Prepping The Spring Garden 4/16/21

Prepping the Spring Garden
Tony Fulmer, Chief Horticulture Officer
Lawns
• Check for salt damage on turf & evergreens. Apply gypsum to soil to try and counteract
harmful effect of sodium-based deicing products.
• Raking- Remove leaves and winter litter as needed.
• Seeding- Whether overseeding thin lawns or seeding bare areas create furrows to catch
the seed. Don’t bury the seed and don’t cover with peat moss! Do always use a starter
fertilizer. Ex: Scott’s (24-25-4) or Espoma Lawn Starter (3-6-3)
• Fertilizer only products (no weed control) - First application can go down as turf is
coming out of dormancy. Examples: Espoma Lawn Fertilizer (15-0-5), Nature Safe (16-
0-2), Nature Safe Stress Guard (8-3-5), Espoma Organic Spring Lawn Booster (8-0-0),
Milorganite (6-4-0).
• Fertilizer + crabgrass preventer products:
o Established lawns: Bonide Crabgrass Preventer (24-0-8), Bio-Advanced 5 In 1
Weed & Feed
o New Seeding: Scotts Step 1 for Seeding (21-22-4)

Bed prep for annual, vegetable beds
• Apply 1-2” of organic matter (Chalet leaf mulch or organic compost, cotton burr
compost, dehydrated manure, your own compost) over the surface of beds. Till or dig in
to incorporate.
• Apply an organic fertilizer like Dr. Earth Tomato, Vegetable & Herb (4-6-3), Dr. Earth
Bud & Bloom (3-9-4), Espoma Plant-Tone (5-3-3) or Holly-Tone (4-3-4).
• Frost hardy annuals include: pansies, violas, snapdragons, stocks, ranunculus, sweet
peas, alyssum, nemesia, diascia, dianthus, bacopa, lobelia and osteospermum.
• Frost hardy veggies include: lettuce, cabbage, kale, spinach, onions, chard, broccoli,
cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and root crops.
Perennials
• Finish cutting back anything you left up for winter interest. Do as early as possible to
avoid damaging emerging perennials.
• Some evergreen perennials may need to be neatened up and wintertattered leaves removed. Ex: Bergenia, ferns, Hellebores, Heucheras. Don’t do anything
to: Creeping phlox, Oriental poppy, Iberis as examples.
• Put hoops, rings, peony cages, and support structures that plants have to grow through
in place now.
• Apply organic fertilizers like Dr. Earth: Bud & Bloom Booster (3-9-4), Rose & Flower (4-
6-2), Bulb Food (3-14-2) or Espoma Flower-tone (3-4-5) per label directions.
• Apply 1-2” layer of growing season mulch. Ex: Chalet leaf mulch, cotton burr compost
• Consider preventative applications of fungicides to disease-susceptible perennials as
stems emerge from dormancy.
• Apply Sluggo to newly emerged hostas and ligularia when air temperatures reach 70° F.
or higher to reduce slug damage.
• Apply pre-emergent control products (Preen, for example) before weed seedlings show
up.
• Consider repellents (Plantskydd or Repels-All) if you’ve had deer or rabbit issues (Liquid
Fence Dual Action Rabbit Repellent). High profile spring targets are newly emerging:
hostas, roses and daylilies.
Roses
• As daytime temperatures stabilize in the 40s and the overwintering mulch thaws, start
deconstructing the mound. Spread to use as summer mulch.
• Prune when reddish-pink buds start swelling enough to give you a sense of what’s alive
and what isn’t. Look for the junction where dead (brown) tips become green stems.
• The harder you prune, the more stems you will get. Prune to an outward facing, swelling
bud on green stems to direct growth.
• Dispose of any leaf debris from the previous year to reduce potential disease start-up.
• Make first fertilizer application (see Perennial fertilizer recommendations) or BioAdvanced All-in-One Rose & Flower Care- a fertilizer (9-14-9), insect and disease
control when you have fully opened leaves.
• If your rose bed is unmulched apply 1-2” Chalet leaf mulch, cotton burr compost or
shredded pine mulch.
Spring Flowering Bulbs
• Rake off any wind-blown debris.
• Apply fertilizer to the bed as foliage peeks out. Bulb-tone (3-5-3) is a good analysis for
spring flowering bulbs.
• Consider repellents (Plantskydd or Repels-All) if you fear deer or rabbit (again, Liquid
Fence Dual Action Rabbit Repellent) issues- tulips and crocus can be targets.
Ground Cover
• If you covered with evergreen boughs for winter remove now.
• Cut out/back any winter burn to English ivy. Thin, if necessary, to improve air circulation.
• Remove as much leaf accumulation as possible in all ground covers to reduce the
likelihood of future disease problems.
• Check: Euonymus for scale and Pachysandra for stem blight. Respond accordingly.
Trees & Shrubs
• Remove tree wrap, protective trunk cylinders, burlap screens.
• Check for broken branches, dead plants. Any time there is dead wood it needs to be
removed. Use proper pruning techniques!
• Maintenance pruning rule- If it blooms before July 1 it’s blooming on last summer’s
growth and shouldn’t be pruned unless you’re willing to sacrifice flowers.
If it blooms after July 1 it’s blooming on spring and early summer growth and can be
pruned late winter or early spring with no loss of flowers.
• Know your plants, learn their susceptibilities. Ex: Older crabapples tend to be scabprone (disease). It can be controlled with preventative fungicide applications as the
leaves start emerging.
• Apply Hi-Yield Garden Sulfur to acid-loving plants: azaleas, blueberries, hollies,
rhododendrons and hydrangeas (if you want pink varieties to be blue) to acidify our
alkaline soils. Must be applied directly to bare soil, not over mulch, to affect a change in
pH.
• Fertilize as desired with Espoma Tree-tone (6-3-2) or Holly-tone
(4-3-4).
• Apply pre-emergent weed control (Preen, for example) to weed-free, bare soil beds
before weeds show up and before fresh seasonal mulch has been spread.
• After winter debris has been cleared it’s time to beef up mulch. Apply a 2” layer of
shredded hardwood or pine, chunk bark, leaf mulch or cotton burr compost. Leave a
donut-sized opening around the trunks of trees or the stems of shrubs.