Super Fitness Health BlogThings to do this month in the Northwest
Spring is here all along the coast from southern Oregon to Puget Sound. It is well under way between the Cascades and the Coast Range, in the Columbia Basin, and eastward to the foot of the Rockies in Idaho and southwestern Alaska. Check killing frost dates in your area and time your garden chores accordingly.
Finish digging and deep cultivation, for after spring planting has been done and new growth starts, only surface cultivation and feeding are possible without disturbing the shallow roots.
Complete clean-up tasks such as pruning dead wood on trees and shrubs, raking and leveling lawns, removing winter mulches or working them into the ground, and replacing spring mulches on beds and borders. In the colder areas, delay pruning until you can determine the amount of winter damage. Also delay trimming up evergreens until they are in active growth.
Divide perennials such as primroses, astilbe, Michaelmas daisies, boltonias, campanulas, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, erigerons. heleniums, liatris, mertensias, monardas, nepetas, phlox, scabiosas, stokesias, and veronicas. Use only the strongest, outside divisions and put a handful of bonemeal under each new plant.
Save self-sown seedlings of campanulas, foxgloves, hollyhocks, and forget-me-nots, if you wish, and transplant them to permanent quarters. However, plants grown from choice commercial seed are more satisfactory.
Hardy annuals that can be started outdoors now from seed are calendulas, babysbreath, clarkias, cornflowers, godetias, larkspur. cosmos, linarias, nemophilas. Shirley poppies. sweet alyssum. and Virginian stock.
Annuals that can be started now under glass are annual chrysanthemums, gaillardias, scabiosas, asters, celosias, marigolds, mignonette, nierembergias, petunias, summer stocks, verbenas, and zinnias. In the mild coastal areas they can be seeded outdoors.
Bulbs. Plant trigridias, montbretias, cannas, gladiolus, and galtonias. Continue planting the gladiolus at 10-day intervals from March to the first week in July for continuous bloom through summer and fall.
In the vegetable garden follow much the same pattern as with flower seedlings. West of the Cascades, plant cabbage, kohlrabi. cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, leek, and carrot seeds. Set out rhubarb, asparagus, early potatoes, and artichokes as soon as the ground is ready. Start tomatoes, peppers, celery, eggplants, cucumbers, and squash indoors or in hotbeds.
Leaf miners attack lilacs in the Northwest but the damage does not appear until June when it. is too late to control them. Spray with any recommended insecticide the last week in March when the leaf miner larvae hatch (as the new foliage begins to unfold) and before they have tunnelled into the leaves.
Shear heather that has already bloomed to keep it compact; and cut back straggly lavender plants.
Find 100’s of Topics – Articles numbering into the 1000’s at plant-care.com for example:
Comments are currently closed.