APRIL 4, 2018 • Volume 13 • Issue 14
RE WEEKLY RESIDENTIAL • ACREAGE • FARM • COMMERCIAL • AREA DEVELOPMENT 515-233-3299 • 317 5th Street, Ames • All REALTOR® ads within are REALTORS® licensed in the State of Iowa
Online at www.AmesTrib.com/realestateweekly
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Prepping for
spring It’s time to tidy up, weed and prune before you plant
By Betty Montgomery More Content Now
N
ow that the days are getting longer and the temperature is warming up a little, it is time to start thinking about tidying up your garden and getting it ready to plant. Garden centers are starting to bring in wonderful perennials, shrubs, and trees that are looking for new homes. Removing dead wood from shrubs and leaves from those corners where the wind has taken them, is a task that needs to be done. Planning and preparing is the key to a successful garden. I try to get beds ready before plants arrive. I spend time during the late fall and winter deciding what is lacking or needed in the garden. Then I like to get the soil turned and amended. I use a product called Gardener’s Choice, rich dirt that is mainly composted leaves, which is a great additive. Plants and vegetables need good soil in order to produce dazzling flowers and tasty vegetables. I talked with my friend Michael Dirr, author and plant expert, who told me he is “like a squirrel when working in the garden. Racing from one area to the next, never quite completing the entire task. Unfortunately, the body quits before the finish line.” I told him I felt the same way. I started out the morning with a goal of going from bed to bed cleaning and pruning each area, but then got sidetracked getting a bed ready for some perennials that needed to get planted. I also worked on a small hedge of boxwoods around a fountain that looked frazzled. It always amazes me how
a little shaping, plus weeding and putting down pine needles can make a bed look better. This made a big difference to the entrance of the garden. I am planning on cutting back some dead limbs and branches in different plants in the garden this week and finishing the task of going from bed to bed, cleaning and pruning. It is easier to cut back and clean up before the old growth gets tangled up in the newly developing leaves. This is a good time of year to give bushes and trees a light sprinkling of a balanced fertilizer. I use a mixture of cottonseed meal, dehydrated cow manure, and a dash of
Cutting a stray branch that has developed on the Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick bush. [Betty Montgomery]
Epsom salt. This is a slow release mixture and will not burn the plants. I do not fertilize spring blooming shrubbery until after they bloom. Fertilizing azaleas at this time of year will put the plants energy into new growth and may result in more leaves and less flowers. Also, if you are not sure when to prune, a good rule to follow for almost any shrubbery is to prune plants after they bloom. Many plants bloom on old wood and if you prune shortly after they bloom, you will not be cutting off the buds that will start forming for the following year’s flowers. This may sound tricky to some, but it is quite easy to remember. BUT, if I am doing major pruning, and not concerned about the flowers, I prune in February before the plant starts sending out new growth. Sometimes a plant has to be pruned hard, and it could interfere with the blooms. There are some plants that flower on new wood; lavender, caryopteris, buddleia, Artemisia, to name a few. These are pruned in the spring after the danger of a hard frost. This will encourage the plant to put out new flowering branches. Most evergreens do not require pruning, just a little shaping. However, you can prune evergreen shrubs just before new growth starts to form. Do this after the risk of a late freeze has passed. Enjoy these warm days and cherish being outside and accomplishing some needed tasks. Take a small area and get it all cleaned up so that you can see that you have achieved your goal. When I do this, it helps encourage me to keep working. Happy gardening, everyone! Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She
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Don’t see your home in the
RE WEEKLY Then contact a Realtor® today, because you are missing out on over 39,000+ potential buyers seeing your property for sale. STORY TY COUN
PMENT ERCIAL • AREA DEVELO GE • FARM • COMM RESIDENTIAL • ACREA Street, Ames 99 • 317 5th ® licensed in the State of Iowa 515-233-32 are REALTORS ® within All REALTOR ads
RE WEEKLY
JANUARY 11, 2017 Volume 12 • Issue 2
JANUARY 4, 2017 1 Volume 12 • Issue
RE WEEKLY
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