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| Bind all evergreens with spirals of twine to reduce snow
damage. Be gentle when shaking snow from the branches. Cut
boughs from discarded Christmas trees and spread them over
perennial garden. Purchased lilly of the valley pips will
bloom in three weeks if potted in shallow containers and
kept in a warm room for the first week. |
| Do not prune spring flowering shrubs such
as azaleas, flowering quince, forsythias or lilacs or you
will sacrifice bloom. Pot up gloxinia tubers indoors for
early summer bloom and resume fertilizing other indoor houseplants.
Order seeds and plants early to get the varieties you want. |
| Don't hurry to uncover roses, bulbs and
other perennials. Pull the mulch back gradually as plants
show signals of growth. Pruned branches of flowering shrubs
(forsythia, early spirea, flowering peach and quince) will
bloom indoors in a vase filled with water. For maximum sweetness
harvest over-wintered parsnips before they begin to sprout
new foliage. |
| fertilize blueberries with amonium sulfate
and prune by removing older twiggier stems. Finish pruning
roses . Heavier pruning will result in fever finer blooms,
light pruning in a profusion of smaller ones. Hardy water
lilies can be planted now, but wait until the water has
warmed in May or June to plant the tropical varieties. |
| Harden off annuals that have been grown
indoors by exposing them to progressively longer periods
of outdoor sunlight each day. Plant asparagus crowns only
a
few inches deep and do not harvest until next year (then
only lightly). Wait to set out eggplant and pepper plants
until a week after the last frost. Black plastic mulch will
increase yields |
| Prune spring flowering shrubs
(lilacs, spirea and forsythia) immediately after flowering.
Snap off the developing seed pods of rhododendrons and azaleas
to improve next years bloom. But be careful ! - next year's
buds are just below this year's heads. Set houseplants outdoors
in the shade of a tree. Support the pots to prevent them
from being blown over. |
| Leave grass clippings on the
lawn to decay and return nutrients to the soil. After delphiniums
finish flowering cut back stalks and scratch fertilizer around
each plant to encourage a second blooming. Propagate Oriental
poppies when they have died down by cutting two inch sections
of the dormant roots. When replanted most will yield new
plants. |
| Potatoes can be dug as soon
as the tops have died down, but the tubers can be stored
by leaving them in the soil until fall. Strawflowers and
other everlasting's dry best if the stems are harvested before
the
flowers are fully open. Remove seed heads from phiox to prevent
them from self seeding. The offspring are colored a washed-out
magenta. |
| Plant peonies. Be careful
not to position the crown more than two inches deep or the
plants will not bloom. Gourds for winter decoration should
be picked before frost. Leave stems on and store in a warm
dry place. Lawns started now will be established by next
spring and better able to deal with weeds and drought than
spring-sown grass. |
| After frost, dig up dahlias
and cannas and store in a cool dry location. Dahlia roots
can be washed and tightly wrapped in dry newspaper. Cannas
keep best when left in a ball of earth indoors until next
spring. Protect carrots from mice by digging them up, removing
the tops and storing the roots in a damp sand inside a metal
barrel above freezing. |
| Renew your soil's humus by
spreading a two inch layer of compost over beds, being careful
not to bury crowns of plants. Turn off outdoor water supply
and
drain pipes and hoses. Be sure to leave the tap open once
the water has been turned off. Finish planting your tulip
bulbs and mulch the soil to give the bulbs time to root before
the ground freezes. |
| Protect young fruit trees
from gnawing rodents by wrapping the trunk with fine mesh
hardware cloth from below the soil line to above the now
line. Hang bars of fragrant soap to repel deer. Each bar
protects three feet. Pot amaryllis bulbs with only the bottom
third in the soil. Water and set in a cool dark place until
roots have formed and the bud is visible. |
The calendar of gardening activities is for areas with cold winters,
hardiness zones 3-7
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