Email  Print  del.icio.us  digg  yahoo!  Feed

Subscribe to Midwest Home : Web Section MH

March 2008 Garden Tips

• Looking through seed catalogs can give you inspiration for planning that perennial or annual garden this spring. Stop in to your local garden center for planning tips and ideas.

• Cool season ornamental grasses, such as Karl Foerster feather reed grass, should be cut back prior to new growth. Remove all but 2-3 inches of the previous season’s growth.

• Remove any protective winter wraps or plastic tree spirals from young trees. They may provide protected areas for insects and diseases to find a new home.

• Plant your tomato seeds indoors by March 15. Most tomato varieties require eight weeks to be fully ready for transplant.

• Just prior to bud break in March or early April is the ideal time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Renewal pruning shrubs is one of the best things you can do to keep your landscape looking sharp.

• Now is also a great time to prune your apple trees. Be sure to remove any branches that are touching or crossing. Prune apple trees to get maximum light to the center of the tree for better fruit production. If you have questions, see an expert at your garden center.

• Cut stems of forsythia, double-flowering plum, Nanking cherry, Corneliancherry dogwood, or crab apples just above a lateral branch for forcing fresh indoor early spring blooms. Bring them inside, crush the cut ends and place them in a vase of warm water. Watch those buds come to life!

• Turn over the compost pile. Aeration will speed up decomposition, making it ready for use earlier in spring.

• Jumpstart spring, and bring yourself some color and pleasure with an indoor bulb garden. Most bulb gardens can be added to your landscape once the soil thaws.

• Now is a great time to start seeding your cool season vegetable crops such as broccoli, lettuce, or collards.

• Planting your seeds in new coir fiber pots (a renewable resource made from coconut fiber), means you can plant your tender seedlings directly into the soil without having to remove their pots, which will break down as the roots grow. No plastic, and no peat from depleted bogs.

• Adding an inexpensive fluorescent grow light and a small desktop fan to your seed starting arsenal can mean the end of leggy, weak seedlings—and boost your chances of healthy transplants.

• Keep feeding the birds with fresh high quality bird seed and suet. It is important that you clean bird feeders on a regular basis to prevent the spread of diseases.

• The weather may be improving with some warm days, but be patient and stay out of your garden and avoid raking or working on the lawn. It is still too early and you may do more harm than good.

• With warmer weather around the corner, outdoor living is easy—when you have an outdoor entertainment area. See what’s possible when you arrange for an on-site consultation with a landscape designer. Make that appointment now—before their schedules fill up.

Resources

Johnson’s Nursery, Inc.
262-252-4988

Mother Earth Gardens
612-724-2296

Linder’s Greenhouses, Inc.
651-488-1927

Villa Landscapes
Burnsville • 952-894-1553
Maple Grove • 763-425-9277
Oakdale • 651-773-7440