediately and to insure it stays on for 2 days till the wound's sap hardens.

Prune cold-tender plants such as: oleander, pittosporum, and palms when the last chance of a freeze has past.

Fertilize:

If you didn't fertilize your landscape in the last 3 months, do so now with Green Sense All Purpose Lawn & Garden Fertilizer, and every 3 months form now on.

If you are growing camellias and azaleas, fertilize after they bloom.

Roses

If you are growing normal hybrid tea, grandiflora and floribunda roses, you also need to begin spraying for blackspot, and mildew or they will be defoliated. Better to rip them out and replaced with "Earthkind" roses or antiques roses. Earthkind roses are selected for carefree growing, and antique roses are usually more resistant to pest and disease also since they have survived so long. Rohde's has a good selection of antique and Earthkind rose plants. Howard Garrett has an Organic Rose Program you can follow to ensure the best care of your roses. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Rose-Organic-Program_vq2602.htm.

 

LAWN, TURF GRASSES & GROUND COVERS

Plant

This month is the best time to plant warm season lawn grasses, both sod and seed. It's warm enough for the grass to root well, yet it's not as hot yet as it will be in a month or so. May is the wettest month and the spring rains will help keep the new lawn moist until it is established.

Bermudagrass seed or sprigs needs soil temperatures at least 65°F, and 68°F to 75°F at best. Hulled seeds will germinate quicker. Planting too early may stunt the growth, slowing down the establishment of the grass past what a later sowing would achieve. Sow the bermuda seed at a rate of 1/2 to one pound per 1000 square feet using a hand spreader. Keep the soil damp until the grass has sprouted and begins to root. You may have to lightly water 2 or 3 times a day.

You can sod your lawn anytime really. It's like a perennial. Re-sodding your lawn is the best control of weeds if your St Augustine died out last year and is the best way to bring it back. Call Rohde's to help you with this. Consider Zoysia grass for replacement. It's slower spreading, so while it's very durable, it doesn't repair quickly. Nor is it as shade tolerant as St Augustine, but it is second best. It is more resistant to fungal and insect problems and the cold in good soil, but more important, Zoysia can go brown and dormant in the summer while St. Augustine goes brown and dead. .The big problem with Zoysia is it's a lot more expensive than St Augustine. Mixing grasses is ok too. See http://aggie-turf.tamu.edu/answers4you/publications/Turf%20Selection%20SCS-2009-05lr.pdf, for grass selection help. It has little maps showing what type of grass to grow where. It is very convincing for Zoysia grass.

We don't carry sod, but if you want to plant it, get it from a full-time grass nursery as we do. The sod will be fresher, excellent quality with little or no weed problems. Neil Sperry says you can look at the bottom of the sod to see if there are the nuts of nutsedge in it. You may be able to see tap roots of other weeds too. Good advice. You will need to prepare the lawn as you would putting in a new flower or vegetable bed. Remove the current grass, rotortill in at most 4 inches of compost into the top 6 to 8 inches of the soil. Rake the soil level and smooth. You want good sod to soil contact. Water the soil till it is moist. Now go get your sod or call to have it delivered. Lay the pieces in a brick fashion with staggered joints. Lay the sod tight together. It helps to roll the new lawn with a water filled drum designed for this purpose to ensure good soil contact. Don't let the sod dry out during any of this work. Use topsoil to fill any gaps that do develop. Water the new grass lightly, ¼" or so, daily for a week to get it established. Mow it when it gets to the recommended height for the grass you're sodding. You can do this a little at a time over days. Only get the amount of sod you can lay at one time. Don't try to store it for more than a day or two. It will suffer. As you can see, it's a lot of work. Using Rohde's crews, we can do it much more efficiently. Call Greg for a quote.

You can still plant groundcovers and borders, but don't plant it right up against trees to keep the root flare exposed. We carry a good variety of native and naturalize plants that are good for ground cover use.

Whatever you do, don't leave the soil bare. At least cover it with compost.

