Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

It’s Oklahoma City Arts Festival Week so I guess we should have expected spring showers. Most all of the state has received nice spring rains the last ten days and a few areas have received even more than they could handle, mainly on wheat fields in southwest Oklahoma. Nearly all of our plants will really benefit from these deep soaking rains that provide life and energy to the plant world. Many trees, shrubs and flowers already appear greener, even shiny and seemingly stand taller and you can almost see them smiling and laughing with joy. These significant rains show the importance of well drained soil or planters for most crops. There will be some fungus and disease problems and even some plant drowning for plants in spots where the water stands and when plants go too long without a good supply of oxygen to their roots. One of the real benefits of improving your soil with organic matter over time is to create more air space and better drainage. That can be done by adding sphagnum peat moss or any of a number of kinds of good compost to your flower beds.

The big story as we celebrate the anniversary of the Oklahoma land run 127 years ago today is that this is planting season. Just as those early settlers rushed to plant gardens and crops at this season generations ago, this is our season to plant the crops we will enjoy and harvest for the rest of this year and for years to come. This is a special time of year when it seems we can and need to do most everything at once as spring opens a new growing season. We can plant most any container grown or balled and burlapped trees and shrubs with prospects for a very high success rate as long as we humans do a good job of watering later this year when it gets hot and dry. We can sow tall fescue grass seed in the shady areas, Bermuda grass seed in the sunny areas. If you are more impatient for new turf you can plant grass sprigs or lay sod for the quickest green lawn.

The stars of spring planting are the vegetables and color plants we add to the garden now to enjoy for the full growing season. This is prime planting season for the vegetables that anchor most Oklahoma Food gardens including tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. There are also many other warm season vegetables, fruits and berries you can plant now including container grown strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, blueberries and lots of other healthy and nutritious food crops you can grow in your own yard. The selection of color plants to liven up your flower beds, container gardens, hanging baskets and patios is expanding rapidly. New varieties are being introduced by the hundreds each year so there is always something new to try out in addition to the crops you have enjoyed over the years. The choices in perennials have really grown so it makes sense to add a mix of annuals and perennials to your garden. Most perennials don’t flower for as long but have a stage of great color before they start storing energy to make it though the following winter. The annuals, like begonias, petunias, impatiens, geraniums, penta, marigolds, zinnia and periwinkle put all their energy into growing and flowering to put on a show this growing season. We have over six months of prime growing season ahead of us before our first hard freeze next November. The sooner you plant your annuals and perennials the bigger they will get and the more you can enjoy them before winter arrives and closes out another growing season. We will get a nice growing spurt from most all of our plants after these renewing rains and as the temperatures warm up a little. Don’t plant in the mud but be ready to plant as soon as the earth is back to moist so you can get the most enjoyment and harvest from the full growing season.

We have passed our last average freeze date for central Oklahoma so we can feel safer to proceed with many of our spring plantings. Just remember it was only a couple of years ago we had a fairly hard freeze on May 3rd, so we still need to be weather aware. If a late freeze does make an appearance be prepared to cover tender vegetables and annuals with blankets, sheets, boxes, hopkaps, styrofoam cups or overwintering fabric. Other than a surprise last freeze, you can plant away on tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and most of the other warm weather vegetables. You can plant most of the color annuals like geraniums, petunias, inpatients, begonias, salvia, zinnia, penta, marigolds and dozens of other flowering annuals. There are a few really hot blooded crops that will perform best if you wait to plant them until after May 1st when the night temperatures are consistently above fifty degrees. These heat lovers that prefer a later planting include okra, sweet potatoes, periwinkle and caladiums.

We had already given the “plant away” signal for most all of the perennial crops as most of them are more tolerant of cooler weather. Consider adding a combination of perennials and annuals to your garden. The perennials will come back year after year if you select a good location and provide for their water needs. Most perennials only bloom for a few weeks of the growing season but they can provide wonderful seasonal color and rarity to your garden with reduced or limited maintenance and care. Annuals only live one season and have to be replanted each season but many of the annuals will bloom for months or much of the growing season since they do not have to store energy or food to survive the coming winter, like perennials. This is a great time to sow lawn seed whether it is a variety of tall fescue for shady areas or a strain of Bermuda grass for sunny areas. This is a good time to fertilize your trees, shrubs, vines and lawn if you have not fed them yet this year. If you haven’t had a soil test to know exactly what your soil needs consider using a good general purpose fertilizer when the three numbers of nitrogen-phosphorous-potash equal over twenty and have at least some of all three key nutrients. This could be blends like 10-20-10, 21-7-14, 13-13-13, 20-20-20, 17-6-6 or many others. Please water well within a day or two after applying fertilizer if you are not blessed with a good soaking rain to water in the fertilizer.

Many garden centers are offering a selection of summer flowering bulbs you can plant now to enjoy later this growing season. Select and plant dahlia and gladiolus for their flowers and caladiums and elephant ears for their impressive foliage.

Vegetable gardening has been growing in popularity every year and there are dozens of crops you can grow in the ground, in raised beds or even in container gardens. The best yields are often in raised beds or container gardens because the better soil mixes with great drainage and air movement in the soil but the traditional vegetable gardens in your natural loam or soil can improve every year if you will keep improving it with organic matter and mulch. Most every vegetable gardener grows some tomatoes and peppers but don’t be afraid to try root crops like carrots, radishes, turnips, potatoes and sweet potatoes or leafy crops like the many varieties of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard and others. Some of the most fun crops to plant are because of their rapid growth like watermelons, cantaloupes and the many varieties of squash. Even apartment and condo dwellers can tackle any of these vegetables in containers. They just can’t grow as many or as much as a vegetable gardener with a bigger plot.

We have about a seven month growing season so the sooner you plant now the more growth or harvest you can get from your garden this season. Plant away and have fun in your garden.