It is the perfect week to get any last minute stragglers, (from your fall bulb planting), into the ground before the season takes off without them! The temperatures here in Northeast Ohio are cooperating – for the moment. The ground is soft, workable and if you try hard enough you might just catch a whiff of spring in the air while you are out and about. The weather forecast mentions a bit more snow in our future, though we do not see any reason the weather should hold you up with your plantings this week. We figure the window should hold until at least Sunday.
If you attended our seminar last Saturday at then you may plan on painting your alliums after they have finished blooming – another way to extend the season of color and interest in your garden. Paint your allium blossoms with an outdoor organic paint after the blossoms fade. You can stick to the natural color of the allium or get a little wild and pick a color outside of the lines. Whatever you do…Enjoy Yourself!!!!
Do not forget to give your bulbs some food i.e. Bulb Tone or Bone Meal. If you have issues with deer eating your bulbs – Remember to apply liquid deer fence to the bulbs when they are about 2” out of the ground – this will keep those deer-lips off of your tu-lips!
We created a quick equipment checklist for you so when spring blossoms your ready!
- Did you check your garden equipment in the fall?
- Did you drain the gas out of your mower, tiller, and weed eater?
- Did you check the oil in this equipment and replace or refill if needed? Did you check the plugs?
- Did you check the nuts, bolts filters and blades on all of your equipment to make sure everything is tightened, sharpened & clean?
- Have you sanitized your garden tools/blades? A 4 to 1 ratio of H2O and Clorox should do the trick. Then you can spray the moving parts with WD40 to keep them lubed and rust free.
- Have you cleaned your birdbath lately? Use 1 part bleach to 10 parts water – after scrubbing the bath make sure you rinse the bath thoroughly before adding water for the birds to drink or bathe in.
Your birdbath should be sanitized every couple of weeks and your lawn and garden equipment should be kept clean and sharpened all season long – This will help to prevent the spread of virus, diseases and pests through the landscape, and it is always a good practice to make sure they are cleaned and sharpened before being placed in winter storage.
If you are looking to have a professional garden design project completed this year we recommend you start to make some calls and get a head start – Landscape Install companies are already filling in their schedules for the spring launch which usually begins about April 1st on softscape – or garden bed projects.
As always if you have a garden question – write in – You will receive an answer!!
Until next week, Northeast Ohio spring is about ready to be sprung – make sure all of your moving parts can keep up!!
