Welcome to the first entry in my new blog about something positive that we can be doing during these very peculiar times.  Despite COVID-19 and unstable weather, spring is officially here and many of us are thinking about the garden.  In these articles I will address timely gardening topics as we go through the seasons in northern New England.  If you have ideas to contribute or questions to ask about a local gardening topic please Contact me.

First things first.  If you want to grow the best varieties from seed the best time to order your seeds was early January.  The second-best time in NOW.  Seed companies have been overwhelmed with seed orders and are running low on many varieties.  We have several excellent seed companies in New England that specialize in northern varieties including FEDCO Seeds, High Mowing (based in Vermont), and Johnny’s Seeds.  They all offer online catalogs and convenient ordering but don’t delay.  Local retail stores are also seeing strong seed & gardening supplies sales and may not have a full selection soon. 

UPDATE: Seed companies have been swamped with orders and are experiencing delays in getting orders out. Don’t wait, order your seeds NOW!

What should we be doing now?  Use the nice days to your advantage and get your pruning and cleanup done before everything else starts.  In general, prune out all dead, diseased or damaged stems and branches while plants are dormant (now).  Make your cuts close to the main stem, just outside the enlarged “collar” or just outside lateral buds that can grow new branches.  This is a great time to manage shape & size by cutting off those drooping branches and downward growing branches.  A few specifics:  

Raspberries – cut out all the old canes that fruited last season plus any short, spindly canes (cut both off at ground level).  Also, you can cut back young canes to 5-6 ft. to reduce floppiness or excessive height.  If you have everbearing that tried to bear a second fall crop you should cut those canes down to the lowest dried fruit bunches as they won’t repeat fruiting on that top area. Next step will be to give the row a layer (1 inch) of compost.

Apple & Pears – remove all dead or damaged branches and any “suckers” (branches that grow straight up from the main trunk or side branches.  Remove branches that cross (pick one), grow downward or head centrally.  After pruning, apply a dormant oil spray covering all surfaces well (especially the buds) from the ground up to the top to smother over-wintering pest insect eggs.  Do this on a calm day when the temperature is above 40 (coming soon). We’ll repeat this application after the leaf buds swell and again after they just open but before blossoms open to get most of the larvae hiding in the bark and buds.

Hydrangeas – in Mount Holly we mostly have only smooth or panicle hydrangeas that bloom on new wood. (Big white blossoms)  They don’t require pruning but you’ll get bigger blossoms if you cut all last year’s canes back to the ground.  I leave a number of strong young canes (straight and gray colored) for early greening and to provide support for new canes.

Do not prune forsythia, rhododendron, spiraeas, most clethras, viburnums, or lilacs until after they have finished blossoming (except to remove dead or damaged branches). Their flower buds are already present on last year’s wood and pruning them now would remove this year’s blossoms!

My big suggestion, keep a garden journal.  This is so valuable for your own record of what happened, when and what you did.  Yes, I know you have an excellent memory, but keep a journal anyway.  Next year it’ll be your goldmine of reminders.  Make it simple and easy – what you did to what plants and the dates. For example:  “4/3/2020  Planted tomato (Juliet) seeds, 24 seeds in 4 6 packs” or “4/5/2020 Pruned raspberries”.  You may add whatever you want such as weather, varieties, soil mix, etc. but keep it simple so that it doesn’t become a chore.  Get a notebook and start it now.

I invite your ideas, comments or questions. Use the form below or “Contact Us” in the top bar menu.