Seasonal Gardening Tips

Posted by ValleyNet Webmaster, 3/1/06 at 11:02:35 AM.

WAKING YOUR GARDEN IN THE SPRING

by Closey Dickey
Earliest memories are of being surrounded by beautiful trees, shrubs, parks and gardens in Richmond, Virginia, playing in a block full of pretty backyards and in cobblestoned alleyways where hollyhocks grew every year, planting bachelor buttons in my sandbox. Every Sunday we went across the James River to "Norcroft" where our father's three bachelor cousins, living with their widowed sister, gardened avidly and harmoniously together. Each had his/her own section. There was a maze of paths to play on and to visit favorite plants - or favorite cousins! We ran free but learned to respect he plants and gardens and were educated deligtfully. Therein lay the seeds of my joyful addiction!
Waking up gardens in zones 3 and 4 occurs slowly and spasmodically. Some jobs can be done as early as February. Trees can be pruned and dead or broken wood removed from both shrubs and trees. As the snow melts, we begin our on going branch picking, making a pile where a chipper can have easy access. (There are too many rules and regulations about burning!) Grass seed (we like "Conservation Mix") can be scattered in bare spots overlooked last fall. Birdhouses should be cleaned out in February or even earlier. On days when the weather is above freezing, live wood on apple trees can be pruned and shaped. On nasty days, geraniums and other house plant cuttings can be made. Study catalogues and start planning. If you face south and have good drainage, March is not too early to begin looking for snow crocus and Eranthis. Snowdrops can be found hiding in bud under the rotting snow. Make notes on what you see when! And where!!

Vegetable Garden

Not much work can be done here in February and March. When snow goes and the ground thaws, weed out sneaky chickweed and its cousins and gently push in any heaved perennial plants. Raised beds warm quickly. Don't plant any seeds until a handful of soil crumbles easily when squeezed. Possible (usual) exceptions are lettuce and spinach. Give them a covering of Remay (polyester film) and they may take off. If you want to warm up beds quickly for earlier planting or for melons and squash, cover them with clear plastic. Weeds will sprout like mad, but the soil will warm nicely, and when you plant, you can put down mulching cloth and set your plants or seeds through the holes.

Perennial beds

Clean up any old plant stalks that you didn't get last fall and grind them for compost, if possible. As soon as the ground thaws, take off Christmas tree boughs and grind them up. Mark all your trowels, scratchers and small hand tools with paint or fluorescent tape. We have piles of ground up leaves in empty spaces in our perennial gardnes ready to use in the spring. I don't like to use leaf mulch in the fall because of rodents. Also, running plants like Monarda run too rampantly under leaf mulch. Though fall is the best time to mulch our space for new perennial beds or extensions of old, it can be done in early spring using newspapers, cardboard, old rugs, etc. That sod eventually becomes valuable topsoil.

When the perennial clumps have grown enough to be recognizable, divide, rearrange, and degrass. Store divisions and extras in a nursery bed or pot up immediately for the Plant Sale. Each spring I take every perennial out of part of my gardens and redo everything, adding organic fetilizers and lime where needed (especially in area of sorrel, my most hated weed). Plants like Oenothera youngii (sundrops) and Monarda usually need to be regrouped. Every spring (and early fall) I cut around my beautiful but invasive plants with a sharp knife deeply, leaving what I want and giving away the extras. Delphinium, Gypsophilia, Clematis, lilacs and other alkaline-loving plants should get a cup of limestone now. Chrysanthemums can be divided and new clumps begins from good outside growth. All perennials divide easily in the spring, but divide them early to prevent wilt. When I rework a perennial area, I use dried cow manure, bonemeal, peatmoss and sand, if necessary (leaf mold is better than peatmoss if you have it) to lightent he soil. I do not use compost on my perennials because of vegetable seeds (and weed seeds, too). I love it for vegetables, bush berries, shrubs and trees, but not for bulb areas, wild areas, or strawberries. It's excellent for all transplanting of trees and shrubs - and, of course, vegetables.

