On the first nice March day, I know we’re all eager to get out there and start planting. Here is a list of tasks to accomplish early on, to help your spring and summer garden flourish!
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- Gather the annual flower and vegetable seeds you’ve collected and following the timing instructions on each packet, start sowing the seeds directly into your garden soil. Note: The last frost date for our area is usually around Mother’s Day. If the soil temperature still feels cold to the touch, it’s too early to start planting!
- If you’d rather not plant seeds, cool season veggies and annuals starts, such as lettuces, kale, peas, pansies and violas can be plantedin mid-March. For most other annuals you will have the best success if you wait until early to Mid-May when soil temperatures are warmer.
- If you staked any trees last year, check their supports to see if they should be removed or adjusted.
- If you decided to leave plants for winter interest and habitat (i.e. ornamental grasses and perennials such as ferns, hellebores, Liriope and Epimedium), now is the time to cut them back before new growth begins.
- This is a great time of year to prune and do cut backs. As new growth starts to emerge, it is easy to see where dieback has occurred and to check plants for winter damage and remove dead wood. For mature shrubs, rejuvenate by pruning out 1/3 of old wood. This is also the time to prune shrubs that bloom on new wood (i.e. butterfly bush and certain species of hydrangea). Cut back roses before new growth starts and cut back shrubby dogwoods and willow to encourage new, colorful growth. Rejuvenate overgrown climbers such as honeysuckle by significantly cutting them back – they will resprout at the base!
- Before you get busy later in the spring, check tools and equipment to make sure everything is ready to go, including hoses and sprinklers.
- Protect young trees from rabbits and deer by putting up fencing or wire. This is also a good time to check that you have all staking and supports needed for your perennials.
- If you stored the tubers of summer tropicals such as cannas and dahlias, take the time to pot them now to get them started indoors.
- It’s not too early to start weeding!
To make your spring garden shopping and planting a breeze, start your wish list of plants now, thinking through quantities needed and where they will be planted. Since odd numbers are more aesthetically pleasing in most designs, we recommend buying in quantities of 3, 5, etc.
Last but not least, happy spring gardening!
