Set yourself up for great gardening
It’s time to (finally!) get outside to the garden you’ve been thinking about for months. Here are the top five tasks that will set you up for your best gardening season ever.
Soil prep
Your gardening success hinges on it. Ben has an urban container garden and takes all the soil from his outdoor planters — including hanging baskets and window boxes — and spreads it on his allotment garden. Used container mix lacks nutrients; replace it with a quality mix that will retain moisture, allow excess water to move through it and still hold nutrients.
In Mark’s large vegetable garden, we spread mushroom compost mixed with 30-per-cent sharp sand to make it porous, up to three centimetres thick.
We do not turn it under; earthworms do the job. Compost benefits everything that grows — especially asparagus, rhubarb, perennials and roses — this time of year.
Control overwintering insects and diseases
As organic gardeners, we recommend that you apply dormant spray to your edible crops like fruit trees and berry bushes now. Roses and most flowering shrubs also benefit from an application. The combination of refined mineral oil and lime sulphur helps to minimize insect and disease problems later in the year. Apply when the flower buds have not burst into bloom and while nighttime temperatures are above freezing.
Clean up your tools
Wipe clean and oil garden implements. Sharpen digging and weeding tools. Many hardware stores still offer this service as well. Get your lawnmower blades sharpened, too, and change the oil. Be sure to clean and oil the cutting deck too.
Fertilize your lawn
Your lawn has been sleeping (dormant) all winter and, like a bear, it is hungry.
An application of a high-nitrogen, slow-release formula fertilizer will help to get it off to a good start. Look for iron in your spring application as well, as it provides the deepest possible green. Be sure to first rake your lawn lightly, getting rid of loose debris and making the grass blades stand up. This will help circulate oxygen through the crowns of the grass plants, preventing snow mould and disease. Sow grass seed Now is the perfect time to thicken an established lawn or start a new one. Rake the area. Place a two- or three- centimetre layer of compost or lawn soil over it and rake that smooth. Sow grass seed at the rate of one kilogram per 100 square metres (one pound per 400 sq. ft.) and double the rate if you are starting a new lawn. Rake that smooth.
Step on it or roll it with a lawn roller. Fertilize and water thoroughly; keep the area damp until germination occurs and don’t let your new lawn dry out for the first eight to 10 weeks. Alternatively, you can spread a four-in-one compost/ seed/fertilizer/iron mix that will thicken your lawn without the fuss. As well, now is the time to sow frost-hardy vegetables, like peas, carrots, beets, Swiss chard and leeks. Start your onion sets outdoors now. Cut down ornamental grasses and perennials left standing from last year.
And last but not least, don’t work too hard; take breaks and watch for the migratory birds that are now visiting your garden.