After perennials are rearranged, consolidated and well up, I mulch with ground up leaves as thickly as possible. I leave a foot wide space along the front edge of my long English border which is planted with annuals only. I can always keep it degrassed, it gives me space to pile my mulching leaves in the fall, and I like the continuous line of front-of-border color. Incidentally, I'd like to mention that a fence or a wall behind a perennial border is a tremendous asset because of wind protection and for climbing plants. Do plan and leave spaces for effective annuals!

Bulb Areas

These are the most fun in early spring! Just going out and checking everyday keeps me from even wanting to spend the latter half of March and the month of April in a warmer climate. Don't take mulch off too soon, but do keep careful watch to see that it isn't too heavy in any place. If you mulched well in the fall with shredded bark, ground leaves or pine needles, thngs should look brown and neat, and the little green spikes of emerging daffodils are so exciting. Pray for good snow cover because an open winter can devastate daffodils if they freeze and either split into many bulbs or rot. Heavy mulch is a good idea. Then remove it gradually and use it elsewhere (under shrubs or berry bushes) or compost it.

Berry Plants

Straw can be gradually removed from strawberries and some tucked in around the plants as a mulch. Don't do this too soon. Remay over a thin mulch of straw is good until blossom time, but don't shut out the bees! Raspberries need to be cleaned up and perhaps topped. Also, a little restaking may be required. If you have spaces, move in good extra shoots. Get out any winterkill and prune out weak spindly branches. Blueberries and raspberries can be fertilized and composted in the spring if you didn't get around to it in the fall. Blueberries like to be acidified annually. All berries need regular watering (soaking) if it's dry. Keep them well mulched. Leaves are best! Straw, hay and sawdust (add organic nitrogen) are good, too.

Trees and Shrubs

When the snow goes, remove tree guards and store until fall. I keep all my trees and shrubs that are in wild areas marked with pink tape so that I can easily find them (and to keep them safe from any man with a power saw!) Whatever trees, shrubs and layered offspring that I didn't transplant in November, I transplant before the middle of April, if possible. (I never move evergreens in the fall unless I am forced to.) Prune fruit trees before bud burst. Cut back and shape shrubs that bloom on new wood. Don't touch Forsythia, Abeliophyllum, Deutzia, etc. until after they bloom on their last year's (old) wood. Mulch all trees and shrubs well, but keep mulch away from tree trunks (1 - 2 inches). Fertilize as individually required with pound-in stakes or holes bored around t he branch circumference and filled with nutritional goodies. Liquid seaweed and Peters and Rapidgro are effective, too. Cut the new candles of evergreens in half if you want bushier plants. Use iron chelate on yellowing shrubs and trees. Prune hedges so that they are narrowest at the top and gradually widen towards the bottom. Then sun reaches the whole hedge. Look around for shrubs that are eligible for propagation by root division or layering. It's my favorite sport! If you see a branch that can be buried easily, take off the leaves in a bendable spot, bury it where it bends easily and weight it down with a rock. Then prop it upright and wait for it to root.

Lavenders, heaths and heathers

These like haircuts in the spring, but don't shear too soon. Cut heaths after they bloom. Wait for growth on heathers and lavender. Potentillas and summer-blooming Spiraeas (new growth bloomers) need hefty shaping and trimming. Prune shade trees for shape and beauty. Be sure that acid-loving shallow rooted azaleas and rhododendrons are well mulched and acidified. Don't cultivate around them. They are very shallow rooted. Lilacs like wood ashes and lime early in the spring.

Amaryllis

Put out in sunny garden spot after all danger of frost has gone by. Feed regularly all summer. Before frost bring into a cool (45 - 55 degrees) dark place for 3 months to make new roots.

Dahlias

Separate them carefully and don't let them break. Make sure each tuber has one or two good eyes. Plant them after danger of frost has passed or start them early in containers. They bloom all summer.

Peonies

Raise them if they haven't bloomed. Eyes should be only 1" to 1 1/2" deep. Feed them generously. They love manure anad bonemeal. Phosphorous increases bloom.

Asparagus

New beds can be made as soon as the soil can be worked. No plant is easier to care for. Dig deep, put in lots of compost and organic fertilizer. Don't cover trenches all at once but add soil gradually. Use a heavy mulch. On existing beds, use a heavy mulch or grow an annual crop, but uncover in the spring to warm up the soil. The mulch can be put back after harvest or gradually during harvest time. Asparagus loves wood ashes which can be spread on over the snow! Feed them lots of compost and organic fertilizers.

