The sun is sparkling in the sky, our temperatures are flirting with the 50’s (and somewhere 70’s!) and we’re super excited to get out into our gardens and get a head start on spring cleanup! But wait. Flirting with the 50’s is fun; however, we are not in a long-term relationship yet. As witnessed by the recent snowfall “up north”.
While the frost is coming up out of the ground, the soil is spongy. If you want to get out there, tiptoe! Not like a thief, more like a flamingo! Let the neighbors talk. ????
Seriously, tread lightly while you’re out there cutting back your perennials and native grasses. A neat trick to cutting back those grasses is to tie string around the bunch about halfway up to hold them together. Use your loppers and prune about 3 inches up from the ground. The dried stems will protect the new growth from rabbits. They don’t want to get poked in the eye. This method makes cutting back large swaths of grasses a whole lot easier. This method also works for some taller perennials too.
If you had issues with fungal disease on any of your perennials, clean it up. No reason to get aggressive with the rake, just pick up the slimy stuff and put it in the garbage. I recommend wearing gloves. Don’t compost that fungalated (new word) foliage in your home compost pile. It won’t heat up enough to kill the fungus. If you have a municipal compost site, you can take it there. Those heat to much higher temperatures for a longer period of time.
Speaking of fungal disease, you may have spotted snow mold in your yard. There are two kinds, grey and pink. If you see the grey mold, let the sun shine on it and very lightly rake it out. If the mold is pink, do not rake it out and get a fungicide. Talk to Dave, one of our turf experts, for more on this issue. You can also check out our LEARN articles!
Grey snow mold
I really stress not digging into the soil yet. If you dig in spongy, wet soil, you’re going to create dirt clods.
4-12-2020 – YUP, scary…. 5 days before it was jean jacket weather!
We northern gardens are a hardy bunch, which also means we can’t wait to get outdoors and play in the dirt! So, while you wait to dig, consider cleaning out those pots you’ll be planting with annuals, perhaps you’ve got a bench to build? Or maybe an opportunity to create some art for your garden?
Squill and a dandelion already poking out – 4-11-21!
If the weather permits, you could very lightly, with a large-tooth plastic rake, remove the leaves you didn’t get to last year. Put them in your compost pile.
Don’t till any ground right now. In fact, it would be awesome if you didn’t till at all, but I know that in some cases it’s a necessity. That’s okay. You can always add organic matter.
Tilling your ground year after year may seem like a “rite of passage” into spring, however, more research shows that it shouldn’t be necessary. Tilling too much can eventually compact your soil, reduce nutrients and, if done when the soil is wet, create dirt clods that take a long time to “fix”. The best thing you can do anytime is to add finished compost or composted manure. You don’t have to dig it in, you can just lay it right on top.
While we wait for that long-term relationship with warmer temperatures, you can also start seeds of your favorite flowers and vegetables indoors. Check out our Seed Starting videos with Audra. (links)
Flirting with the 50’s,
