The official spring is almost here – a checklist for working in the garden | News, sports, jobs

Associated Press In this May 2, 2023, the picture provided by Jessica Damiano shows a subordinate planter that hangs on a fence on Long Island, NY,

Ok, gardener – it's time to dig! At about a week before the official start of spring, we have to do work.

A checklist:

Floor

First test the pH value of your floor. Each plant lives best in a certain area and the nutrient absorption is affected if the measured value falls outside of this area. Change of the soil with the floor limestone to increase its pH or elementary sulfur to reduce it. Test kits are slightly available and inexpensive.

Trees

Fertilize the trees with a slowly published product.

Cutting. Most deciduous trees and shrubs (those that lose their leaves in autumn), including fruit trees, should be curtailed before they arise from the resting phase. But hold down until the bloomers of the spring blockers shortly after fading their flowers.

Similarly, they shift trees and shrubs while they are still resting. Make sure that you dig as much of your root systems as possible and plant it into a hole that is twice as wide, but just as deep.

Flowers

If you have ordered bare root roses, now clear the beds so that you can bring them into the ground as soon as you arrive so that you do not wait for you to bring your plot together. The same applies to asparagus crowns and onions.

If your roses were infected with mildew or the dreaded black stain disease last year, remove the mulch around you and replace it around you to avoid recurring.

When the perennials of the autumn flower are overcrowded, dig them up and share them after being painted out of the ground. Plant the divisions elsewhere or share them with a garden friend. Spring and summer flowers should be shared in autumn.

Vegetables in the pre -season

It is time to order seed potatoes. Bring them into the ground two to three weeks before the last expected frost near you, which is normally displayed by the green from resting grass.

Plant peas, radishes, salad, chard and spinach, as soon as the floor temperature reaches 45 degrees. (Soil thermometers are widespread and nominally price). Soak the inheritance seeds overnight in warm water to improve the germ speed and rates, and then treat a nitrogen -fixing inoculant to achieve an additional thrust, especially if the peas are new in bed.

The cooling weather plants fight in hot weather. So be prepared to protect plants with shadow fabric if you expect temperatures above 80 degrees F within 60 days of sowing.

Interiors, start seeds of one -year -old, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants and observe the lead times listed in your packages.

Care for houseplants

The housetrof planned in the Next size pot, no more than 2 inches wider than the current container, and fertilize them. If you plan to move them outside for the summer, you have to get used to it: wait until the risk of frost has passed and then increase your outdoor time outdoors every day for a week.

Exercise patience

Resist the urge to mulch beds and borders until things really warm up. Otherwise, you risk catching the cold in the ground, which can delay the reappearance of onions and perennials and the leaves of resting trees and shrubs.

You can fill planters with pansies while waiting.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly garden columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning weekly dirt newsletter.