51March 11, 2015
As the snow begins to melt, you may be able to find the forsythia bush that is in your yard. Take a pair of pruners and cut off a few of the end branches. Bring the branches into your house and put the branches in a vase of water. Before you know it, you will have some beautiful yellow flowers appearing on the branches. Now that’s a sign of spring!
Now is the time to be thinking ahead to spring. Once the snow melts, you will have to deal with some of the problems created by the winter. If you put ice melter on your roof to eliminate ice dams, the ice melter will eventually make its way to the ground under the edge of your roof. The ice melter that you put on the driveway and walkways will eventually make it into the soil adjacent to the driveway and walkway. The salt that was put onto the road in front of your home will probably wind up in the soil of your lawn. All these places where salt or ice melter winds up in the soil are places where the roots of your lawn or the roots of your plants can be damaged by the salt or ice melt that is in the soil. As soon as the snow disappears, you should be putting horticultural gypsum on the soil where any ice melting product may have made its way into the soil. The gypsum will help to prevent the ice melting products from damaging the roots of your plants or the roots of your lawn. It is imperative that you apply gypsum as soon as possible once the snow has melted. The longer you wait after the snow has melted the more damage you will have in your lawn and gardens. We carry horticultural gypsum in our store.
Most of the snow that we received this winter will contain a certain amount of sulfur compounds. Think of them as winter acid rain. The melting snow will lead to a build up of acidity in your soil. In the spring, it will be important to apply lime to your lawn to off set the acidity. If you don’t apply lime in the spring, even if you applied some lime in the fall, you will have a problem with your lawn growing properly. It would be beneficial to apply lime to those areas of your perennial beds that contain plants that do not tolerate an acid soil. You should also apply lime to your vegetable garden. Many vegetable plants will not grow properly in an acidic soil. This will be the spring where not putting down lime will cause you to have many problems in your lawn and gardens.
Even though winter hasn’t left our yards, it is imperative to plan ahead and make plans to do the things that will need to be done to off set winters damage.
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.