Gardening This Weekend: April 7, 2016
I’m always sad when someone asks, “Neil, when should I ____?” That’s because the answer is usually “Two weeks ago.” So you won’t be asking me that question two weeks from now, here are this weekend’s prime responsibilities.
You’ll never enjoy nursery-shopping any more than you do in mid-spring. Stop in this weekend!
Plant: Nursery stock. Buy now, while supplies are at their best. Warm-season vegetables immediately, including tomatoes, peppers, green beans, squash, cucumbers and corn. Warm-season annual color plants. Some of the best and most popular: marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, wax begonias, coleus, angelonias, purple fountaingrass and pentas. Wait for warmer weather to plant copper plants, firebush, caladiums, periwinkles and lantanas. New turf from sod or plugs.
Prune: Spring-flowering shrubs and vines as soon as they have finished blooming. Trim erratic growth off shrubs.
Reshape azaleas after they finish flowering. Prune stem-by-stem to avoid unnatural forms.
Fertilize: All of your landscape and garden plants and turf with high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen plant food (half or more of the nitrogen in encapsulated or coated, slow-release form). Hanging baskets and container plants with high-nitrogen, water-soluble food.
Almost all of your plants are growing at their most vigorous rates now. Plants like this handsome fringeflower (Loropetalum) benefit from spring feedings.
On the Lookout: Aphids on tender new growth. Treat with almost any general-purpose insecticide, or wash off with a hard stream of water. Dandelions, dichondra, clover and other non-grassy weeds with a broadleafed weedkiller spray. Powdery mildew and black spot with labeled fungicides.