April
-Remove tree wraps. Leaving them on will create an excellent ecosystem for insects and disease.
-Bait now for slugs. Remove dead plant material from your beds and sprinkle bait around newly planted annuals and perennials. Debris left on the ground provides a safe haven for slugs, earwigs, and millipedes.
-Fertilize your lawn before one of our spring rain showers and let the rain carry the chemical into the soil.
Mid-Late April
-When you start to see active growth on your rosebushes, fertilize them with a rose specific fertilizer according to the label.
-To reduce the risk of rose diseases such as powdery mildew and black spot, remove infected leaves and spray the rest with fungicide. Alternate each year with a different fungicide to prevent it from losing effectiveness.
-Fertilize your perennials with a 5-10-5 fertilizer (or something similar). We recomend Osmacote.
-Treat weeds early by applying weed control as soon as they begin to emerge.
-Start planting your cold crop vegetable garden. This includes broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts. Plant strawberries now.
March
- Indoors you can seed lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, dahlias, zinnias, dahlias and marigolds.
-Start your warm loving crops like eggplant, tomatoes and peppers indoors under lights.
-When temperatures remain above 50 degrees treat your lawn and beds with a systemic pre-emergent weed control product such as DuraTurf. This will greatly reduce the need for hand weeding during summer. Many of these products will last for 2 -4 months.
-Prune away dead or damaged wood from your plants. Do NOT prune plants that flower in spring as you will be removing the new buds.
-Spray with dormant oil spray in mid-March to control scale.
-Remove all tree wrap before the end of March. This prevents the harboring of harmful bugs.
-Gather up and tie your ornamental grasses and cut them with a bread knife to about 4 inches above ground level.
Spring Advice
March, April, May
Throughout the month of May be sure to use a root boosting fertilizer (high middle number) when planting new plants or relocating old ones.
Early May
-Plant your perennials, summer flowering bulbs, pansies and violas. Be sure to slowly acclimate ("harden") your plants before putting them in the ground.
-Start from seed your corn, pumpkins, snap peas, summer and winter squash.
-Now is a great time to hedge and prune your non-blooming evergreen shrubs. A healthy pruning prevents leggy and straggly growth and encourages the constant new growth of foliage.
-Don't hesitate to prune off larger branches if you want to change the overall shape of your conifers. Do this before the new growth has a chance to develop.
Mid May
-Now is a safe time to plant your annual flowers. Also, dahlia tubers, gladiola corms and perennials.
-Plant cucumbers, pumpkins, basil and other herbs, peppers, and tomatoes.
-Once your azaleas and rhododendrons have finished blooming be sure to remove the spent blooms from the bush. Then fertilize them with an acidic fertilizer.
-As it starts go get very warm, be sure to give lots of care to your hanging baskets. Water every day and keep the flowers blooming vigorously with a fertilizer with a high first and last number.
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