In the garden this week, it looks like the trees and shrubs are coming to life with their swollen buds. The spring bulbs are coming up, and the ticks are coming out.
Now’s the time to get your lawn and garden off to a strong start for the season. Go ahead and put down your lawn fertilizer, but hold off on the weed-and-feed products or any pre-emergent treatments, it’s just a little too early for those yet.
If you’ve got some thin or dead patches, give those areas a good raking and toss down some grass seed. A fescue mix works especially well in dry spots and can help fill things in nicely. And don’t be too quick to judge clover popping up in your yard, it’s actually doing you a favor by adding nitrogen to the soil and staying green even during the hot summer months.
You may also be noticing a few weeds already making their appearance. Pennycress (also known as stinkweed) and henbit, with its small purple flowers, are common this time of year. These are winter annuals, meaning they got their start last fall and are now gearing up to flower. The best thing you can do right now is pull them or mow them down before they go to seed. If they tend to take over your lawn, plan on applying a fall pre-emergent later in the year to keep them in check. Treat now with a broad-spectrum herbicide when it’s little. When they are larger, herbicides are less effective.
Another one to watch for is creeping Charlie, a perennial with purple blooms, you’ll likely need to spot-treat that one with an herbicide.
If fruit trees are part of your yard, and if you have had issues like apple scab or rust in the past. An all-purpose orchard spray can help, and timing matters, the first application should go on when the blossoms begin to show color but haven’t opened yet. Be sure to follow label directions carefully.
For those getting the gardening itch indoors. Now’s a great time to start most flower and vegetable plants from seed. As the tiny plants germinate and grow, transplant each to a larger container. Just hold off on vine crops like cucumbers until the end of April. They prefer a little more warmth to really get going.
You can prune dead or damaged branches from trees and shrubs now. But for spring-flowering shrubs (like lilacs), wait until after they bloom, or you’ll cut off this year’s flowers.