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Monthly To-Do
 Weed, weed, weed! Get them now while they're small and prevent big problems later. Click here for tips on how to wipe out max weeds in minimum time.
After weeding, continue to finish off your work with a nice layer of wood bark mulch (never fresh wood chips.) It conserves moisture, prevents weeds, and eventually breaks down and feeds the soil.
Grass is growing quickly right now. To maintain it, mow often enough that you never need to remove more than one-third of the grass blade.
You can still plant seeds of squash, cucumbers, corn, beans, and other seeds that need warmer soil (usually 2 weeks past the last average frost date).
Go ahead and buy plants on clearance, but buy only those plants that look healthy. Avoid runty, dried out, or otherwise tired-looking plants. They're unlikely to rally.
Avoid buying bare-root roses at this point in the season, no matter how cheap they are. It's just too hot and most bare-root roses are way past their prime in containers at this time of year.
Deadhead flowers on annuals, perennials, and some shrubs. It keeps your garden more attractive and in many cases, it will encourage more flowers. Check out our videos on deadheading flowers by clicking here.
Continue to plant container-grown or balled-and-burlapped trees, shrubs, and roses now. However, avoid planting bare-root roses and other bare-root plants. This late in the year, they'll struggle to get established and may well die.
Time to practice tough love. If a tree or shrub is still struggling with winter damage or overall sickness, with significant amounts of dead wood, it's almost certainly time to dig it up or cut it down.
Remove the browning foliage of tulips and daffodils once it pulls away easily. Until then, the plant is using it to rejuvenate for next year.
Pinch mum buds until the 4th of July. This helps them produce larger, bigger flowers on stronger stems.
Harvest early and often for the most tender, sweetest produce and to keep plants producing well. Pick zucchini, for example, with the yellow flower still attached.
Check out bulb catalogs and on-line sources. Ordering now assures the type and quantity you want this fall, when supplies run low.
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Yesterday I strolled out to my long front flowerbed that runs along the street to do a little weeding. An hour later, I was hauling away my third wheelbarrow of weeds--and I was only halfway done with the bed!
I was having lunch with my friend, Debra, last week and I was surprised that she'd never heard about the ol' newspaper/grass clipping mulch trick. 
Plant retailers often send me freebie plants to grow, hoping that I'll write about them. Usually, I plant 'em and forget 'em. Many die out and others just don't impress. But wow--three years ago I was sent this remarkable cape fuchsia, Phygelius 'Candy Drops Deep Rose'.
And that's exactly the point. I like to leave those plastic plant markers that come with new plants in the soil, next to the plant. But in our harsh Iowa weather, the plastic breaks down and becomes brittle and snap off. Also, frankly, they look like hell--like leaving the label hanging on a pretty new dress.