Remove all boughs or coverings from your perennial beds to allow plants the light and air they need to grow.
Once actively growing, divide perennials like hosta, grasses and daylilies. It’s also a good time to transplant if you need to move something.
Bring spring to your yard by planting containers with pansies, snapdragons, violas, ivy, forced bulbs, and other cold tolerant plants.
We can still get frost well into May so it’s best to wait to plant tender plants until after Mother’s Day at the earliest.
Some vegetables thrive in cold weather and are not hindered by frost. If you want to grow vegetables try planting lettuce, cabbage, radishes, carrots, and other cold hardy veggies.
Topdress your perennial beds with compost or mulch before plants get too big. They’ll still come up through a light covering without problem.
Fertilize beds with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer and apply your first application of pre-emergent herbicide (such as Preen) to landscape beds.
Lawn
Once lawn is actively growing and is around 4” tall, mow it to 2.5 to 3 inches, removing no more than 1/3 of the turf height at a time.
Once soil temperatures have warmed towards the end of the month you can start planting seed and installing sod. It’s always a good idea to add some fresh topsoil to the area first, and remember to water, water, water!
It’s time to apply pre-emergent crabgrass control product, and as soon as you see weeds actively growing you can start treating for broadleaf weeds. Remember to only use a product labeled for broadleaf weed control in lawns.
Core aeration can provide many benefits to your lawn by helping reduce thatch, improving soil porosity, reducing soil compaction, building strong root systems and increasing nutrient absorption. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to use chemicals on your turf, aeration is your best route to get thick, healthy turf.
Trees/Shrubs
The number one thing to do now is remove your winter protection from trees, shrubs and roses. As temperatures warm, keeping wrappings and coverings on will damage your plants.
As tree and shrubs become available, they are safe to plant, as long as they are roughly in the same stage of dormancy or growth that our native trees are in. If you buy a fully leafed out tree that was shipped here from a southern state, you will notice some setback and possibly damage as they are not acclimated to our climate.
It’s a great time to plant bare-root trees and shrubs.
Remember, even if there is no foliage on the plants, you need to keep them watered if it is dry. Their root systems are developing underground.
Examine trees and shrubs for winter injury. Prune out any damage.
There is still time to do some renewal and corrective pruning before plants leaf out. Remember, don’t prune your spring blooming plants now (such as lilac, weigela, forsythia, etc.) as you will be pruning off flower buds. The best time to clean those up is right after they are done blooming.
Apply a balanced, slow-release fertilizer to trees and shrubs to give them a little boost. Topdressing the root zone with compost and adding a light covering of mulch is also beneficial. Remember to keep much at about a 3” maximum and do not mound it around the stems and trunks.
Spraying crabapple trees for disease and insects can be started now. Remember not to spray while they are blooming! If your tree is older and really an eyesore each year, consider removing it and planting something new.
Flowers
Lawn
Trees/Shrubs
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