Although there is still snow in Cornish, New Hampshire, many of you can see brown grass and mud. It will be some time before the proper spring weather arrives. We all want to get out and enjoy the warm sunny days, and many of us look forward to gardening.
If you go out, be very careful when you step. Your lawn and yard are likely to be damp and your footsteps can easily compact the soil and damage the roots. Every time you step outside, you take a different route to your garden. By following the same path day after day, animals can make forest playgrounds as small as house cats. Plants will not grow if their roots are in compacted soil.
gardening. When is the best time to prune apple trees and other fruit trees? Henry Homer explains
If you have ornamental grasses that die back in the winter, they're probably pretty bedridden by now. It is better to cut tall grass before it grows. Last year's stems will not be green, new stems will grow every year. The only problem you might have now is that they might end up in a garden you don't want to walk in. I use a serrated knife for the job, but wire cutters work too.
A simple way to avoid soil compaction
If you want to work in a flower bed, find a board that is 3 feet long and 6 to 8 inches wide. Lay her on the bed and step on it instead of earth. They distribute your weight and allow you to work with soil compaction without any problems.
I live on a dirt road and the city throws sand and gravel mixed with snow onto my lawn every year. I try to get the sand and snow back on the road or move it while the snow is still wet to reduce loosening later in the spring. When raking grass, use a flat rake with a bamboo or plastic handle so it doesn't break while raking.
gardening. Start now with thinning out, pruning trees, shrubs and shrubs
Repair sculptures and clean nest boxes, garden beds.
If you have thrush boxes or other nests, it's time to clean them out. I don't know exactly when thrushes will arrive and invade their nests, but I want to be ready for them. This would be a good time to create a home for bats. Bats eat a lot of mosquitoes, so you should welcome them into your garden. Ready-made bat boxes are available, and instructions for making your own are available online.
I love art and whimsy in my garden and have all kinds of interesting artwork on my property. Lately I've noticed that some parts of it are getting pinched or stuck. Depending on the nature of the mood, you can do it immediately. Others, like metal sculptures with poles designed to pierce the ground, can wait. My floor was still frozen, preventing me from making any necessary repairs.
It's too early for me to rake the leaves and weed the beds. But I take sticks that fly from trees. After drying a bit in the barn, they gave me firewood for a wood stove.
gardening. Bring spring indoors with flowering woody stems
Every year I collected broken branches and burned them at the end of winter when there was still a lot of snow around the pile. I stopped building cremation piles for two reasons. Firstly, the little critters have settled in the winter burn pile and I don't want to throw them out or maybe kill them. And of course there are plenty of insects that overwinter on dead branches and stems, such as goldenrod and lemon balm, which used to go to landfill (but are now composted).
The second reason is the environment. Campfires, which I've enjoyed in the past, give off a lot of smoke and air pollution, and I want to avoid that. Instead of burning those branches we bought a shredder to use on the streets to remove weeds. Or they can be double soil and good results work well for covering our compost heap or mixing with leftover food.
Tools like grinders can help remove dirt
Chopper grinders come in different sizes. We bought a gas machine that is rated for 3" shafts but is actually half the size and fits in the smaller sizes. Manufacturers want to sell their products, so they're crossing the line a little. But buy the most powerful car you can afford. It cost us $600 and fits our needs perfectly.
gardening. the best choice for annuals that bloom all summer
what are they telling you Chip grinders can be noisy and dangerous. Decomposition does not begin in winter. Driving through a car creates a coarse mix of broken branches that isn't as aesthetically pleasing as mulch. But this good is simply poured into the upper rod for fine grinding. There are electric cars, but not as powerful as the petrol car I tried. I think they would be good for small branches and leaves.
I will be growing tomatoes indoors on April 10th. I will plant them outdoors around June 10th. I plant the vines later, early May is good for cucumbers, courgettes and squashes, which appear in mid-June. I don't have to keep seedlings any longer than necessary.
Spring and summer are just around the corner. So try to be patient and not compact the soil. If you see footprints on the ground, stay away from them. Or put on your snowshoes for a walk in the park.
Henry Homeyer's blog appears twice a week on garden-guy.com. Write them to PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. If you prefer to reply by post, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Or email henry.homeyer@comcast.net.
This article originally appeared in Providence Magazine. gardening. Prepare your garden for the next growing season
