Ten Spring Gardening Tips
When April rolls around, it’s time for gardeners to grab their gloves, sharpen their tools and get their gardens ready for spring. Get ten spring gardening tips for transplanting seedlings, improving your garden soil, planting bare root perennials and more in this P.Allen Smith video:
Caring for Cut Tulips
Tulips have a magical ability to draw people to them; the blooms are elegant and simple, and even the foliage is beautiful. If you want to bring cut tulips inside, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Tulips actually keep growing even after they’ve been cut, so to keep the long stems straight and strong, hold the cut tulips upside down and wrap them snugly in butcher paper beginning about halfway down the stems and working your way up just past the blooms. Place the bundle in some water for about two hours, then remove the paper and create your arrangement.
Tulip blooms will open as the temperatures warm. so to keep tight blooms intact, place them in a cool location and out of direct sunlight.
To make your tulips last longer, be sure to trim off the bottom of the stems just a little bit and refill the vase or container with fresh clean water each day to reduce the growth of bacteria and increase water uptake.
Sharpening and Storing Garden Tools
If you need to sharpen your lawnmower blade and your gardening tools, take them to a lawnmower repair shop for sharpening.
One way to cut down on hand tool corrosion is to take a bucket and fill it with a gallon of sand. Add three small bottles of three-in-one oil to the bucket and mix well. This is a great place to store hand tools.
Transplanting Seedlings
Stop fertilizing the seedlings about ten days before transplanting and place them in an outdoor protected area. You want to leave them outside for an hour to start, and then gradually increase outdoor exposure each day until the plants can withstand full sun for an entire day. Make sure they get plenty of water during this time.
Once they’ve acclimated to full sun and cooler temperatures, it’s time to get them planted in the ground. Work up the soil, making sure it’s nice and loose. Take each plant, burying the edges of the pot (biodegradable/peat), and just slightly press the soil and tamp it around the plant. Add water. Space the plants in straight rows, allowing enough room for a hoe to get between for weeding.
Mulching is another way to discourage weeds and promote water retention. Over time, as it decomposes, mulch will enrich the soil. Add 4-5 inches of wood chips, shredded leaves, wheat straw or even newspaper, leaving about an inch of space around the stems of the plants.
Keep the plants watered and fed regularly.
How to Make Seed Bombs
Seed bombs are an easy and fun way to garden, and they make great gifts and party favors. These are made of 4 parts natural air dry clay, 1 part wildflower seeds, and 1 part seed starting mix. You’ll also need a rolling pin, fabric, and string.
1. Flatten the clay with the rolling pin.
2. Add soil and wildflower seeds.
3. Knead clay, soil and seeds until mixed.
4. Roll out into a thin strip.
5. Pinch off 1-inch pieces and roll into balls. Allow to dry for 24 hours.
6. Cut a 5″ x 5″ square of fabric and place 2-3 seed bombs in the center. Tie up with string.
How to Improve Your Soil
Soil is the foundation for every great garden, and there are four basic steps you can take to improve yours.
1. Test your soil’s texture by squeezing a handful of it. Good soil will neither stay in a clump nor fall through your fingers; it should just crumble.
2. Test your soil’s pH using a home soil kit. Correct the chemistry of your soil with organic amendments. If it is too acidic, add wood ashes or lime to make it more alkaline. If it’s too alkaline, add some aluminum sulfate to make it more acidic.
3. Improve the soil texture by adding organic matter such as compost or humus.
4. Boost the nutrients of your soil with fertilizer.
Stella D’Oro Daylilies
Stella D’Oro Daylilies are the most popular daylilies as they are easy-to-grow rebloomers. They come in a bare root and can be planted in just seconds. Just dig a hole, spread out the roots and pull the soil up around the base. The fans will emerge and produce clusters of buds. Stella will bloom throughout the late spring and summer and into early fall.
Growing Hydrangeas in Containers
Hydrangeas are rebloomers that make great container plants. If you want blue hydrangeas, add a soil acidifier or acidifying fertilizer. If you want pink hydrangeas, sweeten the soil with a little lime.
Convert an Old Laundry Basket into an Indoor Planter
For this DIY project, you will need jute cord, scissors, a hot glue gun, drill, trash bag
1. Drill drainage holes into the bottom of the basker.
2. Shape trash bag and wrap around basket. Secure with hot glue.
3. Wrap basket with jute cord, securing with hot glue.
4. Cut away the lip of the basket and wrap with remaining cord.
Growing Aspabroc and Asparagus
Aspabroc or broccolini is a great early spring or fall crop. Unlike its older cousin broccoli, aspabroc can be harvested up to at least five times depending on growing conditions; it can be harvested 50-60 days once it’s planted from seed. If you continue to harvest, this will encourage side shoots which means you’ll have aspabroc for 4-6 weeks depending on conditions.
When harvesting asparagus, don’t take all of the spears (particularly in the beginning) because you’ll want to have spears come up and produce foliage, and through photosynthesis they will build starches in the plant that will yield a bigger crop the next year.
