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

Today is the well publicized World Naked Gardening Day which is the first Saturday of May, but I suspect most Oklahoman’s will participate inside their safer protective clothes.  It is a good thing World Naked Gardening Day wasn’t last weekend when it felt more like winter then spring in Oklahoma.  The weather forecast looks like all the snow and cold is now in our rear view mirror and we really can concentrate on spring planting.

May is the season when we can plant most everything and have a good chance of gardening success.  If you want to vegetable garden, whether in traditional garden rows or in patio pots or the fun new fabric grow bags this is the time to plant your tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.  There are many other veggies you can grow from seed including warm season crops like okra, cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkins, black-eyed cow peas, summer squash, winter squash and watermelons.  The night temperatures look like they will now be 50 degrees or higher so you can plant sweet potatoes slips that will allow you to dig your own fresh sweet potatoes later this year.

Colorful annuals and perennials provide a lot of the spark or pizzazz for our yards and patios.  There are literally hundreds, even thousands of choices of the plants you can use to add color and excitement to your home.  You need to consider light levels like sun or shade, soil type and drainage as well as your watering habits to help select the right plants to fit each area of your yard.   You also need to think about the height the plants will grow, the size and shape of the plants and the colors of their flowers to get the right fit for your landscape.

Almost all plants do best when you have prepared the soil right with the addition of good organic matter like sphagnum peat, composted bark, cotton burrs or other humus to help provide a well drained home for your plant roots.  These composted materials also help hold and release moisture in the soil and tend to help acidify our alkaline soils.

Shade and part shade areas can be dressed up with plantings of impatiens, caladiums, begonias, salvia, coleus and many wonderful perennials.  The smorgasbord is full of great choices for sunny garden color in Oklahoma including lantana, petunias, crotons, plumbago, petunias, ornamental sweet potato, zinnia, marigolds, periwinkle, sun coleus, ornamental grasses and pentas.

This is also a good time to plant container grown shrubs and trees.  Many folks had a lot of tree damage last weekend and this may be a good time to replace those wind damaged Bradford Pears or other fast growing, soft wooded trees.  We are blessed to have lots of choices in the trees that will grow across our state but you really do need to think about whether you want a tree in twelve to twenty years that will grow to fifteen feet, twenty-five feet, thirty-five feet tall or even larger as you select the tree for your available space.  There are trees that provide shade, others that provide fall color, some that produce fruit or nuts, others for spring flowers.  Some trees will cover multiple uses in addition to their aesthetic impact and the amazing job they do in cleaning your air and providing cooling for your home and property.  Shrubs make a big impact around your home or other buildings as foundation plantings and as living fences or screens.

Decide what kind of landscaping or gardening you need or want to do this season and get busy planting to take advantage of the full 2017 gardening season.  Don’t forget Mothers Day is one week away and plants make a great gift to celebrate and honor the special women and mothers in your life.   May is the season to plant away!

What better way to celebrate the Oklahoma Land Run anniversary today than by driving your spade in the ground and planting new trees and shrubs to stake your modern day claim to your yard.  On this day in 1889 our ancestors were lining up to rush into these new territories to stake out their new homes and farms.  A lot has happened in the last one hundred and twenty-eight years as most of those lands have changed hands several times and had real homes replace sod houses and barns.  Those one hundred twenty-eight years have seen wells drilled, water lines and storm sewers installed, roads and highways created and electricity installed across these plains.  Our Oklahoma forefathers were mainly trying to grow enough vegetables, fruit and grains to feed their families and their livestock as they attempted to survive in this new frontier.  It was a bonus when they got to plant roses, iris or other pretty ornamental flowers to brighten their harsh life as homesteaders.  We have the luxury of being able to choose what type of landscape and gardening we want to do.  We are not gardening for survival but for enjoyment, relaxation, beauty and to supplement our food supply.

