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  • HOME
    • About Master Gardener Volunteers
    • 2021 Master Gardener training
    • Demonstration GARDENS
  • Request Our Help
    • Speaker Request
    • Garden HELP Desk
    • School/Community Garden Consultation
  • Garden Zone
  • GARDEN CALENDAR
    • January winter
    • February to do list
    • March timely tips
    • April 15th last frost
    • May spring frenzy
    • June garden tasks
    • July summer tasks
    • August hot summer
    • September gardens
    • October fall begins
    • November planting
    • December gardens
    • NCSU Garden Newsletter
  • Our Publications
  • Consider a Donation

​April Garden in
​the Piedmont 

Soil Test

Test your soil! 
  • Soil test kits are available at several locations in Mecklenburg County, including the extension services office at 1418 Armory Drive.
  • Learn more about homeowner soil tests here.
  • The NCSU guide to understanding soil test results for home lawns and gardens.   
  • Your soil test results are emailed to you when complete.
  • Soil tests are no charge from April through November. And only $4 during December-March.  

Perennials, Bulbs and Vegetables

  • Prune back ornamental plants such as holly, nandina and pyracantha.
  • Plant carrots, celery, collards, lettuce, parsley, radishes and turnips now.
  • Set out warm season vegetables, such as corn, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes, after threat of frost is past (around mid-April in the Southern Piedmont).
  • Place a little lime in tomato planting holes to prevent blossom end rot.  
    • Also, use a cutworm barrier, such as aluminum foil or paper cups with bottoms cut out (small tomato paste cans work great).  
  • Apply bone meal or super phosphate to spring-flowering bulbs.  
    • Top dress summer flowering bulbs with a complete fertilizer.  
  • Plant seeds or seedlings of annual vines such as morning glory, moonflower and passion flower after the danger of frost is past.

Lawn & Landscaping

  • Mow cool-season lawns (Tall Fescue) at least weekly, to a height of 3 inches.  
  • Check your lawn for white grubs by using a spade to turn back a square foot of sod 2 or 3 inches deep.  
    • Dislodge the soil from the overturned roots and count the number of grubs.  If you see more than 5 in this square foot area, treatment is necessary.  

Trees, Shrubs & Groundcovers

  • Prune
    • Early flowering trees and shrubs as soon as blooms have faded.  
    • Deciduous vines, like wisteria and Lady Banks roses, after they finish flowering.  ​
  • Keep roses well mulched, but keep mulch away from crown and lower stems. 
  • Fertilize
    • Fruit trees during fruit set 
    • All spring flowering shrubs and vines after they bloom.  
    • Lightly fertilize blueberries a second time when they bloom.  
  • Watch new tree growth for signs of fireblight, especially fruit trees.  
    • Remove any affected twigs and, if bark below the dead leaves is shriveled, cut several inches below the damaged area.  
    • Be sure to sterilize your shears afterward!  
  • Watch for insect damage on new tender growth.  
    • Also, inspect established evergreens for signs of scale, boxwoods and hollies for leaf miner damage, azaleas and pyracanthas for signs of lace bugs.

Indoor Gardening

  • Repot houseplants and put them outside on warmer days.

Always more to do!  

  • Honeybees are swarming, leaving their hives and seeking new hives.  New swarms are not aggressive and should be left alone.  Swarms that haven’t found a home will be collected March – June by local beekeepers. 

 Mecklenburg Extension Master Gardener℠ Volunteers   
mastergardenersmecklenburg.org

Horticulture Help Desk   |   Speaker Request   |   Community Garden Consultation   |   Become a volunteer  

 ​The Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program is a part of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and North Carolina State University
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