Spring weather signals the start of certain gardening tasks that are essential to maintaining a vital, healthy garden. They should be completed within the next several weeks. I’m a list guy, and the following is my springtime procedural list in order of personal importance. Hope it helps.
#1 – Finish pruning everything in the yard including roses, fruit trees and summer-blooming shrubs. Then rake up old leaves, cut back dead growth on perennials, and remove leftover annuals and vegetables from gardens and containers.
#2 – Apply “Weed & Grass Preventer” before the next weather system hits. This granular seed killer will keep the worst of early spring foxtails, dandelions and horehounds from emerging in rock lawns and flowerbeds. Preventer must be applied before the weeds emerge or it will be too late to be effective.
#3 – Watch for aphids on willows, aspens and apple trees. These pests are easily eliminated with an application of liquid “All Season Spray Oil.” All fruit trees should be sprayed before their spring bloom. Spray roses at the same time.
#4 – Feed everything in the landscape by the end of March. I created an all-natural food especially for the mountain gardens of Arizona, and it really works. Use my “All Purpose Plant Food” 7-4-4 on lawns, flowerbeds, shrubs, trees and all garden soils you will use for planting. I also administer an application of “Soil Sulfur” at the same time. If you’re uncertain about what, when and how to feed your garden, ask for the handout describing my four-step program for feeding a landscape.
Don’t forget your natives! Our weather is too nice for this time of year, so I am worried about bark beetles damaging ponderosa and pinion pines. When well fed and healthy, these trees can defend themselves better against these vicious forest invaders.
#5 – Top dress flowerbeds, shrubs and trees with a 2” layer of shredded cedar bark or, if you prefer, composted mulch. This new layer of protection will insulate the roots from cold nights and drying spring winds that lie ahead. This simple act also keeps weeds at bay and encourages better root development.
#6 – Use my “All Purpose Plant Food” 7-4-4 to nudge old lawns awake and to jump-start new seedlings. March is the best month to start a new lawn or overseed an old one. For more detailed advice, ask for my handout “10 ½ Steps to New Lawns and Overseeding.”
#7 – Pinion pine scale should be making its unwelcome appearance in just a matter of days. Watch for signs and treat with specially formulated “Plant Protector.” You do not need to be an arborist to apply this easy-to-use bug solution, and one application protects trees for the entire year. Besides those trees attacked by scale, I definitely recommend feeding stressed trees as well. Reading into the theme here?
# 8 – Before planting your garden, cover the area with a two-inch layer of composted mulch and manure topped with gypsum and “All Purpose Plant Food” 7-4-4. Then turn this organic-rich material into the garden’s soil to one shovel’s depth. You are now ready to plant spring flowers, herbs and vegetables.
#9 – Go ahead and plant early spring flowers and vegetables as soon as soil is prepped. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic and onions already have arrived at the garden center. Pansies, violas, dusty millers, English primroses, poppies and early spring blooming perennials also are ready for planting. All of these plants love the warm days and the chilly nights of early spring.
That’s the list. Indulge your garden with these minimal maintenance tasks and you’ll find your spring flowers brighter, the evergreens greener and your spring growth more exciting than ever.
Until next issue, I’ll see you in the garden center. QCBN
By Ken Lain
Ken Lain, the Mountain Gardener, can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Rd in Prescott, or contacted through his web site at WattersGardenCenter.com or Facebook page www.Facebook.com/WattersGardenCenter.
Leave a Reply