At long last all our plants start blooming! And, the date of last frost has passed. Here is some information on what to do and what to plant. Have fun!

Blooming Plants for your garden

Some blooming plants that do well in NM are Spanish broom, Indian hawthorn, clematis, honeysuckle, viburnum and roses. Others that are equally beautiful here are:

• Apache plume
• Asgastache
• blue flax
• fern bush
• cherry sage
• Columbine
• coreopsis
• cotoneaster
• evening primrose
• gaillardia
• lavender
• mimosa
• mock orange
• perky Sue
• red yucca
• yarrow

Food

• Peas and tomatoes may be trellised and staked or caged
• Plant a second group of beans and corn; start broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts seeds
• Thin apples and peaches so that tree limbs can handle the weight of the fruit
• Plant beans, corn, cucumber, eggplant, melons, potatoes, pumpkins, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. Transplant any seedlings you started earlier in the year. Don't forget the chile!

Fertilizing

• Start fertilizing roses and flowers; use alfalfa meal plus a 10-20-10 fertilizer or fish emulsion
• Treat trees and shrubs with yellowing leaves (iron deficiency) with iron chelate or iron sulfate
• Give nitrogen fertilizer to warm-season grasses, like Bermuda and buffalo. Apply a second treatment of pre-emergent herbicide around perennials, in your xeriscape, and in rock gardens

Houseplants

• Repot as necessary
• Mix in a slow-release fertilizer
• Don’t overwater because it removes oxygen from the soil
• Move them outside, if desired, once the nighttime temperature is above 65 degrees F.

Miscellaneous tasks

• Edge garden beds
• Plant annuals in your containers
• Using gel polymers (available at local garden stores) help retain moisture.
• Check containers daily and water and fertilize regularly
• Place decorative baskets, pots or pails in the garden as receptacles for weeds; then you can empty them at your leisure
• Mulch beds 2-3” deep with an organic mulch or gravel
• Seed buffalo grass through July
• Be sure to water new plants daily, if needed until they take root. If you tug on them gently and they resist, it means they have taken root

Pests

• Look for pillbugs and earwigs and treat as necessary
• Treat problems with insecticide or fungicide treatments (if you use them)
• If you have mosquitoes, change bird baths and pet bowls often
• Mosquito larvae in garden ponds can be controlled with cakes of Bacillus thuringensis (commonly referred to as BT) or, for a more natural approach, introduce damselflies and dragonflies

Planting

• Continue to plant Gladiolus at two-week intervals for continuous bloom
• Plant other summer-flowering bulbs and corms: Dahlias, lilies, daylilies, ornamental onions. These heat-tolerant plants do well here.
• Most container plants, balled-and-burlapped trees, and annual seeds can be planted this month, but watch the weather and give extra water or protection if it heats up or gets very windy.
• To reduce the need for frequent watering of transplants in pots and in the ground, add moisture-retaining polymer gel granules to the soil. This product is available at nurseries

Pruning/Trimming/Cleaning Up

• Weed garden beds
• Prune spring flowering shrubs when they finish blooming
• Cut back Shasta daisies once they’ve bloomed
• Pinch back any existing mums starting now through mid-July to make them bushier and to prevent them from flowering before fall
• Remove dead, diseased and damaged wood from trees and woody plants