Looks like the rain will end today — still time this weekend for lots of garden chores. Here’s our weekly Do It Now column from Susan Henry.
Perennials
Plant chrysanthemum cuttings, Japanese anemones and asters for fall bloom.

Flowers
Plant zinnias, cosmos, cleome and nasturtiums. Dahlia tubers, salvia, verbena, geraniums and impatiens can also be planted in beds or containers. Keep picking seed heads from ripening bulbs to ensure better bloom next year. Plant gladiolus corms. Set up trellises for summer flowering vines.

Vegetables and fruits
It is full speed ahead on planting bush beans, pole beans, corn, cucumbers, melons and squash. Continue sowing lettuce, carrots, beets and broccoli directly in the garden. Established rows of carrots, beets parsnips and onions should be thinned so that three fingers fit between individual plants. Keep weeding between the rows and among seedlings.

Continue hardening off seedlings. Transplant on a mild, cloudy day. Place a barrier collar of newspaper or cardboard around tomato and eggplant seedlings to guard against cutworms. If the weather is very cool or very hot, cover new seedlings with a flower pot for a day or so. Seed basil and dill. Remove flowers from newly established strawberry plants and mulch with pine needles or straw.

Trees and shrubs
Control growth of conifers by cutting “candles” of new growth in half. Azaleas are in flower now, but when the petals fade they can be cut back quite hard to reshape them. Continue watering all newly planted material.

Lawns
From now to the end of May is the best time to fertilize the lawn.

Houseplants
Begin acclimatizing houseplants to outdoors. Avoid full sun or windy sites. They may need watering every day. Feed every two weeks with a water-soluble fertilizer at one-half strength. Some plants such as African violets are better off left indoors.

General
Be alert for late frosts. Cover threatened tender vegetables with row covers or individual plants with flower pots.

Susan Henry