Sauk County Gardener: (Trying to) patiently wait for spring
“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mother Nature sure is a fickle one! I finally started seeing my daffodils, hellebores, iris, and my other early appearing perennials and then she threw another snow shower our way! I know I need to be patient, but it is very hard this time of year.
My side yard is quite wet and in other areas I still have frozen ground. I’d like to start clearing off my garden beds as I’m worried if I wait much longer, the perennials will have grown so much that I will damaging them with the raking. If your yards and gardens are thawed and dry enough to walk on without it being squishy, it’s time to break out the rake. You want to get leaves and other dead plant matter out of your perennial beds before your spring blooming bulbs and perennials get too tall. When the soil can be worked in your perennial beds, you can spread fertilizer if needed and gently work it in. Plant pansies in the workable soil to add a touch of color. Take note of perennials that can use some dividing. For example, Chrysanthemums can be divided every one to two years (try to do it when they are about three inches tall). Coreopsis (tickseed), Achillea millefolium (yarrow) and Gaillardia (blanket flower) can be divided every two to four years and Monarda (bee balm) every three to four years. Deer seldom bother tickseed, yarrow, blanket flower, or bee balm so be sure to divide these plants and spread them around if deer are a problem for you. Keep a close eye on your hostas as well as it is best to divide them once the “eyes” or growing tips start to emerge to minimize damage to the rest of the clump. I’m regularly checking hostas to see if they’ve emerged as I want to divide them and spread them out more.
This is also the time to rake the lawn, prune non-flowering shrubs, and plant bare-root trees (include fruit) and shrubs. When selecting deciduous trees and shrubs, select ones that are still dormant and have not started to leaf out. If you’re adding an evergreen, avoid choosing ones that are showing new growth. Cover the trees with two to three inches of mulch but avoid placing it directly up next to the tree or creating a mulch volcano. The mulch will help control weeds, erosion and soil temp and minimize water loss. Expect to water new trees regularly for their first couple of years.
It still early to plant very much in the vegetable garden, but there are some cool weather crops you may be able to put in now or soon. Watch for night air temperatures to remain above 45 degrees F and soil temp is 40 degrees F. If you have these conditions, you can plant lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, parsnips, onion sets, carrots, radishes, parsley and peas. Just make sure the soil is not too wet. For example, peas do not like wet feet and will germinate poorly if the soil is too wet. Once the soil can be worked, turn over your green manure crop if you planted one. Green manures are legumes such as winter wheat or rye, buckwheat, beans, peas and oats. If you didn’t plant a green manure crop, top-dress your garden with compost or composted manure. Composted manure will not have any unpleasant smell and will almost have the texture of soil. Fresh manure should never be applied in the spring or during the growing season on fruits and vegetables. This is because of the potential of transmitting human pathogens, like as E. coli.
Wait until fall to apply fresh manure to your garden. To learn more about using manure in your gardens, visit hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/using-manure-in-the-home-garden/.
There are so many things you can start doing in the garden, assuming Mother Nature starts to play nice.
Until then, I’ll work on my patience.
Jeannie Manis is a Wisconsin-certified Sauk County Master Gardener volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, contact the Extension Sauk County at trripp@wisc.edu or 608-355-3250.