Roses

Clean out the dead canes and cut them back to good wood at a height you like. Water regularly and feed generously with organic fertilizers, liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, etc.

Groundcovers

All ground covers need food in the spring. Dried cow manure and bonemeal are excellent; also well-rotted leaves, black gold! But watch out for seedlings of trees. Lilies of the valley like wood ashes. I grow ground covers in hidden places. In the spring, if I need them, I move large mature clumps so that I really cover. Ajuga, Waldstein strawberry, and Vinca are especially good. Hostas, planted closely, are best of all. Chrysogonum virginianum can be effective if it likes where you put it!

Wildflowers

Seeds don't work well for me. I grow plants, then put them on good weed-free soil in large paper bags and plant them, hoping they'll survive in a wild setting and be able to compete with weeds and grass.

Fragile plants & miscellaneous

Don't grow plants not hardy in your zone unless you are prepared to work hard and mourn frequently. Whit slaves over his heaths and heathers, but they are his obsession, and he spends hours protecting them with pine needles, ground leaves, and Remay. I cover my Viburnum tomentosums, Enkianthus, Cornus kousas every winter. Last year the Viburnum died to the ground. The Cornus kousas have never had but one flower! I can't make my redbud or tulip tree do anything, but I keep trying because, at least, they don't die.

Early starts

They are possible, though all plants need warm soil. I use plastic over tomatoes and Remay on everything. I make temporary greenhouses against south walls using hay bales and plastic or old windows. Geraniums and rosemary take up so much room in my greenhouse that I frequently move them out early and make temporary greenhouses for them. It looks terrible, but it can work.

In the March 1995 issue of Avant Gardener, I came across this quotation: "In this age of incredibly increasing world population and pollution, it behooves every gardener to know and use every means of nurturing both ornamental and food plants to the maximum" - an excellent credo to have and to hand down to our children. We can each contribute our own small effort towards keeping the world healthy and beautiful.



