Midwest Region

• All vegetable crops, including warm-season plants, can go in the ground now.
• Continue to sow carrots, beets, and beans to spread out the harvest.
• Pull out any bolted lettuce, spinach, or radish plants.
• Harvest early season fruits and vegetables.
• Pull soil up against potato plants when they are 9 to 12 inches tall.
• Sidedress asparagus and rhubarb with aged manure or fertilizer (10-10-10 formulation).
• Protect ripening strawberries from birds.
• Eliminate weeds when they are small and easy to pull. By keeping your plants well-watered and -fertilized, they will quickly fill in spaces instead of weeds.
• Thin your seedlings to their proper spacing so as to avoid overcrowding. Remove dead flowers from plants to encourage new growth.
• Remember to water your plants. It is better to water your garden thoroughly once a week to ensure that a deep root system is established.
• Deadhead fading blossoms from perennials and roses.
• Prune older canes from climbing roses.
• Fertilize roses after the flowers start to fade.
• Give perennials a fertilizer boost (5-10-10 formula).
• Divide and replant iris.
• Finish pruning spring-flowering trees and shrubs by the end of the month.
• Mow your lawn when grass is at a height of 2 to 3 inches to best keep weeds down.
• Start seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage now so they can be transplanted in the fall.
• Thin overloaded fruit trees; thinning them will allow for larger and healthier fruit to grow.
• Protect fruit trees from animals and pests.