The sap is flowing, the buds on the trees and shrubs are fat or open, the grass is greening up, and the tulips are out. What gardener doesn’t want to be out there, helping things along?
Some things are best done inside, like starting the tomatoes and basil. They should be coming along well by now, there in your window or under the lights.
Outside, the radishes and lettuce are up, as is the garlic planted last fall. The peas will go in soon, but most things in the vegetable garden will have to wait until the May long weekend for planting. But you can pass some time planning what you’ll grow and where each will go. Be sure the pea fences, tomato cages, bean poles and other structures are ready.
You should be able to plant trees and shrubs now. For fast and healthy growth, add some mycorrhizal fungi to the roots or to the soil in which the roots are placed. I’m also adding these amazing fungi to most vegetable seeds and roots for the plant health benefits.
By now, your rototiller should be cleaned and polished, drained of oil and gasoline, and shipped off to the museum or to a wrecker of some sort. You don’t need it. Your soil doesn’t want it. That rototiller has the ability to pound your soil to dust in the short term, and to make it into hard clumps in the longer term. Neither is good. Instead, fork some compost and organic alfalfa pellets into the top 2 or 3 inches, and let the earthworms and microbes feast on them and till and feed the soil for you throughout the spring and summer.
When the garden soil is dry enough I’ll bring out the broadfork (or garden fork) and push it into the ground for aeration, being very careful not to turn the soil and its microbe-cities upside down.
If you rake the lawn, do so lightly, pick up the twigs, and compost it all (except for the dog fertilizer, which goes in the garbage). Don’t walk on the lawn when it is wet, because it will compact the soil.
I don’t de-thatch the lawn, because it doesn’t need it. Thatch build-up is the result of chemical lawn care. The chemical fertilizers and pesticides kill the soil microbes that in a healthy lawn will eat the thatch and in the process create better soil structure and nutrient availability. Heavy thatch in a lawn is a sure sign of poor soil.
I’ll spread some alfalfa pellets as slow release fertilizer on the lawn in May and again in late July.
I’ve removed the dead, broken or rubbing stems from the roses and other shrubs and trees. The up-to-thumb-size prunings are composted. The somewhat larger pieces from shrubs and trees are cut into 8-10 inch lengths and used as slow-decaying mulch in the shrub beds and under trees. The largest limbs - those that require the talents and equipment of an arborist/tree pruner – will be ground up by them and returned to me for use as an excellent mulch and compost feedstock.
My (many) rain barrels around the house and garage are open and in place to collect rain, which I will use to water seedlings and bedding plants. I’ll also use the rainwater for brewing compost tea. The leaves and soil get a drink of compost tea monthly, starting late May.
I’ve filled the bird bath and bee pond with water. The birds are back and busy multiplying themselves – thirsty work - while the bees will soon be gathering nectar and pollen from the sudden rush of spring flowers. The bees get thirsty too, and can’t swim, so give then a stone or plate to stand on while they drink from the pond.