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Winter Tips |
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• Adjust the watering schedule for houseplants. Some that are in dry and warm
locations may need more water while those that have become dormant may need less water.
• Continue monitoring stored bulbs, vegetables, and fruit for rot.
• Get ready to start plants indoors for the 2009 gardening season. Order seed starting supplies and equipment.
• Check shrubs and fruit trees for broken or dead branches and remove any
that you find.
• Support sustainable farming by attending a meeting of a local or state
sustainable farming organization.
• Make some indoor improvement such as setting up an area for garden tool
storage or building a bench for potting plants.
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Early Spring Tips |
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• Check for signs of growth. Did you remember to plant snow crocus
last fall? If not, cut forsythia or magnolia branches to bring inside for
forcing.
• Prep the beds. Remove winter mulch or, if well composted, work into
the top layer of the soil. Work in some leaf mold or well-rooted manure,
too.
• Prune. Now is the time to trim fruit trees if you didn't prune in
winter. Prune before buds begin to break into bloom or you'll stress the
tree and get a tiny crop (or possibly none).
• Perform basic maintenance. Check stonework for frost heaves. Check
and clean the deck now so you don't have to do it later; make any repairs.
• Start seeds indoors. You've spent the winter reading seed and plant
catalogs, so try some.
• Plant veggies. Hardy vegetables, such as onions, potatoes,
artichokes, and some lettuces, should be planted now.
• Divide perennials. Before plants have begun spring growth is a good
time to divide many perennials. Share some divisions with your friends this
year.
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Mid Spring Tips |
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• Build new beds. Every gardener needs more beds. This year, put in a
flowering shrub bed supplemented with perennials and annuals.
• Stop feeding the birds. Take down and clean feeders, put them away
until fall.
• Enjoy the spring show. Resolve to plant more spring-flowering bulbs
next fall.
• Plant hardy annuals. Sow seeds outdoors or transplant seedlings.
• Apply mulch and more mulch. If you mulch now, you'll have next to no
weeding come summer.
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Late Spring Tips |
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• Deadhead bulbs. Remove spent blossoms from spring-flowering bulbs;
let foliage die back without removing it.
• Go shopping. Pick out flats of your favorite bedding plants;
remember to pick ones not yet in bloom for stronger plants.
• Prune spring-flowering shrubs. Trim away spent blooms, and thin
too-thick branches to rejuvenate older plants.
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