Mark Twain puts it to us lightly. “"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." Divide those numbers out and see what you come up. So after yesterday’s first official day of spring fever, let’s snap back to weather reality. This is New England. And here is today’s gardening message for these transitional spring days ahead - use the teaser days wisely for clean-up. Don’t go all guns a smoking.
While in this shoulder season, take it from the top – literally. The best tip for dealing with these spring fluctuations is to prune woody plant material and leave your delicate plant beds resting a while longer. In other words, don’t wake those fussy ones up too early. The layers of mulch and winter debris can actually protect the delicate plants during these erratic weather fluctuations. So where can you make some headway in the garden? Deal with your woody plant material, i.e., the early risers, your trees, shrubs and vines. These hardy types experienced the worst of its weather conditions and are ready for a good clipping. For woody plants, it’s time to prune any damaged or dead material and tighten its structure. This is particularly important for anything that is fruit bearing i.e., apples to grape vines. This clean-up process is not aesthetical; it’s essential when producing a crop.
So take it from the top. Get up and at ‘em with your early risers and keep your delicates hibernating a bit longer. Space out your garden clean-up according to the weather and remember just how frequently we get fooled by these teaser days. With that said, don’t get ahead of yourself with spring fever.
Post on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilowz-Associates-Inc-Our-Blog-Annies-Gardening-Corner/325316334444 or http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz. For anyone subscribing via email that prefers to reply direct, agbilowz@comcast.net or you can always post your comments on the blog.
Images of winter grape vines and pruned grape vines by Greg Bilowz
Image of Cokie basking in spring sunshine by Ann Bilowz
While in this shoulder season, take it from the top – literally. The best tip for dealing with these spring fluctuations is to prune woody plant material and leave your delicate plant beds resting a while longer. In other words, don’t wake those fussy ones up too early. The layers of mulch and winter debris can actually protect the delicate plants during these erratic weather fluctuations. So where can you make some headway in the garden? Deal with your woody plant material, i.e., the early risers, your trees, shrubs and vines. These hardy types experienced the worst of its weather conditions and are ready for a good clipping. For woody plants, it’s time to prune any damaged or dead material and tighten its structure. This is particularly important for anything that is fruit bearing i.e., apples to grape vines. This clean-up process is not aesthetical; it’s essential when producing a crop.
So take it from the top. Get up and at ‘em with your early risers and keep your delicates hibernating a bit longer. Space out your garden clean-up according to the weather and remember just how frequently we get fooled by these teaser days. With that said, don’t get ahead of yourself with spring fever.
Post on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bilowz-Associates-Inc-Our-Blog-Annies-Gardening-Corner/325316334444 or http://www.facebook.com/abilowz or follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/annbilowz. For anyone subscribing via email that prefers to reply direct, agbilowz@comcast.net or you can always post your comments on the blog.
Images of winter grape vines and pruned grape vines by Greg Bilowz
Image of Cokie basking in spring sunshine by Ann Bilowz
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