April 9, 2014
Tim’s Tips: Answers to early spring gardening questions
Tim Lamprey
The Daily News of Newburyport
Wed Apr 09, 2014, 03:00 AM EDT
It was nice to have a decent weekend. Sad when the definition of a nice weekend is 50 degrees and howling winds!
People were coming into the garden center with lots of questions. Let me take a few moments and answer some of those questions.
People were asking if it was too soon to put down a crabgrass control on their lawn. The general rule of thumb is that the crabgrass control is put down when you see the forsythia bushes in bloom. There have been years when that was the first week in April, and there are years when it is in early May.
The answer is if you see the bright yellow forsythia bushes in bloom, it’s time to put down the crabgrass control.
Pansies are now in many of the garden centers. People have asked if it is too early to plant the pansies. Pansies are one of the most cold-tolerant of the spring-blooming flowers. There is nothing that says spring like a window box full of colorful pansies. Take some time, and get your planters filled with some beautiful pansies.
People have also asked if there are any vegetable plants that they can set out in the garden. The cold-tolerant vegetable plants are lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, peas, spinach, chives, parsley and kale. There are also many vegetable plants that you can plant from seed in the garden. These include beets, carrots, peas and onions. Onion sets will be available in a few weeks.
Don’t feel that you have to wait to plant something in your vegetable garden. There are many cold-tolerant plants that you can put into the ground now.
A few people have asked about removing the burlap that was placed around plants in the fall. The purpose of the burlap is to protect the plants from the wind and also to help prevent damage from wet snow. If you base the decision on wind alone, then, yes, you could remove the burlap. The ground is reasonably thawed so your plants can take up water to offset any moisture lost to the wind.
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