10 Little Tasks Likely to Produce Big Results
Here are important springtime tasks:
1. Fertilize everything. Most plants do their growing in spring, so fertilizing now, even if it’s the only time you ever feed, will make a huge difference. The kind of fertilizer you use isn’t very important, just as long as you do it. As one nurseryman put it, “Most fertilizers work, but they don’t work sitting in the garage.”
2. Reseed lawns. Lawns get a little thin in winter, so fatten them up by sowing more seed right on top. Use seed similar to the variety of grass that predominates in your lawn. At this time of year, you can sow seed of warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, and cool-season, such as tall fescue.
3. Stop weeds in lawns. Clover-like oxalis can overrun lawns in summer, as can crab grass. If you’re not trying to reseed your lawn, prevent weeds from even germinating with a pre-emergent herbicide, which is most often mixed into lawn fertilizer. Look for bagged products like Bandini Pre-Sprout 1, which stops oxalis and other broadleaf weeds from germinating, or Pre-Sprout 2, which stops grass seed such as crab grass.
4. Inspect irrigation. Now’s the time to make sure that sprinklers work, not when temperatures soar into the 100s. Check that nozzles are clean, that heads aren’t broken and that they’re in the right place. If sprinklers aren’t irrigating beds or lawns evenly, dig them up now and relocate lines.
5. Plant (or feed) citrus. When should you plant citrus? Right now. They’re happiest planted in a warming soil. Just be sure to keep them watered. This also is a good time to fertilize established citrus trees lightly and perhaps to give them a little supplemental iron if leaves look yellowish with veins that remain green.
6. Plant peppers. Tomatoes get all the press, but peppers are perhaps even more useful and easier to grow. They get few diseases and produce with less heat, bearing well into fall. There are many kinds, from extra-hot to mild. All are useful in the kitchen, and can be decorative when strung and dried.
7. But put in tomatoes too. The weather is warm enough to plant the big “main crop” tomatoes, the varieties often called “beefsteak.” Look for heritage varieties at better nurseries if you want a change of pace, or plant proven winners such as ‘Champion,’ which recently won a 4-H taste-off in Orange County. Remember to plant transplants deeply so most of the stem is buried and only the leaves show.
8. Shop for summer flowers. Nurseries are stocked with bedding plants, from asters to zinnias. Annual kinds such as marigolds and petunias will provide temporary summer color if planted soon. Some bedding plants are perennials, such as purple coneflowers, coreopsis and penstemon, and will bloom each summer for several years.
Early in the season, buy the smallest you can find. They will grow to become the largest because their roots have spent less time in a container. Plants that start small produce more flowers for a longer period and each flower lasts longer.
9. Sow seed. If you can’t find plants at nurseries, this is a great season to start seeds. In ordinary potting soil and in a partially shaded spot outdoors, simply keep seed moist and it will sprout. The only precautions: Use fresh seed and don’t plant too deeply.
10. Repot patio plants. If a plant has been in its container for a year or more, it probably needs repotting, which is easily done while the weather is still mild. If you want to use the same container, knock the plant out, untangle and trim some of the roots, then put it back in with fresh potting soil. Or get a pot about two to four inches wider. Use window screening to cover the drainage hole.
