It’s a great time to go through our gardens for a late winter check-up.
The cold spell we experienced over the past few weeks slowed down a good deal of early growth and helped, in a small way, to control both diseases and insects.
Now that the frost is out of the ground, it’s an ideal opportunity to do a little tidy up.
If you see a lot of moss on many of your trees and shrubs, you can still apply lime sulphur as a spray on the branches. For the best results, you must do three applications about one week apart. It should not be used on nut trees, maple trees and viburnums.
It’s also an ideal time to add composted manures, organic compost and products like Sea Soil around perennial vegetables, such as rhubarb and horseradish. Some early perennials are already showing signs of life, and a top dressing of composted material around them will pay big dividends this spring. A good application of organic matter will also help your roses.
The long-range forecasts show no signs of future cold weather, so the heavy winter mulch around roses and other more tender shrubs and perennials can now be taken off and worked into the soil. We can still get a good frost or two but not the damaging cold which could cause them real harm.
A tidy-up pruning would also be a smart thing to do now. Cutting out old, diseased wood and thinning out any thick growth will make a significant difference in your plants. It’s important, however, to carefully protect all the buds on early-flowering shrubs and trees in order to enjoy their early colour.
Forsythias, viburnums, mophead hydrangeas, early blooming spiraeas, deciduous azaleas and so many other spring flowering plants have their buds set and ready to bloom. Let them bloom first; then, prune them back for an even better display next year.
Late summer blooming shrubs, like paniculata and arborescens hydrangeas, weigelas, late spiraeas and potentillas can all be pruned into shape now for a far better show. Leave all your rose pruning until after the last hard frost, which is usually in early March.
Herbaceous grasses have all died back now, and a good pruning will not only improve their appearance but will also allow for a better display this summer. It’s also an excellent time to rake up fall debris, leaves and weeds.
Early bulbs are always so nice to see at this time of the year. If you didn’t plant any last fall, you can find potted snowdrops, winter aconites, crocuses, mini daffodils and tulips in garden stores now. Pop a few in here and there for added colour that will come back year after year.
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