We are likely past the last freeze or frost of the winter and are into the main spring planting season.  This is the sweet spot between winter and the heat of Oklahoma summers where we can plant most anything and have a fairly high chance of gardening success. Crops planted now and watered correctly have a good chance to get rooted in and established in their new garden home before confronting the intense heat trials of summer.  This is the season where you can “plant away” on most everything from grass seed, sprigs or sod for new lawn areas to container grown fruit or ornamental trees for shade and nutrition.  You can also plant container grown shrubs to create hedges and for foundation plantings around your home or other buildings.  This is a great time to plant perennials to provide seasonal color and to come back year after year to anchor your gardening efforts.  Some of those trees, shrubs and perennials across our state date back to those the pioneers brought in on their covered wagons during the land run.  We still see heirloom roses at old homesteads and at early day cemeteries as well as lilacs, iris and day-lilies that were first planted soon after the Land Run.

The most popular plants to add to your garden during this spring planting season are the annual vegetables and color annuals.   There are many warm season vegetables you can start from seed now to enjoy throughout the growing season but the most widely grown Oklahoma vegetables are tomatoes, peppers and eggplant which are usually grown from transplants or small plants you can buy at your local nursery.  These can be grown in traditional vegetable gardens, mixed in with flower plantings in flower beds or grown in raised beds, or even fabric bags or decorative containers on your patio or even on apartment balconies.  There are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes from small cherry or plum sized tomatoes to large slicing tomatoes in traditional red, pink, yellow or purple skinned selections.  Peppers vary from sweet bell peppers to sweet banana peppers and hundreds of different intensities of hot peppers.  Eggplant is often used as a meat substitute and is available in several varieties producing different sizes and colors of fruit.

Flowering annuals add the color or pizzazz to our yards and landscape and the choices expand every year as more plants are introduced and as plant collecting and breeding progresses.  You can plant for mass color impact like a bed full of begonias, impatiens, penta, petunia, periwinkle or vinca, marigolds, zinnias or many other choices.  You can plant to support pollinators, to attract butterflies, to provide touch or scent gardens.  There are so many plant choices you can be an artist and show your creative side based on the plants and colors you select.  Make sure you pay attention to your soil type, drainage conditions and amount of sun or shade available as you work with your local garden center or nurseryman to make your plant selections.

There are a few really hot blooded crops like okra, sweet potatoes, periwinkle and caladiums that will do better if you wait another week or two to plant when the night low temperatures are consistently above fifty degrees.  Except for those few crops “plant away” and get ready to enjoy and be a part of a great growing season.

We were really dry, so dry that western Oklahoma lost tens of thousands of acres to wild fires.  We have now been blessed with some nice soaking rains across most all of Oklahoma which really help get our trees, shrubs, lawns, vegetable and flower gardens off to a great spring start.  Water is one of the most critical ingredients to support plant growth and nothing beats great slow soaking rains to motivate our plants to produce a flush of spring growth.  This is an exciting and tricky time for Oklahoma gardeners.  We have enjoyed beautiful spring like weather for several weeks which adds to our spring fever and calls us to plant!  Our instincts tell us that the earlier we can plant without getting a freeze the earlier we get tomatoes, peppers, flowers or other crops.  Early planting also get us a longer growing season to enjoy annuals before we have to confront fall freezes.  Early plantings allow more plant growth while we have pleasant spring weather and before we confront the intense heat of our Oklahoma summers.  The better established and rooted in our plants are before the stress of summer the better they can handle that heat and drought.  The challenge for gardeners is that threat of a late cold front that can kill or damage these early plantings.  Our last average frost in central Oklahoma is around April 10 and we currently show nothing below 40 degrees on the ten day forecast so it looks all clear to plant most everything.  Bear in mind we have had a killing freeze in just the last few years as late as May 3^rd so you still need to be weather observant and ready to protect these early season plantings if we do get a late surprise cold front.  Based on the current weather reports it appears like you are good to plant most everything but the hot blooded tropical plants like sweet potatoes, periwinkle, okra and caladiums that do best planted after night temperatures are consistently above fifty degrees.  These hot blooded tropical’s will be lethargic and usually just sit there when planted before May 1^st.