Fertilize

Best times to fertilize are February-March, May-June, August-September, and November-December. Green Sense All Purpose Lawn & Garden Fertilizer is a perfect choice. It takes about three months for soil microbes to break down a substantial amount of any single application of organic compost or fertilizer into a form plants can use. This is why we recommend fertilizing every three months. This would ensure a constant level of nutrients in the soil. Applying a different mineral supplement like Greensand, Humate, Dry Molasses, or Sul-Po-Mag each time you fertilize can be beneficial. Greensand and Sul-Po-Mag can supply too much Potassium or Phosphate. A soil test would decide whether to use them or not. Greensand & Humate will help keep the grass green and prevent chlorosis.

May is the only month to fertilize buffalo grass.

Top Dress with Compost

All drought challenged water districts recommend working compost into the lawn's soil. This can cut down amount of water needed to keep grass alive during the summer. Best way is to top dress a half inch of compost after aerating your lawn. A cubic yard of compost covers 648 square feet at a half an inch (27 cu ft per cu yd times 24 half inch layers per cu ft). At least spread 1/2" layer of compost to poorly growing parts of the lawn. Some people top dress compost on their yard in the spring and in the fall for all their lawn's yearly fertilizing needs. Rohde's can do this for you, or you can purchase our bulk compost if you have a pickup or trailer, or rent a truck. We can deliver up to 5 cubic yards at one time for the same delivery charge. Sling the compost around with a shovel, flick it off a shovel full, or dump piles around the yard with a shovel, and use a push broom to spread it around and into the grass at a half inch depth. If the depth is any deeper, the grass may think it is the new soil level and will grow roots into it. When the compost breaks down into the soil, it will leave thatch behind. If you are going to do this, it would be a good time to have us aerate your yard first, so you can work the compost deeper into the soil through the core holes.

How to Mow: (Most of this comes from http://aggieturf.tamu.edu/answers4you/mowing.html.

Mow to "Optimal Height" in table below to give thickest turf for blocking sun from weed seeds. During the heat of the summer, you can allow the grass to grow another half inch up to its maximum height. You don't want the grass to get so tall that it leans over. Grasses that wants to be cut less than 1.5 inches will require a reel mower instead of a rotary mower. A reel mower is like one of those old fashion push mowers without a motor. You can still get new ones now for you sporty mowers. Golf courses use powered reel mowers for the putting greens. These are expensive though. You must rake up all of the trash, branches, rocks, big seed pods, beer bottles, and stuff before you mow with a reel mower. It can't chew up junk like a rotary mower.

To ease stress on the grass, mow no more than 1/3 of the grass height at any one time. If you are mulching the grass instead of bagging it with the mower, and there are little obvious piles of mowed grass left behind, you are cutting too much off at one time. Cut the grass when it reaches the 'Height to Mow" column. The values are 1/3 more than the optimum height values. If the grass is too high to cut to optimum height at one time, cut a little off one day, wait 2 or 3 days, and cut down to optimum height.

The base of the grass or crown, where blades grow up and roots grow down, can raise up from the surface if the grass get too tall, and can be mowed off, killing the grass. If you spread more than a half inch of compost down on your lawn, as is recommended periodically, the base of the grass will try to rise above it thinking it's the new soil surface. When the compost is broken down into the soil, it leaves the grass base susceptible to being mowed off. Deep thatch can cause the same thing. Mowing off the grass crowns brings up the problem with uneven lawn surfaces. High points will be scalped, killing or weakening the grass, allowing disease and / or insects to take hold in the yard. Do not use sandy loam by the dump truck full to level your yard. It's usually full of weeds. Bagged top soil from a good source should not be a problem. Ideally you should fill low spots with the same type of soil as in your yard. It will stay put. Too sandy of top soil can move around or wash away.

How to Water:

As with watering the vegetable garden, water the lawn when needed. You may notice the grass discoloring and turning dull, or your foot prints not springing back. Lawn grass roots go down about 6 inches. You want to water enough to wet 6 inches of soil depth. Water once a week for the full amount of water needed. This will encourage deeper drought resistant roots. Annual weeds are mostly shallow rooted and enjoy frequent watering. Take rain into consideration. Test watering by poking a 6 inch or longer screwdriver into the ground to see if it will go down at least 6 inches. .

Time your sprinkler output with several flat sided bowels, tuna cans, Tupperware, etc to see how long it takes to deliver the amount of water you want. Average the bowels together for each sprinkler for accuracy. Rohde's carries a nice assortment of rain gauges to help prevent you from over watering.

