Garden Calendar-March-April

 

 

 

 

•Trim back ornamental grasses to the ground in early March and remove the brown leaves to allow new growth to fill in this spring.  Tying the grasses with twine, rope, or bungee cords before cutting makes the job a little neater.

•Remember March 1 as a good date for cutting back butterfly bushes (6-12” from the ground) and crapemyrtles if you wish to keep them shrub-like.  It is also time to trim back rose-of-sharon, hardy hibiscus, chaste trees, clethra, and nandinas (heavenly bamboo)

which have grown too tall. Wait until after blooming to cut back spring blooming shrubs which are overgrown.

•Divide and transplant perennials before they reach 3” tall for best results.  Once new growth emerges, use a sharp spade or soil knife to dig up outer portions of perennials and move to a new location.  Use Fertilome Root Stimulator every 2 weeks.    

•Plant annual bedding plants after our last frost date, usually April 15-20.  Use “The Cow” compost & manure, mushroom compost, earthworm castings, or Baccto garden soil to work into the soil before planting for better growth this summer.

•Apply Fertilome Crabgrass Preventer, HiYield Dimension, or Espoma Corn Gluten organic weed and grass preventer to lawns.

•Fertilize roses using ½ cup Bone & Bloodmeal as growth begins. Apply ¼ cup after the first blooms, then ¼ cup again in mid-summer. Prune roses back to 12-18” from the ground (do not prune climbing roses now) and spread out the topsoil or compost used in winter to cover the base of the plant.

 •Sow grass seed in early April. Use Fertilome New Lawn Starter, Milorganite, or Espoma Organic Lawn Food raked in the surface of the soil before seeding. Topdress lawns with ½” mushroom compost and rake into the grass for healthy growth.

•Prune azaleas and rhododendrons after blooming.  Fertilize these and hollies, dogwoods, magnolias, and evergreens with cottonseed meal to make the soil acid.  Use 1 pound cottonseed meal per foot of height for vigorous growth.

•Spread lime around the base of lilacs, boxwoods, clematis, sweet peas, pink hydrangeas, dianthus and phlox to promote a higher pH and better growth.  Do a soil test first in your garden or lawn to determine if lime is needed in these areas.

•Apply Milky Spore to naturally control Japanese beetle grubs for 10 to 20 years in your lawn and flower beds.