Home Grown Notions: Spring Is Almost Here!

by Beth Cook, Mammoth Cave Transplants:
The countdown is on! We are super excited about Spring this year and have been gearing up for it in the last month. Have you been getting your gardens ready? If you have, that’s great! You are ahead of the game. But if not, you still have some time to do some very important chores before spring gets in full swing! Your gardens are slowly beginning to come back to life and here a few things to be sure to do.

One very important thing for all you fruit tree growers, you need to go ahead and start a spray regimen for all of your fruit trees. To have success and healthy fruit trees, you need to keep them sprayed-- so start out with a dormant oil spray or neem oil. This takes care of scale insects, eggs, and larvae that overwinter on them.

Dormant oils should be used early in the spring, before the leaf buds begin to open. They can cause damage to trees if you use them when the temperature drops below 40 degrees F, so check the weather for the next week before using these oils. Then continue to use a complete fruit tree spray and follow as directed to help control insects and disease throughout the growing season.

The next tip we have is for rose gardeners. Now is the time to prune back your roses.Pruning is about more than just looks. Proper pruning improves the health of your rose bush, prevents disease, and encourages better flowering. If you have questions on how to prune, give us a call.

Most of us that have ornamental grasses may choose not to cut them back in the winter to give birds a source of food and shelter. New growth will be emerging soon so you need to get those cut back as well.

Inspect any trees or shrubs that have broken or damaged limbs and remove those. Make sure to NOT trim back azaleas or rhododendrons or you will not have any blooms. Also if you still have lingering leaves in your landscape or next to your home clean out those and any other debri that could be harboring insects.
This will also discourage slugs and snails in early spring.

Don't forget to clean out your pots and containers as well! You want to be ready to plant them when the time comes.

From everyone at Mammoth Cave Transplants, we look forward to seeing you this spring!