Spring In Full Swing

Photo Courtesy of Christy Vincent

Spring In Full Swing

Just about April 20th or so, the season transitions from early spring to the full force of the season. Except for a few stray days, the temperatures are beginning to steady, and no more freak spring snowstorms can be expected. Gardening really starts to heat up around this time.

Some of the greenhouses and other vendors are beginning to sell a few bedding plants, the tulips are starting to hit their stride, and many other plants, such as flowering trees and shrubs, are getting in step with the spring program.

There is a lot to be done, so take a walk with me around the yard while I get down to business...

One of the first things I am going to do is to gradually remove some of the mulch around my more vulnerable roses. The hardier varieties have been flying solo without the benefit of mulch, and I am going to go over to them to see what needs to be done.

It looks like there are a few dead branches here, so I know its time to trim back my roses. I do not trim them back in the Fall as there is going to be some dieback, regardless. I don't want to make the roses more vulnerable by trimming them back in the Autumn, either. I feel this exposes the inner wood to the elements before it has a chance to heal over. All dead wood is going to be cut back now, and some of the fat old black canes are going to go, too. Any thin and weak branches are outta here, as are any crossing limbs. I will trim most of the bushes back by a third, all except the once blooming roses, which will get trimmed after they bloom. After the last of the mulch is off, I will scratch in some organic rose food, per manufacturer's recommendations.

The earliest blooming rhododendrons and azaleas are just about there for flowering, so I am going to scratch in some cottonseed meal in the top inch or so of soil after I pull the mulch back. Rhodies and azaleas are shallow rooted, so I am not going to go too deep with the application. If these plants look like they might bloom a few weeks earlier in the season, I will have applied the fertilizer a little earlier.

Now I need to remove the spent perennial tops of plants such as sedum and other plants that I have left the dead stalks on over the Winter. Now there are several schools of thought about this; I personally feel that keeping the flower stalks on over Winter is added protection for the crowns and roots. The exception to this is any plant material is trimmed in the Fall that may have a tendency to harbor disease, or any plant that may have experienced an insect problem during the last growing season. Many gardeners remove al the dead flower stalks and foliage in the Fall, which is fine, too. This is just my way.

The mulch looks pretty matted, and I am going to incorporate more organic material and organic fertilizer to my flowerbeds. I am going to gently pull the mulch back from the plants before I do this. If the bottom layer looks like its well on its way to decaying, I will incorporate this into the soil around my plants. After I dress the soil, I might scatter a few seeds of lettuce, Iceland poppies, and other annuals that can tolerate the cool weather and soil. I replace the mulch and refresh it by adding some new shredded bark to the top. All gets mulched except for those areas that are planted with seeds. This is also a good time to tuck in a few pansies and broccoli plants, which are decorative as well as functional.

It looks like some of the hosta, daylilies, and mums need dividing. The iris also need to be divided, but that will have to wait until much later, in the Summer. I will discard the old, woody centers of the mums, and take the healthy, young divisions and replant them. I will finish dividing and resetting my daylilies and hostas, but I am sure that I will have a few extra plants. If you are interested, take a few of them home!

In a few more weeks I will be setting out the bulk of my annuals and I will be setting out containers and hanging baskets full of the little goodies I have bought. It's still a little early for the more tender of these plants, so I will have to be content with my pansies.

Before the peonies really start to come on, I am going to place plant supports around them. These are beautiful plants, but they are just too top heavy. This will prevent them from toppling over from their own weight, especially when it rains. They will also get a healthy dose of bone meal and organic rose food before and after bloom cycle.

My mail order stock is starting to come in, so I have been planting it as soon as possible. On those days that the weather just won't cooperate, I keep them in their packages in a cool, dark area until I can set them out. I have been planting a few shrubs and trees from local sources. My soil is on the sandy side, almost pure sand, in fact. So, I do add some organic material to the backfill, although not to the extent that I once did. Now it is recommended that it is best to plant woody plants in the soil in which they will live.

Now that we have finished our chat and the chores--My how the time has flown!--Could I interest you in some lunch?

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