Home What's Happening Community Service Seasonal Gardening Tips Conservation Meetings, Programs, Events How to Join				Seasonal Gardening Tips Posted by ValleyNet Webmaster, 3/1/06 at 11:02:35 AM. WAKING YOUR GARDEN IN THE SPRING by Closey Dickey Earliest memories are of being surrounded by beautiful trees, shrubs, parks and gardens in Richmond, Virginia, playing in a block full of pretty backyards and in cobblestoned alleyways where hollyhocks grew every year, planting bachelor buttons in my sandbox. Every Sunday we went across the James River to "Norcroft" where our father's three bachelor cousins, living with their widowed sister, gardened avidly and harmoniously together. Each had his/her own section. There was a maze of paths to play on and to visit favorite plants - or favorite cousins! We ran free but learned to respect he plants and gardens and were educated deligtfully. Therein lay the seeds of my joyful addiction! Waking up gardens in zones 3 and 4 occurs slowly and spasmodically. Some jobs can be done as early as February. Trees can be pruned and dead or broken wood removed from both shrubs and trees. As the snow melts, we begin our on going branch picking, making a pile where a chipper can have easy access. (There are too many rules and regulations about burning!) Grass seed (we like "Conservation Mix") can be scattered in bare spots overlooked last fall. Birdhouses should be cleaned out in February or even earlier. On days when the weather is above freezing, live wood on apple trees can be pruned and shaped. On nasty days, geraniums and other house plant cuttings can be made. Study catalogues and start planning. If you face south and have good drainage, March is not too early to begin looking for snow crocus and Eranthis. Snowdrops can be found hiding in bud under the rotting snow. Make notes on what you see when! And where!! Vegetable Garden Not much work can be done here in February and March. When snow goes and the ground thaws, weed out sneaky chickweed and its cousins and gently push in any heaved perennial plants. Raised beds warm quickly. Don't plant any seeds until a handful of soil crumbles easily when squeezed. Possible (usual) exceptions are lettuce and spinach. Give them a covering of Remay (polyester film) and they may take off. If you want to warm up beds quickly for earlier planting or for melons and squash, cover them with clear plastic. Weeds will sprout like mad, but the soil will warm nicely, and when you plant, you can put down mulching cloth and set your plants or seeds through the holes. Perennial beds Clean up any old plant stalks that you didn't get last fall and grind them for compost, if possible. As soon as the ground thaws, take off Christmas tree boughs and grind them up. Mark all your trowels, scratchers and small hand tools with paint or fluorescent tape. We have piles of ground up leaves in empty spaces in our perennial gardnes ready to use in the spring. I don't like to use leaf mulch in the fall because of rodents. Also, running plants like Monarda run too rampantly under leaf mulch. Though fall is the best time to mulch our space for new perennial beds or extensions of old, it can be done in early spring using newspapers, cardboard, old rugs, etc. That sod eventually becomes valuable topsoil. When the perennial clumps have grown enough to be recognizable, divide, rearrange, and degrass. Store divisions and extras in a nursery bed or pot up immediately for the Plant Sale. Each spring I take every perennial out of part of my gardens and redo everything, adding organic fetilizers and lime where needed (especially in area of sorrel, my most hated weed). Plants like Oenothera youngii (sundrops) and Monarda usually need to be regrouped. Every spring (and early fall) I cut around my beautiful but invasive plants with a sharp knife deeply, leaving what I want and giving away the extras. Delphinium, Gypsophilia, Clematis, lilacs and other alkaline-loving plants should get a cup of limestone now. Chrysanthemums can be divided and new clumps begins from good outside growth. All perennials divide easily in the spring, but divide them early to prevent wilt. When I rework a perennial area, I use dried cow manure, bonemeal, peatmoss and sand, if necessary (leaf mold is better than peatmoss if you have it) to lightent he soil. I do not use compost on my perennials because of vegetable seeds (and weed seeds, too). I love it for vegetables, bush berries, shrubs and trees, but not for bulb areas, wild areas, or strawberries. It's excellent for all transplanting of trees and shrubs - and, of course, vegetables. After perennials are rearranged, consolidated and well up, I mulch with ground up leaves as thickly as possible. I leave a foot wide space along the front edge of my long English border which is planted with annuals only. I can always keep it degrassed, it gives me space to pile my mulching leaves in the fall, and I like the continuous line of front-of-border color. Incidentally, I'd like to mention that a fence or a wall behind a perennial border is a tremendous asset because of wind protection and for climbing plants. Do plan and leave spaces for effective annuals! Bulb Areas These are the most fun in early spring! Just going out and checking everyday keeps me from even wanting to spend the latter half of March and the month of April in a warmer climate. Don't take mulch off too soon, but do keep careful watch to see that it isn't too heavy in any place. If you mulched well in the fall with shredded bark, ground leaves or pine needles, thngs should look brown and neat, and the little green spikes of emerging daffodils are so exciting. Pray for good snow cover because an open winter can devastate daffodils if they freeze and either split into many bulbs or rot. Heavy mulch is a good idea. Then remove it gradually and use it elsewhere (under shrubs or berry bushes) or compost it. Berry Plants Straw can be gradually removed from strawberries and some tucked in around the plants as a