Getting Yourself, and The Garden in Shape

Saturday, April 24, 2010 03:44 AM

Spring gardening chores are a good excuse to be able to get outside and enjoy this great weather we have been receiving.

It is not too late to prune any of those deciduous trees and shrubs (with the exception of Maple and Birch trees and early blooming shrubs) if they haven't broken into leaf yet.

Evergreen trees and shrubs should not be pruned now as these are pruned in mid-summer.

Vegetable gardens can be cleaned up and when the soil has dried enough so that when you hold it in your hand and form a clump the soil clump will break apart when poked with a finger, it is ready to be tilled or dug.

You do not want to work the soil when it is too wet because then it becomes very muddy.

Before working the soil you may want to add any amendments to the soil before working it so that when you till the soil the amendments are worked into the soil.

Over the past couple of years at our home garden we have used blood meal and bone meal which was sprinkled on the soil before rotor-tilling and we have never had such a good garden as we have had in the past couple of years. It has been an excellent garden, and the nice thing about using the blood meal and bone meal is that they are both organic and only need to be applied once a year in the spring. So even though they are a little more costly than fertilizer they do save time as fertilizer is applied at least twice in the growing season.

Raspberries should be cleaned up by removing any dead canes and all of last years fruit bearing canes. This is also a good time to remove any weeds that have come up around the canes.

The strawberries can also be weeded as well as cleaned up by getting a bamboo or plastic rake and raking up all the dead foliage. Berry fertilizer can be applied when there are signs of growth on both the strawberries and raspberries.

Old manure (I like mushroom manure) can also be used and should also be placed on and around around the rhubarb plants. Rhubarb is always one of the first things that come up in the spring so you want to apply the manure early.

Flower beds can be cleaned up by removing any winter protecting mulch from perennials and if the perennials were not cut back in the fall they should have all the dead foliage removed now. You can split and transplant perennials now, but the peonies, lilies and irises are best left till early fall before transplanting. Don't forget to fertilize your fall planted bulbs with 4-14-8 as they come up!

Lawns can have all the old grass raked off to prevent a thick layer of thatch and if the soil has become compact you may want to aerate the lawn by either using a pitchfork to prick holes into the soil or if you have a large area a rented aerator can be used.

It is important when renting any gardening machinery to make sure that the machine has been cleaned as you do not want any unwanted diseases to be introduced into your lawn.

Lawn fertilizer can also be applied to the lawn. Use 13-16-10 or 13-5-7 for the first application as you want to strengthen the plants roots, and after 4-6 weeks you can apply 24-4-16.

Another product that could be beneficial in a healthy lawn is 'Salt Stopper'. This product is naturally mined Calcium Magnesium sulphate and it works as a neutralizer for those areas of the lawn where there has been a salt build-up due to snow melter (salt) or pet urine. It is sprinkled on a dry lawn then watered in using the manufacturer’s directions.

These outdoor gardening chores will give you the chance to work outside and get you fit and ready for the gardening season that lies ahead.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George:

Highway 16 West at Kimball Road
Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road

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Getting Yourself, and The Garden in Shape

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