If the soil is really dry, it may be hard for the water to soak in. To keep it from running off, you may need to water half as much, and wait an hour or so to finish watering. It's better to water in the morning, and to let the grass go a little dry before watering for disease control.

Generally in the summer, use three-fourths of an inch of water per week on St. Augustine or Zoysia grasses that are in full sun. In the shade, grass only needs a half-inch of water to stay green and healthy. Bermuda grass requires a half-inch per week in the sun and buffalo grass slightly less.

Pests, Disease, & Weeds

To spot control weeds, use a Vinegar spray. Hotter the day, the better. Howard Garrett's weed control spray recipe is found at http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/62/ and I listed Rohde's products for use in the formula for some reason.

Vinegar Herbicide Formula:

1 gallon of Green Sense 8% Vinegar, or 10% White Pickling Vinegar. (Acid that burns the foliage. 20% vinegar was recommended, but 20% is strong enough to at least temporarily blind you if sprayed in the eyes.)
1 ounce Green Sense Orange Oil. (Solvent to dissolve protective plant coatings)
1 teaspoon liquid soap or other surfactant such as "Bio Wash" or "Plant Wash". (Helps the mixture to stick to the foliage)
Add Green Sense Blackstrap Molasses at 1 tablespoon per gallon. (The sugars may help damaged foliage, rot)
Do not add water.

Howard Garrett says to use a molasses drench for nutgrass control. Use liquid horticultural molasses at quarter to half cup per gallon of water and use a gallon of drench every 9 - 10 sq. ft. Do this at least 2 to 3 times. I guess one drench a week. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/3266/. Nutgrass seeds are everywhere, can remain viable for 10's of years in the ground, and seem to appear in disturbed soil instead of healthy lawns. If you have to use a lot of drench over a wide area, it shouldn't be a waste. Molasses can repel fire ants from your yard, and it does stimulate free living nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil, along with most everything else probably, which will improve your lawn.

Applying Rohde's beneficial nematodes for soil pest that are becoming active.

An interesting non-organic web site for weeds with germination info: http://www.weedalert.com/index.html

 

GENERAL PESTS & DISEASES

Rohde's carriers the full complement of organic pest and disease controls, for both inside and out. Stop by and see.

Green lacewings can help control of aphids, spider mites, thrips, caterpillars and other bugs.

Isolated cases of aphids can be treated with a blast of water, Green Sense Citrus Oil, one of our selections of plant oils, insecticidal soap, and/or release of ladybugs into the garden.

We normally carry or can order for you, lady bugs, green lacewings, praying mantis, and predatory wasp to help control of aphids, spider mites, thrips, caterpillars and other pests. Call for availability.

For foliage fungal problems like black spot and powdery mildew, we have plant oils, potassium bicarbonate, Serenade, copper sprays, dusting sulfur, Plant Wash.

Watch for spider mites, mealy bugs, scale and other insects on your houseplants. Rohde's has plant oil based sprays for tender houseplants.

For slugs, use 'Sluggo" bait. We also have copper tape for raised beds and special plants. Pine Straw mulch can repeal slugs. We carry 2 cuft bales.

We have Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis products for control of caterpillars.

Garlic sprays will help keep mosquitoes away, help keep slugs, snails, and pillbugs from eating your young plants, and it works as a great fungicide too.

We have "Precor", an insect growth regulator, for treating your house for fleas. One ounce bottle will treat 1500 sq ft. We also carry diatomaceous earth for ticks, fleas, bed bugs, cockroaches, and many other indoor insects.

If you are spraying anything, protect yourself with goggles and at least a NIOSH N95 approved Respirator Dust Mask. This stuff may be organic but it could be hazardous to inhale or sprayed in your eyes. Don't take the chance.

 

OTHER THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH

Have landscape and garden soil tested now to know how to prepare your gardens and lawns for the spring. Rohde's recommends "Texas Plant & Soil Lab" at 5115 West Monte Cristo Road, Edinburg, Texas 78541-8852, 956-383-0739. They can give you organic recommendations.

Birds are nesting so keep feeding them.
Rohde's has a very good selection of bird feeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths.
We also carry an excellent selection of bird food from single seed to mixes, and from single pound purchases to 50 pound bags.