mulch. Don't do this too soon. Remay over a thin mulch of straw is good until blossom time, but don't shut out the bees! Raspberries need to be cleaned up and perhaps topped. Also, a little restaking may be required. If you have spaces, move in good extra shoots. Get out any winterkill and prune out weak spindly branches. Blueberries and raspberries can be fertilized and composted in the spring if you didn't get around to it in the fall. Blueberries like to be acidified annually. All berries need regular watering (soaking) if it's dry. Keep them well mulched. Leaves are best! Straw, hay and sawdust (add organic nitrogen) are good, too. Trees and Shrubs When the snow goes, remove tree guards and store until fall. I keep all my trees and shrubs that are in wild areas marked with pink tape so that I can easily find them (and to keep them safe from any man with a power saw!) Whatever trees, shrubs and layered offspring that I didn't transplant in November, I transplant before the middle of April, if possible. (I never move evergreens in the fall unless I am forced to.) Prune fruit trees before bud burst. Cut back and shape shrubs that bloom on new wood. Don't touch Forsythia, Abeliophyllum, Deutzia, etc. until after they bloom on their last year's (old) wood. Mulch all trees and shrubs well, but keep mulch away from tree trunks (1 - 2 inches). Fertilize as individually required with pound-in stakes or holes bored around t he branch circumference and filled with nutritional goodies. Liquid seaweed and Peters and Rapidgro are effective, too. Cut the new candles of evergreens in half if you want bushier plants. Use iron chelate on yellowing shrubs and trees. Prune hedges so that they are narrowest at the top and gradually widen towards the bottom. Then sun reaches the whole hedge. Look around for shrubs that are eligible for propagation by root division or layering. It's my favorite sport! If you see a branch that can be buried easily, take off the leaves in a bendable spot, bury it where it bends easily and weight it down with a rock. Then prop it upright and wait for it to root. Lavenders, heaths and heathers These like haircuts in the spring, but don't shear too soon. Cut heaths after they bloom. Wait for growth on heathers and lavender. Potentillas and summer-blooming Spiraeas (new growth bloomers) need hefty shaping and trimming. Prune shade trees for shape and beauty. Be sure that acid-loving shallow rooted azaleas and rhododendrons are well mulched and acidified. Don't cultivate around them. They are very shallow rooted. Lilacs like wood ashes and lime early in the spring. Amaryllis Put out in sunny garden spot after all danger of frost has gone by. Feed regularly all summer. Before frost bring into a cool (45 - 55 degrees) dark place for 3 months to make new roots. Dahlias Separate them carefully and don't let them break. Make sure each tuber has one or two good eyes. Plant them after danger of frost has passed or start them early in containers. They bloom all summer. Peonies Raise them if they haven't bloomed. Eyes should be only 1" to 1 1/2" deep. Feed them generously. They love manure anad bonemeal. Phosphorous increases bloom. Asparagus New beds can be made as soon as the soil can be worked. No plant is easier to care for. Dig deep, put in lots of compost and organic fertilizer. Don't cover trenches all at once but add soil gradually. Use a heavy mulch. On existing beds, use a heavy mulch or grow an annual crop, but uncover in the spring to warm up the soil. The mulch can be put back after harvest or gradually during harvest time. Asparagus loves wood ashes which can be spread on over the snow! Feed them lots of compost and organic fertilizers. Roses Clean out the dead canes and cut them back to good wood at a height you like. Water regularly and feed generously with organic fertilizers, liquid seaweed, fish emulsion, etc. Groundcovers All ground covers need food in the spring. Dried cow manure and bonemeal are excellent; also well-rotted leaves, black gold! But watch out for seedlings of trees. Lilies of the valley like wood ashes. I grow ground covers in hidden places. In the spring, if I need them, I move large mature clumps so that I really cover. Ajuga, Waldstein strawberry, and Vinca are especially good. Hostas, planted closely, are best of all. Chrysogonum virginianum can be effective if it likes where you put it! Wildflowers Seeds don't work well for me. I grow plants, then put them on good weed-free soil in large paper bags and plant them, hoping they'll survive in a wild setting and be able to compete with weeds and grass. Fragile plants & miscellaneous Don't grow plants not hardy in your zone unless you are prepared to work hard and mourn frequently. Whit slaves over his heaths and heathers, but they are his obsession, and he spends hours protecting them with pine needles, ground leaves, and Remay. I cover my Viburnum tomentosums, Enkianthus, Cornus kousas every winter. Last year the Viburnum died to the ground. The Cornus kousas have never had but one flower! I can't make my redbud or tulip tree do anything, but I keep trying because, at least, they don't die. Early starts They are possible, though all plants need warm soil. I use plastic over tomatoes and Remay on everything. I make temporary greenhouses against south walls using hay bales and plastic or old windows. Geraniums and rosemary take up so much room in my greenhouse that I frequently move them out early and make temporary greenhouses for them. It looks terrible, but it can work. In the March 1995 issue of Avant Gardener, I came across this quotation: "In this age of incredibly increasing world population and pollution, it behooves every gardener to know and use every means of nurturing both ornamental and food plants to the maximum" - an excellent credo to have and to hand down to our children. We can each contribute our own small effort towards keeping the world healthy and beautiful.
Hanover Garden Club PO Box 726, Hanover NH 03755-0726