April Gardening Calendar 2023

                April Gardening Calendar

Start planning for Spring. April is the perfect month to start planning your garden for the current year. As a refresher for last year’s thoughts, ideas or plants you were thinking about purchasing, dust off your gardening journal to see what changes or additions you wanted to make this year. A garden is always evolving.

Irrigation: In zones where your irrigation was turned off for the winter. Irrigation should be checked each year in spring. Turn on the irrigation to make sure the irrigation heads are working properly. Check for leaks, cracked heads, and spray direction. Some issues you may be able to fix yourself, if not call an irrigation specialist.

Roses: Your roses should be trimmed between February 12 – 20, if you have not pruned your hybrid tea roses it’s not too late to trim them now. For more information on trimming, caring, and fertilizing your roses click on my blog article on Roses.

Vegetable Gardening: Till the soil when you have a designated area for vegetables in your garden. This preventative measure helps to eliminate weeds, insects, and nematodes. Don’t have room for a vegetable garden, but would like to grow your own vegetables? All vegetables can be grown in large planters. The recommended size for vegetables is 16 inches or larger. In fact, that’s how I grow my vegetables each season. Garden center retailers are still reporting skyrocketing sales for vegetable starts and seeds this year versus last year’s sales. Start planning and planting your vegetable garden now to reap the rewards of homegrown vegetables, if you are thinking about having a vegetable garden this year, today is the time to start. Put on your gardening gloves and reap the rewards and benefits of a spring vegetable garden. For more information on Spring Vegetable Gardening Click Here.

Color Annuals: April is the month to start thinking about replacing your cool weather color annuals with spring and summer annuals. Here are a few of my favorites: Caladiums, Celosia, Coleus, Cosmos, Dahlberg Daisy, Dusty Miller, Gazania, Geranium, Gerbera Daisy, Ivy Geranium, Lantana, Marigolds, Mexican Sunflower, Moss Rose, Periwinkle, Petunia, Primrose, Purslane, Salvia, Snapdragons, Verbena, Wax Begonia, and Zinnia. All of the annuals mentioned can be planted in soil or in containers.

Bulbs: If you have spring bulbs that are still blooming you may want to enjoy a few of the flowers as fresh cuts indoors. On all perennial bulbs, let the foliage die back naturally, as the foliage dies the bulb transports the nutrients from the foliage to the bulb and will use the nutrients from the foliage and stores the nutrients to the bulb for next year’s growth and flowers. As the foliage dies and it may look untidy and displeasing. To alleviate this annoyance, you can pull up the foliage in a bunch and then roll the foliage down as you would a paper bag, and then tie the rolled-up foliage with a rubber band.

Shrubs: Trim your spring flowering shrubs after they finish blooming and fertilize with the appropriate plant food.

Azaleas: Once your azaleas finish blooming trim back to shape. Azaleas bloom on last year’s growth so it is important to trim your Azaleas no later than the middle of June. Azalea’s set their blooms during the fall months, and this is one reason to trim your Azaleas during the time frame that is provided. After pruning your Azaleas, you need to fertilize them with an Azalea plant food and also add a new layer of mulch. Instead of throwing your spent coffee or tea grounds away your Azaleas will benefit from sprinkling the grounds around your Azalea bushes.

Prune Pampas Grass and other ornamental grasses down to about 12 to 24 inches. Prune Lantana and Cannas to about 6 to 10 inches. Shape Crepe Myrtles and Altheas and remove old seed heads. Do not hat rack the Crepe Myrtles. Crepe Myrtles do better without be trim to about 4 – 6 feet above the ground.

Decorate Your Patio With Tropical Color: Now is the time to start thinking about spring-cleaning your patio and your patio furniture. After sprucing up your patio you may want to redecorate the patio for summer fun with tropical plants that really know how to beat summer heat. Tropical plants will bloom repeatedly throughout the summer until first frost. Here are a few of my tropical color favorites: Allamanda, Bougainvillea, Copper Plant, Hibiscus, Mandevilla, Pentas, and Shrimp Plant. Hibiscusandmore.com features fine art prints of tropical plants. Click Here Fine Art Prints.

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March Gardening Calendar

 

March Gardening Calendar

As the weather warms, we as gardeners start thinking about Spring and what to do with are garden. Spring is a good time to check out new gardening books. Here’s a gardening book I would like to recommend Southeast Style Gardening and the book is on sale at Amazon. Here’s a Link to Check it out.

Fertilize winter flowering annuals with a blooming type fertilizer. Water in all granular type fertilizers.

Tattered Liriope leaves can be cut either with a weed eater or your lawn mower set on its highest setting.

Lawns should have lime at least yearly. Have you limed your lawn lately? Use 40 pounds per 1000 square feet.

Start spring flowers and tomatoes from seeds indoors. It takes about 6 weeks to get strong seedlings.

Spring is a good time to prune your boxwood shrubs.

Peach and Apple trees need to be sprayed with a fungicide recommended for fruit trees and spray the trees while the blossoms are on the tree.

Prune back Holly shrubs that have gotten too large. If needed, you can prune back to 18 inches.

Need to divide your Hostas? When the leaves start to show you can divide and plant elsewhere in a shady part of the garden. Use a solution of SuperThrive as a root stimulator for best results after planting.

Fertilize Pecan Trees with a fruit tree fertilizer and water in well after.

Check for scale insects on Camellias and Euonymus. Spray with a horticultural oil, if you detect the insects.

March is the last month recommended to prune Roses to half their original size. Fertilize with Bayer Advanced Rose Fertilizer after pruning and apply once a month. Click Here For More Information on Roses.

There is still time to plant winter veggies. Click Here For More Information. All vegetables can be grown in large containers. I prefer to grow my vegetables in containers. Click Here For Cedar Planters.

Fertilize shrubs with a shrub and tree fertilizer and water in well.

Flowering shrubs such as Winter Honeysuckle, Quince, and Forsythia can be pruned after flowering.

One of the best time to plant fruit and nut trees is in early spring. Nurseries have a good selection of these trees in spring, but hurry the selection usually goes fast.

 Need stock photography?  Visit HibiscusandMore.com for botanical fine art prints.