Tips

APRIL

Tips Provided by Sandra Hamann, Clarice Wilson Garden Club

• Don't become over zealous and be tempted to buy the warm weather plants that are showing up in local DIY stores. Rely on reputable nursery and garden center's recommendations for planting times and last frost dates. Information sheets available from your local Extension Office are helpful for planting dates for flower and vegetable seeds and plants.
• If you are a gambler and insist on planting tender vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, remember they will need special care to be protected from cold snaps and freezes. Row covers or other products to keep warmth in the soil may be used.
• Semi-hardy vegetable plants like swiss chard, broccoli, parsley, thyme and chives can be set out.
• This is a good time to control Poison ivy and poison oak. "Leaflets three, let them be", however, a spray with an herbicide to established plants now will be more effective as they set out new leaves. Add just a drop of dish soap to the herbicide to get more "cling." Small plants can be pulled quite easily. Do use rubber gloves for this task; wash your hands with your gloves on and then again with gloves off to avoid contamination.
• Remember the "rule" of pruning spring flowering shrubs after they have bloomed. A good rule is if it's a multi-stemmed shrub like forsythia, flowering quince, and mock orange, go back to the ground level and cut out up to 1/3 of the older stems. New stems will take over and keep your shrub "young.".
• Azaleas are a "special" flowering shrub. Fertilize after the blooms have faded if you didn't do it last month. Remember they are shade lovers, but benefit from a sheltered location in the partial shade afforded by the winter/early spring sun of deciduous trees. They should never be planted deeper than their crown---even keeping the crown above the ground level. Follow planting with light mulch.
• Azaleas should NEVER be shorn into a hedge. Rather, prune back long branches down to the intersection of other leaves. This will keep the shrub in its "natural" shape.
• Keep track of garden areas that are "muddy" during the "April Showers" and raise the level of the areas with gravel covered with extra soil, compost or mulch to allow for better drainage. This may mean that you'll have to remove plants and replant them after doing this work. More plants succumb to "wet feet" than any other problem.
• Don't be too hasty to place house plants outdoors, but rather you may need to move them into sunnier East windows instead of South facing windows because of the changing seasonal light patterns.

Provided by: Garden Clubs and Garden Club Members of The Greenville Council of Garden Clubs, Inc. The Council’s Headquarters are located at the Historic Kilgore-Lewis House, 560 N. Academy Street in Downtown Greenville. (visit the Council website www.kilgore-lewis.org for information on becoming a Garden Club member)