As the signs of spring set in, you may be itching to start planting, but take some sage advice from two local master gardeners who recommend using this month to get ready for the approaching growing season. There is plenty to be done. Grab your gloves and let the season begin!
Maple Grove residents Sandy Johnson and Marilyn Arnlund know plants. They have years of hands-in-the-dirt experience and offer the following, timely tips and advice:
1. Stay off the grass! The gardener’s rule of thumb is to stay off and avoid working in or on wet, muddy soils, and that applies to lawns as well as gardens. If the ground is still frozen or wet, avoid compacting the soil, which makes it harder for plants to thrive. —SJ & MA
2. Focus on houseplants before outside activities lure. Wash dust from surfaces and undersides of leaves. Resume fertilizing. Transfer overgrown plants to containers that are one or two inches larger in diameter. —SJ
3. Purchase seed packets and assemble equipment to start seeds indoors. You will need pots, trays and containers that are disinfected, fluorescent lights that can be raised or lowered, and a heating device to put under containers of germinating seeds. —SJ
4. Clean and sharpen gardening tools. Change lawnmower oil, replace spark plugs and sharpen blades. Make sure your watering system is in proper working order. —SJ
5. Test soil to determine which nutrients need to be added (soiltest.cfans.umn.edu/extension). —SJ
6. Remove tree wrap and rose cones. Gradually uncover roses, bulb beds and perennials as soil warms. Recover if the temperature falls in the evenings. —SJ
7. Plant cold-hardy vegetables such as beets, chard, kale, onions, peas and spinach, and flowers, including pansies, violas and snapdragons. —SJ
8. Plant dormant geophytes such as gladiolus, lilies and dahlias in April or early May —SJ
9. Stake peonies before they get big and cumbersome. —SJ
10. Fertilize and mulch beds and borders. Spring is also a good time to fertilize fruit trees. Remove any winter mulch and make sure you time fertilizing with rain fall or watering, and follow the manufacturer’s directions. —MA
11. Spray plants in your flower gardens with a deterrent if deer and rabbits are a problem, so your buds aren’t eaten. —MA
12. Prune evergreens—juniper, cypress or other conifer in February or March. Remove dead, diseased and undesirable wood in April or May. —MA
13. Prune apple trees, including flowering crabapples, mountain ash, hawthorns and shrub cotoneasters right before they bud, usually in February through early April. Never remove more than 1/4 of the live foliage. —MA
14. Immediately prune trees and shrubs that bloom early in the growing season after they finish blooming. —MA
15. Get a book to identify what weeds look like while they’re still small and easy to pull. If you are not sure, wait and see. In my early days, I pulled too many flowers I thought were weeds! —MA
Sandy Johnson is a Hennepin County Master Gardener, has a degree in Horticulture/Landscape Design, is a certified professional with the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association, and an Assistant Grower at Malmborg’s Greenhouse in Rogers, Minn. In her own garden you’ll find vegetables, lots of perennials and what she describes as “too many” containers (over 30 in some seasons).
Along with being a Hennepin County Master Gardener, Marilyn Arnlund is a Minnesota Tree Care Advisor. She also happens to be Deputy Fire Marshal for the City of Maple Grove, so when she’s not answering a fire call, you might find her in her whimsical cottage garden with abundant perennials and birdhouses.
