GARDENER’S CHECKLIST: Week of March 17, 2022

Despite the bit of wintry weather last Saturday, this week’s warmth portends the arrival of spring.  Not just on the calendar but also in the air, where you can smell the difference in the form of a fresh, earthy fragrance. You might also smell the thawing of manure that farmers applied to corn fields last fall. Many associate that odor with the contents of this column. That’s okay. To the farmer/gardener, there is richness in manure. I intend to impose richness on you this spring and through the rest of the gardening season.

* Continue starting seeds of vegetable crops indoors. Seeds to start this week include peppers (sweet and hot varieties), eggplant, lettuce, Swiss chard, chives, and sage. If the crops I mentioned in the previous two columns haven’t been started yet, do so now. 

* Continue starting seeds of annual flowers. This week, start cleome, dusty miller, marigolds, nasturtium, snapdragons, sweet alyssum, and zinnias.

* Place germinated seedlings of vegetables and flowers in a cool location with bright light.  Temperatures around 65 degrees F are ideal. For light, set a fixture of cool white fluorescent or LED tubes about 4 to 6 inches above the seedlings. These conditions will keep the seedlings from getting leggy.

* Repot geraniums, coleus, and lantana that were grown indoors through the winter as houseplants and/or those which were started from cuttings last fall. If the plants are leggy, cut back the elongated stems to promote bushy, compact growth. These plants like lots of sun.

* Dig parsnips and horseradish as soon as the ground thaws and definitely before they show any signs of new growth. 

* Keep watching for early blooming plants in the garden. With the mild temperatures this week, there should be some traditionally early bloomers appearing soon in the garden.  Among my early blooming favorites are snow crocus, snow drops, witch hazels, and possibly some hellebores. 

* Wait for a dry day to prune fruit trees. Finish pruning apple and pear trees and start pruning peaches, plums, and cherries. 

* Conduct a survey of trees and shrubs around the yard. With snows having receded, broken stems and branches are now apparent and must be pruned.

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Do you realize that many of our landscape traditions represent outdated practices that have little to do with the lifestyles most of us pursue today? For example, the concept of the well-manicured lawn originated in England, where climate and soils (not to mention grazing sheep) provided the conditions for an almost perfectly self-sustaining lawn. The habit of severely pruning shrubs into formal geometric patterns dates to a time when country houses came complete with at least one full time gardener. Perhaps that is why the concept of sustainable landscapes, better known as low-maintenance landscapes, is catching on; this approach involves: 1) more widespread use of native plants, or at least those that have few pest or disease problems; 2) selecting plants that are suitable for the site, rather than altering the site to meet the needs of the plant,; and 3) reduction of lawn areas and establishing low maintenance meadows, not to be confused with no-maintenance meadows.  Some things to think about when evaluating your home landscape this spring.