Here it is early April, with eighty-degree days and thirty-degree nights. What are you going to do with that?! The danger of an hard overnight freeze is still very real for most parts of the country. Still your green thumbs are twitching to get out and dig around in the garden. Well, there are a few things that you can do to get a start on planting outdoors.
One thing that you can do is some general clean up around the yard and garden. It sure seems that regardless of the tidying up that you did last fall, there is lots of work to be done to prepare for spring planting.
- Clear out all the leaves and debris that blew in. Be gentle around early spring bulbs like daffodils and tulips. They may be sprouting up.
- Add soil dressings and edgings. Freshen up your mulch and weed/plant barriers.
- Divide perennials. You can increase your plant quantities by splitting large clumps. If you don’t need the extra plants, you can share. Perennials will do better if they can grow into thinned out areas.
- Prune trees and shrubs. You should do it before the buds are too full or before new growth has started.
- Plant early, or cold hardy seeds and tubers. Peas, potatoes, a number of leafy greens, and quite a few flowering plants do well if started before the last freeze.
- Basic maintenance, reset walking or decorative stones that may have moved from frost heaving. Clean up that patio furniture, and repair those sections of fencing or gates that may have issues. Inspect the deck or patio and make any needed repairs.
These are just a few things that you can do to get out of the way so you can enjoy more of the warmer weather activities that are just a few weeks away.
gardenersbud.blog 