Chores to complete in your garden this week include:
Fertilize cool-season grasses such as Kentucky blue grass and turf-type tall fescue with 1 pound of nitrogen (N) per 1,000 square feet. Warm-season grasses such as buffalo grass and blue gamma need only one-half pound nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.
One hundred feet of 5/8-inch garden hose will deliver 11 gallons of water per minute at normal household pressure. Inexpensive automatic timers can be attached to a faucet to turn water on and off.
Keep feeding the birds. Not much seed is available, and birds are hatching new broods. Clean and fill birdbaths regularly to prevent breeding areas for mosquitoes.
For larger fruit at maturity, thin when fruit reaches 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Space apples 6 inches apart, peaches 4 to 6 inches and apricots and plums 2 to 3 inches apart.
Start seeds of perennials like penstemon, salvia, coreopsis and asters for planting in late summer.
Use floating row covers to keep flea beetles from eating holes in your lettuce and spinach. Reseed for a continuous supply throughout the growing season.
Plant annual vines to cover fences or trellises while waiting for perennial vines or roses to become established. Try scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), morning glory (Ipomoea), hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab), or canary creeper (Tropaeolum seregunium).
Hand picking bean beetles, potato beetles, squash bugs and tomato hornworms is an effective method of insect control. Check underside of leaves for egg cases.
Mitzi Davis is a Colorado State University Cooperative Extension master gardener in Larimer County.
