Beyond the Garden Gate

With spring color popping ahead of schedule, jumping into the pretty before we deal with the nitty gritty is an easy thing to do. Keeping to the regularly scheduled garden tasks for late March is appropriate, especially with a few frosty nights predicted for early next week. Need the list for a few must-do items before making your move beyond the garden gate?

1) Prune, clip and trim (If you’re a regular, you know the drill.) There is always the search button to peruse through the archives for pruning tips or you can always send a question or comment through the usual chains.

2) For lawn lovers: First, aerate, second, thatch and third, apply a preemergence herbicide for Crabgrass. The Forsythia is in bloom and the Lilacs are coming soon so don’t lose that window of opportunity.

3) Dormant Oils: Mentioned in the March 19^th, 2012 blog - http://blog.bilowzassociates.com/2012/03/whats-waking-up-in-your-garden.html for a quick review. This stifles the first generation of insects so the buggers don’t get a foothold in your plant beds.

4)With soft, workable soil, use this weekend to divide and transplant your perennials. It’s also an ideal time to plant and/or transplant any trees or woody shrubs.

5)You can even sow some cool weather seeds in your veggie garden: peas, spinach, lettuce are a few favorites and easy to do.

With a full garden list plus some cooler temperatures in store, don’t miss this opportunity to get ahead of the chores. Is it time to move beyond the garden gate? As Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out, “The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.” Enjoy the garden weather this weekend; the spring season has finally struck.

Image of a garden gate by Greg Bilowz

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