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Perennials, Annuals & Bulbs
- Fertilize perennial beds based on results of your soil test.
- Slow release organic fertilizers work best.
- Plant hardy woody vines like clematis.
- Divide and replant daylilies, hostas, peonies, Shasta daisies, asters, boltonia, phlox, rudbechia and chrysanthemums when new growth is 1-2 inches high.
- Cut back liriope monkey grass before new growth begins.
- Deadhead daffodils when the blooms fade, but allow the foliage to die back naturally to store nutrients for the next growing season.
- Pansies benefit from deadheading as well.
- Sheer back germander to 1-2 inches to keep compact.
- Cut back plants that were left for winter interest, including grasses and seed heads.
- Cut back dead and old foliage from ferns.
Vegetables
- Turn over soil in vegetable beds and add plenty of organic matter.
- Plant cool season crops – i.e., lettuce, chard, kale, spinach, peas, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, radishes, and beets.
- Cover them if temperatures dip below freezing.
- Start tender vegetables, like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, indoors.
Lawn & Landscaping
- Fertilize cool-season lawns (Tall Fescue)
- Don’t fertilize again until September
- Don’t fertilize warm-season grasses now (Zoysia, Bermuda, St. Augustine).
- Don’t fertilize again until September
- When mowing Tall Fescue lawns, don’t remove more than 1/3 of the height at any one mowing; leave clippings on the lawn unless they would smother the grass.
- Apply pre-emergence herbicides to lawns by the time dogwoods bloom.
Trees, Shrubs & Groundcovers
- Prune summer-blooming plants like althea, buddleia, vitex and crepe myrtle
- Prune deciduous azalea, forsythia, flowering quince, spiraea and viburnum after blooming.
- Roses:
- Prune ever-blooming roses severely to force new growth
- Thin out older canes on climbing cultivars (make pruning cuts above outward-facing buds)
- Fertilize roses and continue every 6-8 weeks
- Begin spray program, if needed, when new leaves appear. (Try 4 teaspoons baking soda to 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in 1 gallon water.)
- Fertilize berry plants and fruit trees
- If raspberries/blackberries weren’t pruned last fall, do it now.
- Remove old camellia blooms to prevent spread of petal blight
- Clean up any dead blooms from the ground.
Indoor Gardening
- Repot houseplants and begin putting them outside on warmer days.
Always more to do:
- Clean and sharpen your garden tools.
- When mulching, keep mulch from touching the foundation or lowest course of siding (to discourage termites from invading your home undetected).
- Clean out birdbaths and feeders.
