5 Things Hudson Valley Gardeners Need to Do Now
Are you like me? Itching to get back into the yard, but happy to wait for the snow to melt and the temps to be in the high 50's again? Every March, I say to myself that I am going to get the seeds started, for the vegetable garden. Do I do it? I start to get a few things going by the beginning of April, but always find myself heading to the garden center to pick up a few plants that would have cost me very little if I had just started them like I kept telling myself to do so in the beginning of March.
I also started to research a few things that I should be doing for my yard and grass in the month of March. Here is what my research turned up. Do you do any of the following?
- Look around and see if there is anything that needs to get pruned that didn't get done in the fall. Do it now, especially if it is a flowering type item. You want to get in there and trim before the buds start popping up.
- Grab the leaves that you didn't get last fall and clean them and those twigs that are being uncovered now that the snow has melted. The Farmers Almanac, says not to worry if you don't get all of the leaves, they will get mulched in when you mow and attract pollinators to your yard.
- Discover the areas in the yard that are going to need grass seed. You will probably want to wait until the beginning of April to actually seed, but getting those spots ready now, by gently raking and getting the soil ready for the grass seed.
- If you have wrapped your trees or shrubs to protect them from the winter, the question is: When do you remove that covering? Some say wait until St. Patrick's Day, others say, wait for April 1. Just out of curiosity, what do you do? I don't wrap my bushes and the deer do an interesting version of winter pruning as they feast on them all winter long. Does wrapping them help them from becoming a deer buffet?
- Lastly apply Spring fertilizer for the grass. Almost every site that I went to said to do this. I am a bit lazy about this as well. Why? Well think about it, if I fertilize the grass, it will grow more, than I have to be out there cutting it more. It never ends.
Who else looks forward to the first few lawn mowing's of the year and the last one of the year as well? Enjoy your yard! If there is something that you are particularly proud of, the hardscape, the way you mow lines in the yard, your garden gnome collection, etc, please feel free to share it with us!