Hort Report: Think about pruning bushes, shrubs within 30 days after they finish blooming, flowering

Hoping everyone had a Great Mother’s Day with their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Enjoy the time you have together.

Congratulations to all the seniors. Succeed in all your dreams.   

As your spring shrubs and bushes finish flowering this spring, think about pruning them within a month of them finishing blooming and flowering for this year. 

New blooms and flowers only grow on old wood. If you wait until late summer or even fall to prune, you could be removing the buds that will produce the blooms and flowers for the next spring growing season. Pruning in late summer or early fall may cause late growth that will be damaged by freezing, thus no blooms in the spring. 

Remove all dead, diseased and damaged wood you notice. Think about cutting back a third of the oldest wood. Remove any branches that cross or rub each other, bend down and look weak. Look at removing wood to help make the shrubs and bushes less dense to get more air movement and light penetration to help for healthy growth going into next year. 

Don’t over-prune and remove more than a third of the shrub or bushes as you are pruning. You may shock the plant and cause excessive growth.  

When planting transplants in your garden, use a set of hand posthole diggers to avoid being on your knees and dig with a hand trowel or shovel. I do this mostly when planting tomatoes and peppers. 

The posthole digger is the right size in diameter. They can dig a hole as deep as you need. I usually make the hole at least 2-3 inches deeper than it needs to be so I can put Garden Magic Potting Soil in the bottom of the hole. 

Garden Magic is mixed with the garden soil, allowing the plant roots to grow into a loose soil mix. They can get off to a great start growing in the hole. As I fill the hole. I like to put more Garden Magic on the top at ground level. This mix will help the plants grow better and produce sooner. Then I water in the transplant to help the soil mix get in around the roots. 

Once finished transplanting, I will mulch around all the transplants with straw. This will help to ensure that the soil stays moist around the transplant. Mulch also helps keep weeds out.

After a few days of watering the transplants, I will fertilize them with Ferti-lome Bloom & Root. This will help the female parts of the plant get off to a great start.

I appreciate all your questions in the past and look forward to them in the future. If you have questions, call me at 573-588-2040, visit me at Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo., email me at sci63468@hotmail.com or find me on Facebook at Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group. I enjoy answering questions anytime anyone asks me. 

Hope you are enjoying all this great weather.