By Jackie Sledge
Big Country Master Gardener Association
Spring is here! I am taking advantage of the wonderful warm temperatures to clean out flower beds, trim plants, cutback shrubs, and get ready to put the plants that I purchased from the BCMGA Spring Plant Sale in the ground. I am so excited to try some new plants to see how they grow in my landscape.
I have been reading about what to do in the spring, and I’m sharing an alphabetical list of tasks and tips. This week I’m providing the following A though L information:
- Arbors. Now is a good time to add structures to the landscape. The best woods for arbors and pergolas are hardwoods such as redwood, cedar, cypress, oak, and locust. Sapwoods tend to decompose rapidly because they contain high levels of moisture. Pressure-treated lumber is an inexpensive alternative, but it tends to bow, split, and doesn’t stain well.
- Bedding Plants. Most young nursery plants have been grown in heated greenhouses and have not been hardened off properly, so wait until a few days after the last frost date to plant them. Purchase plants not in bloom if you are sure you know their color because they tend to flower longer. If the plant is in bloom, pinch off the flowers and buds at planting time to encourage more profuse flowering.
- Color. Tie a piece of thread or yarn to a branch of a plant when it is in full bloom, so you will remember the color of the flower. If you move, divide, or take cuttings from a flowerless plant, the thread will indicate its color.
- Daylilies. Daylilies can be planted in the spring or fall in warm climates. When buying a new plant, look for two fans or sprouts which means the daylily is more mature and may bloom in the first season.
- Earthworms. A garden filled with earthworms is a healthy garden. Attract them with mulch which provides them with food and keeps soil from becoming too hot, cold, dry, or soggy. Earthworms need an even temperature and moisture for their skin.
- Flower Beds. Bigger flower beds aren’t necessarily better. A small, well-designed bed with pleasing color combinations and interesting plants can be as attractive as a large one, and it is easier to manage. Plan the size of the bed to improve your property, plus consider the amount of time you will need to spend to maintain it. Important: we want to “tend” our flower beds and not “toil” in them.
- Groundcovers. There are quite a few questions to ask when considering a groundcover. Do you want it to be evergreen or deciduous? Do you want flowering or foliage plants? Do you prefer a smooth or a textured look? Are you trying to solve a specific problem, or do you want a low-maintenance alternative to a flower garden? Select plants to fit your plan, put the plants in the ground, and then mulch the bed so weeds won’t take over before the groundcover plants fill in the space.
- Hoeing. Hoe hard, crusted soil before a spring downpour. Instead of running off quickly and possibly eroding the topsoil, the rainwater will penetrate deeply below the surface. Don’t hoe during a drought because you expose more soil to the air and allow moisture to evaporate.
- Invasive Plants. Contain roots of an invasive plant by sinking metal or plastic edging 1 foot deep in the soil around the plant. You can also put the plant in a 2-gallon pot and then put the pot containing the plant in the ground. If the plant self-seeds, deadhead the plant immediately after flowering and dig up any babies that grow from seeds as soon as you see them sprouting.
- Journal. A garden journal is a must to keep track of what worked and what didn’t work in your landscape. The information that you need to record in your journal is: common and botanic name of the plant; type of plant such as flower, vegetable, fruit, herb, shrub, tree, annual, perennial, bulb; date planted; location of the plant; sun or shade plant; bloom color and date of bloom; harvest time of vegetables; pruning information – when and how; pests or weeds in the flower bed or garden; fertilizer and soil amendment used; when and how much you watered; amount of rainfall; weather specifics such as last frost date in the spring, first frost date in the fall, unusually hot or cold weather, storm or wind damage to plants; and any other information that affected the success or lack of success of plants in the landscape.
- Knot Gardens. The basic design is geometric with interlocking circles, squares, triangles, and other shapes created with low, narrow hedges. The spaces inside the shapes can be filled with grass, mulch, gravel, herbs, or flowers, and height can be added by using small shrubs or trees inside or at the corners of the hedges. The knots should be kept neat by clipping plants lightly every 3 to 4 weeks during the growing season.
- Ladybugs. Ladybugs are a gift to gardeners because they “dine” on pests in flower beds and vegetable gardens, and they primarily like aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, scale, thrips, and whiteflies. You can attract ladybugs to your flower beds by planting marigolds, butterfly weed, yarrow, or roses and to your vegetable garden by planting cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. You can also purchase about 100 ladybugs for every 1,000 square feet of garden and release them in the evening when it’s calm. There should either be dew or water sprinkled on the plants for the ladybugs to drink. Place a handful of ladybugs at the base of a plant where you see pests and repeat the process about every 20 feet. Be sure to have dead leaves, hay, straw, or organic mulch around plants so the ladybugs will have lodging.
There’s a lot of information in the first part of the alphabetical tasks and tips, and the second part will be available next week so you will have A through Z ideas to use in your landscape this year.
BCMGA offers several education programs each month. There is a program at 6:00 p.m. on the 1st Tuesday of the month at the South Library Branch in the Mall of Abilene, and the same program is offered again at 10:00 a.m. on the 2nd Friday of the month at the Downtown Library. There is a Saturday Seminar on the last Saturday of the month at 9:00 a.m. at the Taylor County Extension Office Conference Room. Watch the BCMGA website and Facebook page for the topics and dates of these monthly programs.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on BCMGA YouTube. We are here to help you.
