Time to get busy with some early summer pruning
It’s near the end of your window for early summer pruning, so grab the clippers and get snippy with any overgrown plants.
Perennials that have already flowered, such as delphiniums, larkspur and snapdragons, can be cut back by removing the tall spikes of spent blossoms. This will encourage side branches to sprout for a second wave of flowers.
It is not too late to start a vegetable garden this week. You can still find potted plants of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other edibles at the garden center, and these can be transplanted into your garden or moved into 5-gallon containers of potting soil for a late summer harvest.
Q. When and how do I prune my tall lilac? It blooms fine, but I cannot reach the flowers as they are up so high. C.L., Sumner
A. Pruning after blooming is the general rule of green thumb, so as soon as the lilac finishes flowering you can cut the thickest or oldest stems down to just a few inches from the ground. The month of June is your last chance to do this job, so get busy this week. You may need a pruning saw to cut through the oldest lilac trunks. This will stimulate new growth from the base of the lilac. Then you can shorten the remaining stems by up to two thirds so that the tallest stems of your lilac bush are under four feet. The reality is this type of severe pruning may delay flowers on your lilac for a few years. For this reason, you might want to leave one-third of the lilac shrub unpruned so you can enjoy some blooms next spring. On my lilacs, I solved the problem of unreachable blooms with a pole pruner. This is a long pole with a cutting head operated on the ground to snip off blooms, fruit and out of reach branches. Pole pruners are made by many different companies and are available at home centers or garden centers.
Q. When my rhododendrons are done blooming, do I have to cut off all the faded flowers? G.J., Kent
A. No, in nature nobody goes around removing spent blooms. However, for a tidy garden and a more compact rhododendron, snapping off the faded flowers is a good idea as it will prevent some of the shrub’s energy from going into wasteful seed production. An easy way to tidy up is to clip off the top foot or so of the branches, removing some stem along with the faded flowers that are at the tips of the branches. You can also shorten any too-long branches and remove any dead wood. Rhododendrons will sprout new growth at the point they were pruned, so by shortening long branches you will encourage branching and more flowers. Some rhodies are more compact growers than others. Those with smaller leaves will stay more compact, while rhododendrons with large leaves will want to grow into small trees. You can “arborize” or turn these tall rhododendrons into tree forms by pruning off the lowest branches to expose the lovely trunks and then grow woodland plants under the hoop skirts of the rhododendrons.
Q. I know this is a dumb question but I am a beginning gardener. How do I harvest broccoli? T.R., Auburn
A. Congrats on your first garden and there are no dumb questions when it comes to the art of growing things. Broccoli can be harvested by cutting the center floret or broccoli bunch using a sharp knife, cutting down to the point where the stem meets some foliage. This will leave a headless-looking plant, but soon you will see side shoots emerging from that main stem and you can enjoy a second harvest of smaller broccoli heads later in the summer.
This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 11:00 AM.