A Few Tips for Spring Gardening
As each day gets warmer and warmer, I thought that a few tips for spring gardening would be appreciated by all. Please note that these tips are applicable for the Northeast United States but with a bit of creativity, they’ll work in most places.
1. When gardening and weeding, wear gloves. I know many guys like myself insist on doing the macho thing but it’s important for health reasons. Many bacteria, molds and fungus germinate in the soil. You’d feel pretty foolish if you contracted a spaph infection from the soil after ignoring this advice. Wear gloves.
2. Someone a long time ago coined the term growing season for a reason. April is not the growing season for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cucumber and many bean plants. If there is a frost, your plants will die so the rule of thumb is usually don’t plant until Mother’s Day weekend.
3. For the time budget conscious, perennials can be planted in risky weather. Perennials can withstand a frost. Even though the root system will not begin to grow until the temperature warms and the soil temperature warms, perennials can be planted in April. You can also plant carrots, beets, peas, spinach and lettuce in the month of April.
4. Do not seed if you are using a crabgrass control product unless that product allows seeding. Although Scotts makes one of the better products on the market, Scotts crab grass control will kill your seeds. Look for products with Siduron if you want to seed your lawn.
5. When planting new shrubs, make certain to pay attention to the soil requirements to make certain that the roots take well. There’s nothing worse than a half-dead looking plant for the next 10 years.
6. Finally, care for your plants from the moment that you buy them. Transportation can damage the plant so make certain that the plant is well protected and secure when taking the plant to its new home.
Good luck and happy spring planting …….
