45April 22, 2015
The snow is all but a distant memory at this point in time. The melting snow has shown all of us the level of damage that occurred to our trees and shrubs from the record snowfall. In some cases, you may have to dig up plants that have been in your yard for years. When you have to dig up your plants, there may be hidden dangers in the soil. I am talking about the utilities that are buried underground. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, (along with the other New England states) there is a requirement that you have the buried underground utilities marked so that you know where the lines are located. This is usually referred to as the Dig Safe law. You will need to call Dig Safe at 811 at least 72 business hours before you begin digging. Generally, you mark the areas where you will dig with white flags or paint. Dig Safe will send someone out to mark where the buried utilities are in relation to where you plan on digging. If you do not do this and you dig up utility line and damage the lines, you are responsible for repairing those lines. Considering what you may pay to fix a water line or gas line, it is well worth the call. This is a quick overview of the regulations so if you are going to dig, you can get all of the regulations on line.
Hopefully you have had time to rake up your lawn and clean up the debris that came with the winter wind and snow. The forsythia is beginning to bloom in some areas. Now is the time to apply a crabgrass control to your yard. The crabgrass seed sprouts at the same soil temperature that makes the forsythia flowers go past their bloom time. There are organic crabgrass control methods and there are the traditional fertilizer and crabgrass control methods. You need to keep in mind that that most of the crabgrass control methods will also kill any grass seed that you may apply this spring. The crabgrass control methods can kill grass seed for up to 14 weeks! There is one control method that allows you to seed your lawn and to control crabgrass at the same time. If you plan on seeding your lawn, or if you seeded your lawn last fall, you must use this one type of crabgrass control. We have this product in our store.
Even though the weather is cool, there are still vegetable plants that you can plant in your garden. Late last week, we received Lettuce, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and parsley plants that can now be planted. You can also plant, from seed, peas, lettuce, beets, carrots, onions and many more vegetables. Remember that it is way too cold for planting tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, basil and many other cold sensitive vegetable plants.
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.