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Gardening 101: Signs of spring
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Anonymous user Wed Nov 30, -0001 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments With the first signs that spring is on its way, we gardeners really start getting the "bug." Looking around our gardens at newly-forming buds and emerging plants from the sleeping soil brings a bit of excitement to our world. Days are getting longer and we can get back outside soon. How about some tips and ideas to cure this early spring gardening bug?
 
If you'd like to plant an early-blooming tree for a nice focal point in the garden, how about a redbud or a tulip magnolia? It's nice to pick these trees while they're blooming so you can pick the flower color you like. Both trees are moderate growers and can be purchased as either a single-trunked tree or a tree with multiple trunks. Two other good early-blooming trees with a little more "shade canopy" are flowering pear or plum. If you plant any of these trees they will act as a signal each year to let you know the winter is about over and spring is quickly approaching.
 
Shrubs that bloom first and will brighten up your yard early on are spirea, forsythia, lilacs, ceanothus and lavender in the sun and azaleas or camellias in the shade. Several vines put on quite an early show, as well: wisterias for the cool lavender, white or pale pink shades and Banksia roses for a beautiful display of pale yellow and creamy white. Don't forget Carolina jasmine with its bright yellow flowers in full sun, or the white polyanthum jasmine for the shade. These vines will be literally covered with blooms as long as you feed them with super phosphate starting in mid-summer. Remember, early spring bloomers usually start to set their bloom at the end of the previous summer, so if you use a high-bloom fertilizer with low or no nitrogen you will see a lot more flowers. By the same token, don't prune these plants in the winter –– you'll prune off your flowers if you do.
 
Get the vegy beds ready and plant your cool-weather crops. Greens, Swiss chard, artichokes, lettuce, onions, potatoes and garlic can all go in now. Be sure and add lots of organic matter to your beds and fertilize once a month. It's early, but you can start tomatoes now if you "hot cap" them. A hot cap is a little wax paper tent that acts as a mini green house for the plant. Tomatoes are one of the few plants you can plant deep and fill soil in on the stem. Here's a tip on early-planting tomatoes: Dig a hole about 6 to 8 inches deep and plant your tomato at the bottom. Flood the hole with water, soaking the plant well. Place the hot cap over the hole, using some of the excess soil to help anchor the hot cap in place. When the tomato reaches the top of the hot cap the danger of frost should be over. Remove the hot cap and also remove the bottom leaves. You may now fill in the soil around the tomato plant stem up to ground level. The tomato will root along the stem and become nice and stocky. Water when dry and feed monthly.    
 
Flowers that traditionally scream spring are pansies, snaps, stocks, Iceland poppies, calla lilies, tulips, daffodils, ranuculas, ice plant, gazanias, cyclamen, primroses and calendulas. All are great cool weather bloomers. These flowers are not bothered by the frosty mornings of early spring! The best time to plant these plants in order to get the most and longest bloom out of them is in the fall.  Yes, I said FALL. Of course, you can still plant them later and they will go into early summer in many cases, but in order to get those big, impressive masses of color plant earlier. Don't forget to mulch well whenever you work those flowerbeds and feed a minimum of once a month minimum (a high middle number on the fertilizer equals more blooms). 
 
I know with the gardening bug comes impatience –– no, not the flower, but our own lack of patience when it comes to waiting until the weather catches up with us. Remember, the biggest killer of plants in this end of the valley is the cold. Our last cold snap comes just before Easter. We can still have a pretty good frost this time of year. Jumping the gun many times results in having to replant all those frost-tender plants. Even if we don't get frost from now until Easter, the soil temperatures are such that many of the late spring plants just sit there and don't do much at all. My advice is wait until after Easter to plant the frost-tender plants. 
 
After waiting for the ground to warm up, you can now add plants like peppers, squash, cucumbers and eggplant to your vegetable garden. Also, once the nights get into the 50s basil and cilantro are a go. Now the begonias, impatients, marigolds, nasturtiums, cosmos, moss rose, lobelia and zinnias will be much happier. I know it's hard to wait, but it's worth it. And I do have a few flats of black marigolds you can have if you’re after that frost-burned look. All it took was one cold, frosty morn on those poor plants that were used to a nice, warm greenhouse and they were wiped out. After Easter I like to start introducing my hot-weather plants, gradually filling in more and more as the heat gets to some of the cool-weather bloomers. This way there is a nice, smooth changeover and I never go through a total bare flowerbed with all new plants. You can also start adding perennials, which will last all year during this late spring and early summer season, but that will have to wait for another article. 
 
Don't forget the preemergents on your lawn and flowerbeds. Today, March 1, is a good time since it's a little before spring and the weeds are starting. The only problem with these seed controls is they will stop all seed germination. So you can't plant flower seeds and use them. Personally, I would rather have less weeds and plant from containers than plant from seed and pull weeds. Just sounds like a whole lot more fun to plant flowers, plus that instant look when planting the actual plant is really nice. 
 
Hopefully these tips can help you with your gardening bug by making your work more productive and successful. We are probably in for some more chilly a.m.s, and hopefully some rain through the next month, but let's hope for some nice sunny days in between. Clear, crisp days with some sun on my shoulders is what I'm hoping for. Oh yeah, that would be perfect!

E-mail Kathy at: kathyrobinson6174@sbcglobal.net 
 
 

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