With Earth Day coming up on April 26, it’s a time to celebrate spring, even if the weather still reminds us of winter at times. For home gardeners, this is a great time to plan and prepare as the growing season gets underway.
Following are this month’s tips to help you do that, from the OSU Extension Service.
Planning
• Write in your garden journal throughout the growing season.
• Prepare garden soil for spring planting. Incorporate generous amounts of organic materials and other amendments, using the results of a soil analysis as a guide.
• Prepare raised beds in areas where cold soils and poor drainage are a continuing problem.
• Incorporate generous amounts (at least 2″) of organic materials.
• Use a soil thermometer to help you know when to plant vegetables. When the soil is consistently above 60°F, some warm season vegetables (beans, sweet corn) can be planted.
Maintenance and Clean Up
• Allow foliage of spring-flowering bulbs to brown and die down before removing.
• Apply commercial fertilizers, manure, or compost to cane, bush (gooseberries, currants, and blueberries), and trailing berries.
• Place compost or well decomposed manure around perennial vegetables, such as asparagus and rhubarb.
• Cut back ornamental grasses to a few inches above the ground, in early spring.
• Cover transplants to protect against late spring frosts.
• Optimum time to fertilize lawns. Apply 1 lb. nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft. of lawn. Reduce risks of run-off into local waterways by not fertilizing just prior to rain, and not over-irrigating so that water runs off of lawn and onto sidewalk or street.
Planting/Propagation
• Plant gladioli, hardy transplants of alyssum, phlox, and marigolds, if weather and soil conditions permit.
• It’s a great time to start a vegetable garden. Among the vegetables you can plant, consider:
Beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, slicing cucumbers, endive, leeks, lettuce, onion sets, peas, and potatoes.
Pest Monitoring and Management
• Clean up hiding places for slugs, sowbugs and millipedes. Least toxic management options for slugs include barriers and traps. Baits are also available for slug control; iron phosphate baits are safe to use around pets. Read and follow all label directions prior to using baits or any other chemical control.
• Monitor strawberries for spittlebugs and aphids; if present; wash off with water or use insecticidal soap as a contact spray. Follow label directions.
• If necessary, spray apples and pears when buds appear for scab.
• Cut and remove weeds near the garden to remove potential sources of plant disease.
• Use floating row covers to keep insects such as beet leaf miners, cabbage maggot adult flies, and carrot rust flies away from susceptible crops.
• Help prevent damping off of seedlings by providing adequate ventilation.
(Source: OSU Extension Service)
