Spring Garden Hints and Tips
It will soon be time to head outside and back to the gardens. Now the best time to take a look at what worked and what didn’t work in the past. Plan for the future to learn how to be successful this gardening season.
If not done in fall, sharpen all tools, including the mower blade. Tearing grass blades rather than cutting leads to damage and disease, use of more water, and fertilizer. It also contributes to more lawn mower fuel consumption. Make your tool do the work, not you.
Once the weather has warmed enough to be outside, evaluate the garden beds. The most important tool is a soil sample. The results will help you know exactly what is needed to make the plants thrive. Anything not cleaned up in the fall should be removed in the spring. However, wait until the temperatures are above fifty degrees to preserve pollinator larva and eggs.
Cut down ornamental grasses and other plants that have crowns like pulmonaria (lungwort) and heuchera (coral bells). Take care not to damage the crown. Loosen up the mulch to prevent mold growth. Add compost around the plants by working it into the top two inches of soil. Divide fall blooming perennials in the spring by using a garden fork to minimize damage to the roots. (Spring blooming perennials are divided in the fall.) Dig up the entire plant, divide it, then replant the portions.
It is also time to appropriately prune trees and shrubs. Summer-flowering shrubs produce flower buds on new growth in the spring. Prune these shrubs when they are dormant. A nice day in early spring before budbreak is a good day for this task. If you postpone pruning until late spring or early summer, many flower buds will be removed. Examples of summer-flowering shrubs include hydrangeas, roses, Japanese spirea, rose-of-Sharon, potentilla, and smoke bush.
Spring-flowering shrubs produce flower buds on one-year-old wood (wood produced the preceding summer). Therefore, these shrubs should be pruned after they have flowered in spring, but before the next year’s flower buds are set. If they are pruned in winter or early spring, many of the flower buds will be removed. Spring flowering shrubs that sucker readily from the base benefit from thinning. Examples of spring-flowering shrubs are lilacs, forsythia, viburnums, honeysuckle, chokeberry, mock orange, and weigela. There are three types of pruning: heading back: cutting of a portion of the stem just above a node; thinning: removing one-third of the branches at ground level each year; and rejuvenation: cutting the bush off completely at ground level (not all bushes are suited for this method).
Early spring is the best time to get out and start weeding. The soil is soft from the freeze/thaw cycle and weeds, including the dreaded quack grass, come out easily.
Do not fertilize the turf too early. Wait until late May (Memorial Day) for best results. Ideally, wait until the results of the soil test are available. If crab grass is a problem, use a preemergent herbicide when soil temperatures are around 50 degrees. (Forsythia bloom when soil temperatures reach 50 degrees.) Do not use preemergent herbicides if part of the lawn was reseeded. Apply broadleaf herbicides when weeds are blooming for maximum benefit. Spot treating the lawn can be very effective rather than treating the entire space.
Happy Gardening.
Carol Shirk
Certified Master Gardener