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Monthly To-Do
 Click here for a complete list of what to plant when, for this month and for the rest of the year.
Click here for a month-by-month lawn care schedule for Iowa.
Usually, we can plant green beans, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, and other seeds that like warmer soil about now in mid- and southern Iowa; the first week of June in northern Iowa. But with our cold spring, I'd wait and plant them about a week later than usual.
You can continue to divide perennials that bloom in the summer or fall now, as needed or desired. Hold off on dividing those that bloom in late spring until either after they bloom or this fall.
It's getting late, but you can still finish up planting lettuces and spinach from seed.
Plant perennial edibles that like cool weather, such as rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, and asparagus.
Plant now seedlings of herbs that like cool weather, including parsley, chives, and cilantro. Also plant any perennial herbs, such as tarragon, oregano, thyme, and rosemary.
Wait to mulch your garden this year until the ground warms up a little more. I plan on applying a 1-2 inch layer of wood bark mulch in my Ames yard in early to mid-June.
Continue to plant trees, shrubs, and roses now. However, avoid planting bare-root roses and other bare-root plants.
I'd wait another week or so to plant gladiolus corms, canna rhizomes, and tuberous begonia tubers to make sure the soil is adequately warm.
Finish up pruning large trees, small trees, evergreens, and shrubs and hedges, except those that are flowering now or will flower in the summer (you'll cut off potential flowers!) Leave oak trees alone. They should only be pruned in very cold weather.
Now, while you can still see where bulbs were planted and remember what they look like, take some notes on what and where to plant this fall. Stick notations where you'll remember them. Like a garden journal, perhaps?
Don't remove the browning foliage of tulips and daffodils until it pulls away easily. The plants need it to rejuvenate for next year.
Now is a good time to build raised beds. Click here for our best tips in designing and building them!
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In a perfect world, I'd live in a climate where those gorgeous blue hydrangeas thrive. But in Iowa, the super-blue types of hydrangea 