This is a great season to plant new container grown trees and shrubs.  They will benefit from spring rains and the natural urge to root out at this time of year.  Remember that new trees and shrubs will require an extra commitment to water this summer and even the next couple of years until they are rooted in more deeply.

Few gardening experiences are as much fun as picking your own fresh vegetables to wash and eat fresh or to use in your own salads and cooking.  Plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant transplants now to start picking locally grown produce in late May and June.  Tomatoes and peppers are still the most popular vegetables to plant and harvest yourself.   There are hundreds of varieties of each.  There are giant slicing tomatoes, cherry or pear tomatoes, red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes.  Plant varieties you have had good success with and try out a new color, shape or variety to add some excitement to your vegetable gardening.   It is best to select a tomato variety that is VFN for resistance to verticillium, fusarium and nematodes.  Peppers are available in hundreds of varieties from sweet bell peppers in green, red, purple or new multicolored varieties to sweet banana peppers or hot peppers of varying intensity.  Hot peppers are rated in scoville units and although I have a limited tolerance for the hot pepper varieties many folks love them hot, the hotter the better.  Tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables can do well in flower beds, often even better in raised beds that may have better drainage and better soil.  You can also raise tomatoes, peppers and other veggies in decorative containers or other styles of container gardens on an apartment balcony or your home patio.

Plant now to get your plants off to a great spring start and to get a full growing season.  Be weather observant so you can protect your plants if we are challenged with a late cold front and to water your plants when dry.

We officially kicked off spring on Monday of this week and it certainly has been feeling like spring.  Many of our trees, shrubs and perennials are leafing out and flowering several weeks early.  Our last average freeze for most of Oklahoma occurs between April 1^st in southern Oklahoma and April 15^th in northern Oklahoma and about April 7^th to 10^th in central Oklahoma.  Based on that history of average freeze dates we would still encourage you to wait a couple more weeks to plant warm season vegetables and ornamentals.  Based on the long term forecast this may be a year you can gamble on an early planting and get away with it but the safe plan is to wait until around mid April to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, begonias, impatiens, geraniums and the hundreds of other warm season crops to feed our stomachs and our souls.  If you do plant early please keep an eye on the weather reports and be prepared to cover your tender crops with hot caps, row covers, boxes, sheets or other protective covers if you see we are going to have a light frost or freeze.  You can safely proceed with planting most trees, shrubs and perennials now.

We have passed the optimum time to plant our cool season vegetable crops like onions, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, spinach and cauliflower so if you have seed or plants you haven’t planted yet please plant them at once or grab some at the garden center before they are gone.  They need to be planted now to get a harvest before it gets too hot and these cool season crops succumb to the Oklahoma heat.  We are also at the final days to get much effect from pre-emergent herbicides on your lawn or in your flowerbeds.  If you want to control summer weeds before they come up, you need to get your pre-emergent down at once or many weeds will already be germinated and you won’t get the benefits of this treatment.  Once the summer weeds are up you can hand pull them, use selective post emergent herbicides or you can solarize a whole area where you plan to create a new flowerbed or do totally new plantings.

This is the season to complete your soil tests at your county extension office and then to make pH corrections as needed.  On the east side of the city we sometimes need to use lime to lift the pH but across most of Oklahoma City and western Oklahoma we battle high pH or alkaline soils and need to apply soil sulphur to lower the pH.  Don’t apply lime or sulphur until you have a good soil test and know what pH you are starting with in your soil.  Now is a great time to apply fertilizers to your existing trees, shrubs, lawn and new plantings to support the new growth that your plants are initiating as they start the new growing season.  Apply fertilizers over lawns, under the drip lines of trees and shrubs and in strips or circles about 4 inches to six inches from the stem of new vegetable and flower plantings. It is best to apply a balanced fertilizer of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium where the three numbers add up to over 20, like 10-20-10, 21-7-14 or many other fine fertilizers.

