Any bedding plants you find for sale can safely be planted outdoors in beds, boxes, or containers.
The pros recommend treating tulips as annuals with the exception of species tulips. Painful as it may be, yank those tulips up, compost them, and plan to plant the bed anew in the fall.
If you long for a hanging basket filled with blossoms, compare prices on different-size plants. It may be more economical to buy several small plants and combine them yourself rather than pay for one large plant. Starting this month, keep hanging plants such as fuchsias well watered and out of direct sun, or their leaves will burn.
Plants that bloom now include balloon flower; Canterbury bells; clematis; coreopsis; delphiniums; English, painted, and Shasta daisies; foxgloves; Oriental poppies; and sweet William.
If you're growing June-bearing strawberries, pinch off all the flowers that bloom the first spring after planting. If not allowed to bear fruit, they will spend their food reserves on developing healthy roots.
Encourage young fruit trees to develop strong limbs and a wider crotch angle by weighing down the branches with clothespins.
Thin fruit trees by leaving 1 fruit approximately every 6 to 12 inches along the branches or 1 fruit per cluster. The higher the leaf-to-fruit ratio, the sweeter the fruit. A standard apple tree should have about 40 leaves for each fruit. Dwarf apples, which usually produce a ration of 1 fruit to about 25 leaves, will yield better-quality fruit when thinned.
Stop cutting asparagus when the yield decreases and the spears diminish in size. Top-dress the bed with compost or well-rotted manure.
Stake tomatoes or build cages around them.
Plant beets and carrots for a late-fall crop.
As the days grow warmer, yank up lettuce that begins to bolt and toss it on your compost pile. Plant another crop of beans in its place.
Thin crowded plantings of lettuce, carrots, beets, and herbs. Give them a good watering when the job is finished to help the roots of remaining plants recover from any damage your pulling may have inflicted.
Religiously patrol your basil plantings and remove all the clusters of flower buds that form at the stem ends the minute you see them forming. This will encourage nice bushy plants and a continuing supply of leaves.
Place beer-filled plastic tubs or saucers in the garden, set level with the soil, to lure slugs to a drunken death. (Studies show they prefer imported beer.) Or place a few old boards in the garden and turn them over every morning to find slugs as they sleep. Dispose of them by dropping them into soapy water or crushing them with a brick.
Mulch around trees to create a safe zone where your mower won't go. Nicking a tree trunk can seriously damage even a well-established tree.
Mow your lawn according to the needs of the grass, not the calendar -- for example, every Saturday. Grasses thicken and provide better cover when regularly clipped at the proper height. Adjust your lawn mower blades to cut the grass at 2 or 3 inches rather than at 1 1/2 inches.
Prune rhododendrons after they flower. On young and old plants, snap off spent flower stalks by bending them over until they break away from their stems. Be careful not to damage growth buds at the base of each flower stalk.
Don't trim iris leaves into scallops or fan shapes after the flowers fade. Leaves carry on photosynthesis and develop nourishment for next year's growth. Cut off brown tips and remove the flowering stalk down to the rhizome. If you're dividing irises, cut the leaves back by about half just before you move them.
If you're growing plants outdoors in containers, don't use a soilless potting mix. Be sure it contains at least half soil. Or make your own blend for window boxes and patio containers by mixing one part compost, one part garden soil, and one part builder's sand.
When shopping at a nursery, don't buy a tree or shrub with a damaged root ball. Inspect it carefully to make sure it is uniform, not crushed, and a good size. For every inch of the trunk, the ball should be seven to eight inches in diameter.
Unless you're working your way through knee-high grass, don't remove those grass clippings from the lawn. Leave them where they fall to filter down to the soil, decompose, and recycle nutrients into the roots.
Check out the Almanac, there's so much to learn! http://www.almanac.com/
