Denver Post, CO
03-24-07
Dream and plan for now; plant and behold later
By Vicky Uhland Special to the
Denver Post
For gardeners, early spring is more a time of dreaming than doing.
You scan the seed catalogs, envisioning an organic vegetable garden that will
feed your neighborhood. You check out the newest annuals and perennials,
imagining flowerbeds fit for a queen. You browse the fertilizer section in garden
stores, planning a lawn so lush people will travel for miles to admire it.
But what can you actually do during the next month and a half, before the
growing season begins? Here are some goal-setting tasks you can accomplish
right now to turn your gardening dreams into reality.
Flower gardens
If you're better at digging than visualizing, there is a variety of garden software
available that lets you plan out your entire landscape - from walkways to shrubs and then print a design plan. Try a demo of one of the programs, Garden
Planner, at smallblueprinter.com/garden. You can also research plant information
and blooming times of Colorado perennials and shrubs at the Colorado State
University Cooperative Extension website, ext.colostate.edu.
Spring is also a great time to go back to school. Sign up for local gardening and
landscaping seminars.
Other things you can do in spring to get your flowerbeds ready for planting
include raking, mulching, composting and weeding.
"A lot of weeds have figured out that we're lazy in March and April, and they
bloom then," says Panayoti Kelaidis, director of outreach for the Denver Botanic
Gardens. Pull the seedlings now, before they spread, and you'll save yourself
twice as much weeding in the summer.
If that's too labor intensive for you, consider a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent
weeds, particularly in rocky or mulched areas.
Kelly Grummons, owner and chief horticulturist at Timberland Gardens in Arvada,
recommends corn gluten meal, which is sold in bags in some garden stores or
online. "If you apply it every March, it can really take care of the weeds," he says.
Another advantage: Corn gluten meal is organic, so it won't harm your kids or
pets. And, according to Iowa State University research, it can zap weeds in
your lawn without killing the grass.
This year's blizzards ensured that you won't have to do much, if any, spring
watering of your flowerbeds. But keep an eye on your shallowly rooted plants,
like pansies, or anything you planted last fall. They may need water if the top 3
inches of the soil is dry, Grummons says. "A good test is to see if the plant is
perky or wilted."
If you're desperate to garden right now, Kelaidis says it's OK to plant native
wildflowers or alpine plants such as pasque flower, draba and columbine. "Some
plants do better if you plant them now. If you wait until it's hot and sunny, they'll
scald. Pansies, snapdragons and wallflowers love to be planted this time of
year."
Vegetable gardens
Although St. Patrick's Day is the traditional time to sow cold-season vegetable
seeds, such as peas, spinach and lettuce, this year procrastinators are in luck.
"Everything is a couple weeks behind because of the winter weather," Kelaidis
says, so late planting won't make much difference.
If planting a few rows of seed doesn't satisfy your urge to dig, add fall leaves to
your compost pile and give it a good turning. Then spade it into your garden. And
, now's the time to inventory your tools, making sure they're clean and
sharpened.
Shrubs and trees
Squirrels, deer and other critters weathered the hard winter by snacking on trees,
stripping the bark.
"Unfortunately, it's one of those situations that you can't repair after the damage
is done," says horticulturist Carl Wilson with the Denver CSU extension office.
"Many trees really suffered bad damage. If the (missing bark) forms a circle
halfway or three-quarters of the way around the tree trunk, it's going to be difficult
for the tree to survive."
Branches damaged in the winter should be removed now. It's also a good time to
prune fruit trees, before they blossom. Wilson says Colorado trees don't need
deep watering now, but a couple weeks of warm, windy weather might change
that. Test the soil by digging 6 to 8 inches. If it's not moist, it's time to haul out the
deep-root watering devices.
Spring is also the time to apply dormant oil on fruit trees and flowering shrubs to
control insects and disease. Mineral oil is the traditional choice, but it's petroleum
based. If you want to be more natural, consider cottonseed oil, which CSU says
is the most insecticidal vegetable oil. Growing in popularity is neem seed oil,
which comes from the neem tree native to Southeast Asia. Look for it in brands
such as Trilogy or Triact.
If you have junipers, check the lower branches, says Mary Small, urban
integrated pest management agent in CSU's Jefferson County extension office.
This winter, urban areas were overrun with voles - small, mouse-like rodents that regard juniper branches as a dining delicacy. "You can actually see their
teeth marks on some branches," Small says. Trim any branches that suffered
vole damage.
Lawns
Those pesky voles may also have mangled your lawn. If you have odd pathways
where the grass appears to have been clipped, Small says they're probably vole
runways. "You may have to overseed those areas."
Lawn fungus is another residual problem from the snow. "It's quite prevalent,"
Small says. You have it if your lawn resembles a leopard, spotted with crusty
white stuff. You'll need to rake it up, but that's probably the only thing you have to
do, Small says. "Fungus just kills the grass blades. In most cases, those areas
will turn green when the temperature warms up."
Grummons of Timberland Gardens recommends pouring a layer of compost on
your grass and then aerating it in.
This is also the time of the year to begin spring fertilizing. If you're worried about
salt damage to your lawn from all the de-icers, Grummons says you should avoid
chemical fertilizers. "Go for something low-salt, like kelp or alfalfa meal."
Freelance writer Vicky Uhland gardens in Lafayette.