Tips & Topics

For Your Lawn

• Rake up winter debris and matted turf. Apply a lawn fertilizer with pre-emergent control to keep crabgrass in check.
• Test soil for pH and nutrient content.

For Your Vegetable Garden

• Feed your compost pile with lawn trimmings and shredded brown leaf, alternating layers. Add an activator to speed up decomposition.

For Your Flower Beds

• Clean up and prepare garden beds. Till when soil is workable and amend with organic material.
• Start annual flowers and vegetables indoors. Transplant when all danger of frost has passed.
• Feed daffodils and tulips with 5-10-5 or similar fertilizer when plants reach 4 to 5 inches in height.
• Plant cool-weather vegetables as soon as soil can be worked.

For Your Trees and Shrubs

• Prune summer- and fall-blooming shrubs and trees while plants are still dormant. Spring-flowering shrubs, such as lilac, forsythia, and early-season azaleas, should be pruned immediately after flowering, before next year’s buds have set.
• Fertilize all trees and shrubs after the ground has thawed.
• Control scale on trees and shrubs with application of dormant oil spray. Do not apply if freezing temperatures are expected or if plants are not dormant.