by Pamela Kay

Created on: July 05, 2008   Last Updated: January 28, 2012

Most gardeners can’t wait to “play in the dirt” each spring and though it may be too cold to plant or too damp to plow, there are still many tasks you can perform. This short list of spring gardening tasks, consisting of five tasks for each month, will get you out in the fresh air and give you a head start on your garden.

*Gardening Tasks For March

1-Get out your seed catalogs and plan your garden now. Mail your order early in March.
Stock up on your gardening needs, such as fertilizer, stakes, insecticides, peat pots, tools, gloves, knee pads, watering cans and have them ready and at hand.

2-Edge your entire garden and bedding areas and get after those weeds that wintered over before they make seeds. This will help you control the weeds and grass in your garden.

3-When the ground is dry enough to walk on without packing it down; you can safely go about trimming back old growth before it is mixed in with the new growth. Some plants with woody stems will need to be trimmed back because they only bloom on new green stems. This includes plants such as lavender, buddleia and artemisia.

4-Start checking your bulb beds early in the spring and remove winter mulches gently with a yard broom at the first sign of the bulb breaking the ground. Leave the mulch around the bulb bed in case you need to replace it due to a late freeze.

5-Build cold frames, raised beds or any other garden related structures before you're too busy.

*Gardening Tasks For April

1-When the soil is dry enough that you cannot make a ball of it in your hand it is time to plow.

2-Plant early spring flowers and vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, snapdragons, asters, pansies, violas, scabiosa, dianthus, poppy, cosmos, phlox and verbena when the weather allows in your zone and start seedlings in a cold frame or indoors.

3-Plant seedlings in larger container, before they become root-bound. Divide perennials, plant bulbs, shrubs and trees and sow herbs.

4-Sharpen your hoes, shovels, saws, clippers and hand tools. Check handles for cracks or splinters and replace as needed. Coat the metal part of each garden tool with cooking spray to prevent rust. Or, add some cooking oil to a bucket of sand and leave each tool in this for a day or so. Check your wheelbarrow tires and your watering can for any leaks.

5-Turn your compost pile and add a layer to your garden and beds to aid in improving the texture, water retention and drainage.

*Gardening Tasks For May

1-Transplanting and dividing is best done in the early spring before the new growth emerges. If you do it early enough, you will greatly minimize the shock to the pant and it will grow faster in its new home.

2-Start hardening off your seedlings to prevent shocking them when transplanted to the garden.

3-Sow your tender annuals or buy flats of them at the nursery to set out. These would include zinnias, asters, snapdragons, marigolds, alyssum and petunias to name a few.

4-Stake those tall plants, such as delphinium, foxglove and hollyhock. Later you may be too busy and not have the time. Once your garden is ready for planting, you can add stakes for tomatoes and trellises for beans and cucumbers.

5-Mulch your beds to conserve water and hold down weed growth and start your regiment of deadheading as soon as your flowers start to bloom.

This is only a short list of spring gardening tasks that need to be done. The timing of some of this information may vary depending on the zone you live in but it covers all but the hottest and coldest zones. Taking care of tasks when they need doing will help you have the garden of your dreams.

Sources
http://www.demesne.info/

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