April In Your Garden 2011

At least its April showers not April snow drifts!
Ladies and Gentleman let’s rock and roll!
Spend time in your garden daily, even if it’s only a little bit of time and it’ll make your life a lot easier.

Lawns

When the ground isn’t too soggy, you can mow.  Don’t scalp it.  You know who you are!  Never cut more than one third of the height of the lawn.  If you have any relatives back east phone them while you are mowing.  It’s funny to hear them yell. 

If you haven’t done the lime/aerate/topdress/overseed thing yet, you can when its dry.  You can fertilize towards the end of the month.

Trees and Shrubs

Fertilize with appropriate food towards the end of the month.  Cut tree circles for trees in the lawn and mulch to avoid weedwacker damage.  Spend a bit of time with a cup of coffee sitting near a tree.  It’s interesting to see the birds, our crows especially tearing off twigs and bits of moss for nests.

Still time to shuffle some things around if needed and it’s a fantastic time to plant.  If you are needing some edible landscaping, the bareroot fruit trees are instock for a about another week. (3rd week in april - after that they will be potted)

Perennial beds

Dahlia Flower

Tidy and topdress.  Be careful when you are raking and cleaning that you are not damaging emerging plants.  Fertilize towards the end of the month.  

Still time to shuffle around the garden beds and to divide up perennials. 

You can plant most of the summer bulbs as well as Dahlias towards the end of the month again, as long as the ground isn’t waterlogged.



Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

 Some of the hardier perennial corms and packaged roots like Crocosmia, Liatris and Hostas can be planted any time and are a great value for your dollar. 

If you’re quick and you have the right place for them you can still get some specialty perennials like the lovely Trillium – there is even one with a bit of a chartreuse speckling on the leaves.

If I don’t get to them first, you may also be able to nab one of the packages of Bletilla striata – hardy ground orchid.

Ponds

As it warms up towards the end of this month you can begin planting.  Get your ponds running and feed your fish once they start becoming more active.

Veggie gardening

Plant your onion sets, broccoli, carrots, cabbage and some of your lettuce crop  once it dries out.  If it gets too cold and miserable don’t rush the planting.  Remember what happened last year!!

Rhubarb Plant

Check raspberry posts, add manure to your Rhubarb, lime around your apple trees, sawdust or pine needles around your blueberries and tidy up your herb borders.

Check your seeds and fertilizer situation. 

Tidy out your garage shelves…never know what you might find.

 Make sure you are ready and most of all, make sure you take some time to enjoy this crazy spring.

 

This Post Was Written By:

Laurel O.