Organic matter in your soils can dramatically improve soil structure, improve drainage and moisture holding capacity, retain nutrition in the root zone and produce happier and healthier plants.  Add Sphagnum peat moss, composted cotton burrs, pine bark, leaves, straw, manure, alfalfa or other organic matter to new or existing flowerbeds to improve the water and nutrition management in your gardens.

We have had a great season of crocus, daffodil, hyacinth and tulip flowers.  Let the foliage stay as long as possible and the foliage is green to help produce the food to store for the next years flowers.   Enjoy the gorgeous Red bud flowers on the trees in landscapes and the native varieties blooming across our state as you travel our highways.  It is easy to understand why early state leaders made it our state tree when you see them in gorgeous bloom at this time of year.  Go ahead and prune out any winter or storm damaged branches on trees and shrubs that do not leaf out this spring.

There is much to do in the garden but be patient on the warm season crops for another couple of weeks and then we ought to be able to give the “plant away” instructions.

Spring is blooming out all around us as the yellow forsythia and red quince flowering shrubs come alive with vibrant colors. Trees are budding out and flowering and fruit trees like ornamental pears, peaches, plums, apricots, crab apples and saucer magnolias are at various stages of flowering. We celebrate the beauty of crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, and tulip bulbs that were planted last fall or in prior years and have burst forth from the earth to announce spring. This is the beginning of the growing cycle and we will be blessed to watch growth and the annual miracles of nature from now until the first hard freezes late next fall.

This year the show has started several weeks early due to our unusually warm weather and the absence of usual frosts and freezes. There is no certainty that we have seen our last freeze of the winter yet, this early start may still be interrupted so be careful not to get too aggressive in planting warm season crops yet. Our last average frost is usually about mid April, or still a month away. In the last decade we have had years with the last killing freeze at the end of February and other years with the last killing freeze in early May and this is how Oklahoma ends up with an average of Mid April for the last killing freeze of the year. There is plenty to do in the yard and garden without gambling on early plantings of the tender warm blooded crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, begonias and periwinkle which are best planted after mid April and usually we plant okra, sweet potatoes and caladiums in early May.

With the garden calendar running early your window to get the best effects from your pre-emergent weed killers is closing quickly. The sooner they are applied to your lawns or flowerbeds the more goatheads, sandburs, crabgrass and other summer weeds they can control and kill at germination. Oklahoma State University has long recommended application between the time the forsythia and redbuds flower for best results. The forsythia have been blooming for about two weeks and the redbuds are just starting. Don’t procrastinate any longer. Get your pre-emergent applied right away if you want it to work this season. Many folks have taken advantage of this beautiful weather to already plant their seed potatoes, onion sets, onion plants, cabbage, cauliflower and strawberries, asparagus and other cool season crops. If you have not planted those yet, visit your local nursery or garden center and get them planted right away. Folks will plant these crops on up into early April but the best yields normally come to those who plant sooner. The old timers often said to plant these cool season crops between Valentine Day and St. Patrick’s Day. The later plantings of cool crops have to battle longer days, higher day time and night time temperatures before they reach harvest and this can reduce their overall yield. We are also winding down the planting season for cool season root crops like radishes, carrots and beets as well as leafy crops like leaf and head lettuce, mustard, Swiss chard and kale.

This is a good time to feed your pansies that made it through the winter to help drive another round of growth and flowers this spring before they succumb to the late spring and summer heat. We are dry and in need of rain so don’t forget to water your pansies and new plantings periodically when Mother Nature is not providing the needed rain. This is a great time to plant new trees, shrubs and perennials in your yard to add the long term “skeleton” or framework to your gardening effort. Once these “permanent” type crops are established they will grow and evolve each year to be the bones of your landscape and to add to the nature growing in your yard.

Wrap up your pre-season pruning and focus on cleaning up your existing flowerbeds and digging out or creating new flower beds as you get ready for the “plant-away” signal at the middle of April. Enjoy this beautiful March weather and use it as an excuse to spend time in your yard and gardens. Time spent working in the garden now will be paid off with big harvests and pretty flowers over the rest of the growing season and for years to come.