44March 8, 2018
Two weeks ago, many people were talking about an early spring this year. You may want to unfriend those people on social media! Another Wednesday snowstorm for this week and possibly another snowstorm for Monday. When it comes to spring weather, I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas.
The backyard at the house is littered with lots of branches that broke off a pine during the last gale. I haven’t had a chance to check all the shrubs for wind damage. You may want to get out soon to check on the shrubs in your yard to see if they have any broken branches that need to be pruned.
Someone commented last week that they had seen forsythia in bloom. I doubt that it is forsythia that is in bloom. At this time of the year, it is more likely to be witch hazel. The flowers on the witch hazel are bright yellow and may remind you of forsythia. The witch hazel is probably one of the earliest of the blooming shrubs. Forsythia will normally bloom in early April.
As the ground thaws, you may be able to get some vegetables started in the garden. Once the soil dries a bit, you can usually plant pea seeds around the middle of March.
We received a shipment of onion sets on Monday. Onion sets are tiny onions that are planted when the soil is still cool in the late winter or early spring. During the early stages, the onion sets put up a lot of top growth. During the spring and summer, the top growth provides the food the onion sets need to mature into full-size onions.
Once the snow melts, you should consider applying horticultural gypsum to those lawn areas that were exposed to road salt or other ice-melting products. The salts in the ice-melting products tend to stay in the soil, and plant roots and grass roots can absorb the salt, which eventually damages the plant, or it can kill the grass.
When you apply the horticultural gypsum, it will neutralize the salt and will help prevent damage to the roots of the plants and the roots of your lawn. You still have time to apply the gypsum. I mention it now so that you can add it to your early spring chore list.
How’s your lawn mower doing? Odd question, but soon you will need that mower running in tiptop shape. If you’re handy, you can do a tuneup on the mower. Otherwise, it is time to get the mower into the repair shop and get it tuned up and have new mower blades put onto it.
Note: Due to power outages and weather, we may not be open – please check before coming in.
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.