​It seems the garden season has barely begun and already plants are crowding each other.  So out comes my pruning shears and by-pass pruner.  Pinch and prune can refer to a variety of techniques including pruning, deadheading, pinching stems or buds, or cutting back leggy plants to shape, form and trim.  It is usually species-specific and based on common sense.  Don’t worry about hurting your plants by experimenting. 
 
Useful tools include by-pass pruners, pruning scissors, and hand-held shears.  Avoid anvil-type pruners that can crush stems.    Different techniques call for specific tools, find the one that works for you and your plants. 

Here’s my task list for June:

• Fertilize the lawn late May/early June
• Move houseplants out when temps are above 50°
• Pinch back tall perennials:  dahlias, mums, aster, Joe Pye Weed, sedum
• Plant veggies when lilac is in full bloom

​​I’m a gardener and I’m lazy.  When it comes to gardening I dislike the labor involved with weeding, mowing, pruning, and yes even at times planting.  As a result my garden has untrimmed edges, overgrown lawn, and volunteer plants that some will recognize as weeds.
 
Now this is a problem for me since I am a life-long gardener, grew up on a farm, am currently a University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer, and teach gardening at the local technical college.  There are certain expectations that come with all of that.  So I am always on the search for ways to accommodate my sloth and give the illusion that my garden is a showcase. 
 
There are many magazines and books that wax elegant about digging in the soil, smelling the warmth of the earth, the joy of seeing the seeds that one planted bursting forth with new life.  I’m more interested in those with “low maintenance” in the title.  This is a code word for lazy gardeners to pay attention.  Here are a few tricks that I have discovered.