Finally, the dreary sameness of winter is giving way to the most welcome burst of color called spring.
Bulbs like daffodils, tulips and alliums are beginning to peek through the soil’s crust at my house, delayed by the late March arrival of cold and snow in Philipsburg and the rest of the area.
I so longed for some natural color that I recently made a trip to a local nursery just to gather an array of spring flowers like pansies, primroses and herbs for an early spring planter. I was not alone, judging by the number of gardeners I saw there.
The truth is that now is the time when the serious excitement begins in the garden, and there are many tasks to tackle as we prepare for the season ahead.
Cleanup is important. Any perennial husks that are still standing can be cut down now, and those dried marigold skeletons that were once beautiful annuals can be pulled out.
If leaves (or other covers) were meant as temporary protections for beds, they can be raked away, too. Also, it is time to remove burlap wind breaks from around shrubs.
I am not always diligent about cleaning tools prior to their storage in the fall, so pruners, saws, shovels and others could be oiled and sharpened, including the lawn mower.
Now is also a great time to wipe down and repair any stored garden accessories like birdhouses, birdbaths, feeders, fountains and statuary before returning them to the outside.
Walls, walks, terraces and lighting fixtures may have been affected by freeze and thaw cycles and need to be repositioned or reset. I have a small pond made with a pond liner that, even though covered, still managed to get debris and some water in it, so it will need to be siphoned again and wiped clean before adding new water and plants.
Plant containers, pots and otherwise also need attention. I clean them each spring with a bleach/water solution (one part bleach to 10 parts water) and rinse them well to help ensure that no diseases are transferred to new plant residents.
TAKE STOCK OF YOUR YARD
I always take stock of what is happening in the yard, as well. For example, if spring bulbs have emerged, can more be added in the fall to some bare spots to make an area lusher? Places like along walls, fences, by mailboxes, or under trees come to mind. The bulbs can even be added among groundcovers like pachysandra, where they can disguise the spent blooms and foliage.
In “Month-by-Month Gardening” by George Weigel, I was surprised to see that there is a disease called tulip fire (Botrytis tulipae) that can attack tulips that have been growing in the same place for several years. It makes the blooms deformed. The advice was to dig up and discard any bulbs that are infected and avoid planting tulips in that spot for at least four years, at which time the disease should have died out.
Many people choose to discard their spring bulbs each year and replant new in the fall because the blooms are generally not as abundant after the initial year.
Another basic way to care for your plantings is to provide the best soil possible. This can be done by having a soil test analyzed by County Extension or using an at-home kit. The beauty of having the extension analyze a soil sample is that it will issue a report from its lab on the pH (acidity level) and nutrient levels and whether any amendments are needed based on the use for the planting bed. This amending can be done in the fall or spring.
Finally, if there are improvements or additions to be made to the landscape that have been on the drawing board all winter (i.e., pond, raised veggie bed, restoration or enlargement of a flower bed, hardscaping), now is the time to initiate the process of turning it into a reality.
VENDORS, SEMINARS
The steps and pricing can be checked by contacting local nurseries and contractors.
Of course, there’s no better way to do that than to make a visit to the 33rd annual Central Pennsylvania Home and Garden Show Friday, March 31, Sunday, April 2, at the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus.
Not only are there many vendors to visit, but two gardening seminars are being presented Friday afternoon.
The first, at 4 p.m., is called “Personalizing Your Garden Design: Designing a Shade Garden for Your Maturing Landscape,” presented by Melissa Cramer, a landscape designer at Scott’s Landscaping. I recently was lucky enough to hear a presentation by her at Penn State’s Master Gardener-sponsored Home Gardening School, and she has wonderful planting ideas and practical suggestions about what to do when mature trees, for example, begin to sap the sunlight in a yard.
Then, Dan Narber, manager of Wheatfield Nursery, will be offering his seminar at 5:30 p.m. It is called “Container Gardening for Your Patio,” and will feature not only choosing the best containers and plants but even how to create flower arrangements and grow edibles.
It’s important to get your garden off to a healthy start. Now is the time to begin to turn garden visions into colorful reality.
