Spring Garden Tips

Spring is finally here! . . . at least, where I live in southern Ontario (Zone 6a). At this time of year, as excited as I am to get going on gardening, I always forget what I should be doing in the garden: what needs to be pruned when, what should be fertilized, what can be moved and what can't, etc. This year, I'm writing things down in a new garden journal I got from my excellent-gift-giving husband, Dan. (For Christmas and my birthday - both in the dead of winter - he often gets me gardening stuff, which is always a treat.) So I thought I'd share a few of the spring gardening tips I've collected in various places and written down:

• It's usually a challenge for gardeners to know when they can start digging in the dirt: moving plants, planting new things, etc. Last year at a panel discussion of garden experts I saw at Canada Blooms, I learned a couple quick tests that will tell you if your garden is ready for digging. If you step in your garden and leave behind a deep footprint, it's not yet time: the ground is too wet. Or, when you pick up some garden soil and squeeze it in your fist, if it crumbles apart when you open your fist, the soil is ready to be worked. If it stays in a clump, the ground isn't ready.
• Rose bushes need some pruning in the spring to remove dead wood, maintain air circulation in the plant, and promote healthy growth and flowering. To know when it's safe to prune, look at the forsythia bushes in your neighbourhood. If their yellow flowers are blooming, it's time to prune your roses.
• Wait to prune spring flowering shrubs like lilac, rhododendron, azalea and vibernum until after they have finished flowering. These plants flower on new wood, and pruning will encourage new growth for flowers next season. Pruning before flowering might remove flower buds, and you don't want to deprive yourself of beautiful spring flowers, now do you.
• Prune/trim a lavender plant in early spring to keep it full and shapely. Lavender can get scraggly and spindly if it's not pruned. You can be pretty aggressive with pruning lavender: trim off about 3 cm with scissors or hedge clippers, and shape it the way you like (just like you would with a hedge).
• Make a list or chart of all the shrubs in your garden, and make notes on what each one requires: pruning, soil requirements, fertilzation, etc. That way, you can refer to your chart each spring to remember what to do with each of your shrubs.
• Spring is a great time to test your soil for acidity and nutrient content. Soil testing kits are easy to use (and kinda fun) and not super expensive. There are also some homemade tricks you can try . . . like this one: put some soil in a cup and pour vinegar over it. If it fizzes, your soil is alkaline. Once you know the acidity of your soil and the nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus levels, you can make amendments so that you have happy plants all season.

Yaaaaay for spring!

garden soil can't be too goopy when you're working in the garden (photo, Jane Koopman)

pruning roses in the spring lets you see this in a few weeks (photo, Jane Koopman)

I wish this lilac was in my garden, but I can visit it at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario. (photo, Jane Koopman)

Rhododendrons are one of the first flushes of colour in the spring, and one of my favourites too. (photo, Jane Koopman)