April Gardening Tips

& Maintenance Reminders

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Lawn  /  Landscape  /  Annuals & Perennials  /  house plants

garden  /  pest control

lawn

• Apply a balanced lawn fertilizer to your lawn area. We suggest Fertilome Lawn Food plus Iron or Fertilome Weed Out if you are wanting to control broadleaf weeds in the lawn. Remember to apply Fertilome Weed Out in-between mowings and it's most effective when applying during heavy dew fall to enable sticking of herbicide granules to weed's foliage.

• Maintenance your mowing and trimming equipment. Sharp mower blades means a clean and healthy cut lawn. Mower blades should be sharpened at least 2 times per year. Also, remember to set your mowing to a height of 3-3.5". This is very important. Try it and I promise you'll not regret it!

• Core Cultivating, commonly known as "Aerating" is a very important feature of yearly lawn care. We suggest doing this in fall to early spring due to the heavier moisture content in the soil. Heavier moisture assist in deeper cores. For more information on this procedure, select "Lawn Info" on our "Lots of Gardening Info" page on this website.

• Apply Natural Guard's Soil Activator to your to promote a host of benefits to your lawn's overall health. For more detailed information on this product and it's many benefits, click on "Lawn Info"  on our "Lots of Gardening Info" page on this website.

• Apply Hy-Yield Kill-A-Grub to your lawn for a 4 month control of season long control of grubs and their damaged to your lawn. This covers two stages of the grubs from when they emerge in early spring and when they return to the soil in July. Time to apply is April thru mid May, so act now! Our 8.5 lb. bags of Kill-A-Grub will cover 2,500 sq.ft. of lawn area. Other grub control products are also available. For more information, check out our "Lawn Info" page on this website.

• Apply Ironite granular supplement to your lawn if you desire one of the deepest greens lawns that you've ever seen. Iron supplements to your lawn promotes deep greening to the lawn without the use of excessive nitrogen fertilizer application causing excessive mowing.  Our 25 lb. bag of Ironite covers up to 5,000 sq.ft. of lawn area. Click Here to visit Ironite's website for detailed information on it's many benefits and features.

landscape

• Apply pre-emergent herbicides such as American Brand Treflan pre-emergent herbicide or Hy-Yield Dimension pre-emergent herbicide to your mulched landscape plantings to control the unwanted germination of grass and broadleaf weed seeds.

• Mulching your landscape beds in early spring provides the combined benefits of beauty and function by assisting in controlling unwanted weeds as well as assisting in moisture retention to your tree, shrub, and perennial roots during the upcoming months of drier conditions.

• Nandina, with emphasis of the most common Dwarf Purple Nandina, need to be pruned hard annually. We suggest cutting back Nandina in early spring before new growth appears. It's suggested to bring Dwarf Nandina back by appx. 50% varying the cane heights somewhat.

• Fertilizer your landscape trees, shrubs, perennials, and ground covers using one of Fertilome's many quality well balanced fertilizers. Click here to view a wide variety of Fertilome's products that we commonly suggest to our customers. Fertilome Tree & Shrub food, Azalea food, and Gardener's Special is three of our most common fertilizers. Also, fertilize fruit trees with Fertilome Fruit Tree fertilizer.

• Prune back Crape Myrtles in the early spring cutting back from a range of 1/4 - 1/3 of their size. This not only controls over growing size, especially if you have size restrictions to your area, but also promote heavy summer blooming because Crape Myrtles bloom mainly on new wood meaning that heavy pruning promoting heavier new growth shoots directly causes prolific flowering.

• Early spring is a great time for rejuvenating Hollies that have been allowed to simply out grow their space. Rejuvenating pruning on Hollies can involve pruning back heavy branches anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3's of the way back. It's amazing how quick they respond to spring's quick development, but remember, don't wait till late spring or early summers. That's too late!

• Once your Forsythia have flowered this spring, you'll be ready to manage the singe heaviest stage of pruning thinning out all 3rd or older year canes deep into the center of the shrub. This promotes more development of arching new growth as well as assist you in managing the size of your Forsythia which have aggressive growth rates. You can also prune back some of the smaller branches as well.

• If you haven't done so yet, prune back your Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, & Grandiflora Roses to 24-30" tall. When doing this, think out some of the smaller canes and leave only a balanced structure of larger canes that will promote strong and balanced growth in the spring.

• Also, if not performed yet, ornamental grasses such as Pampass, Miscanthus, Feather Reed, and Fountain grasses need to be cut down to a very low mounded tuft that will not be exposed when the new foliage begins to appear. Be sure not to cut the tops of the newly emerging foliage to not cause any permanent damage to the tops of the grass blades, so do this as soon as possible before warmer temperatures arrive.

• Hydrangeas.....what a confusing category of shrubs when it comes to pruning.  Common big leaf Hydrangea, or Hydrangea macrophylla only bloom on old wood, so don't prune them back in the spring. That will cause no flowers this summer. Annabelle Hydrangea and Pee Gee Hydrangea flower on new and old wood, so it's OK to prune these hydrangea categories during the spring to manage overall size. We find that pruning these varieties promote strong growth patterns which in turn promotes more new wood and increased flowering.

• Remember, one of the most general rules of thumb is to enter the spring with well manicures evergreens such as Holly, Nandina, Yews, Juniper, Cryptomeria, and Cypress well manicured. The power of heavy spring growth enables you to utilize it's force to reshape evergreens, thicken up their growth habit, etc., so don't wait and prune off all that spring power, utilize it to rebalance and thicken up your evergreen's after you have pruned them as needed.

• Prepare for your spring weed control and acquire a small 1-2 gallon pump sprayerto manage your post emergent herbicide such as Fertilome Kill-Z-All. This non selective herbicide is safe to use around your trees, shrubs, and perennials, as long as you don't spray it directly onto their foliage. This product doesn't harm or damaged plants thru the soil, but has to work thru the foliage of a weed or grass to kill it's entire root system. It's the most effective when you start early and manage a weekly walk thru of your garden to spray grassy and broadleaf weeds when they are small. If managed regularly, you'll find your time invested in weed control to be minimal. Same herbicide as Round Up, but costs less!

annuals & perennials

• Spring clean up of your perennial and annual flower gardens should include the removal of all dormant foliage weeds, and winter debris. Perennial gardens can be considered for making adjustments such as thinning or relocating various perennial choices. Annual gardens should be cultivated for preparation for spring planting. I would recommend cultivating just before planting of new annual flowers be done.

• During the preparation and/or clean up or your annual and perennial gardens, utilize Fertilome Gardeners Special Fertilizer to fertilizer and prepare your annuals and perennials for a heavy blossoming season. This has proven to be one of Evergreen's favorite fertilizer recommendations.

• If you want to prevent the germination of unwanted weed and grass seed in the perennial and/or annual flower garden, apply American Treflan weed & grass preventer which prevents the germination unwanted grass seed. Remember, this pre-emergent herbicide needs to be applied in early spring before weed seed germinate.

• Pine Bark Humus is a wonderful mulch for flowers and perennials. Top dress the perennial and/or annual flower garden with this fine textured grade of pine bark mulch. Benefits include beauty and texture as well as moisture retention and weed prevention. Apply at a depth of 1" in annual flower beds and 2" in perennial flower beds.

• When preparing your annual flower beds or when planting new perennials, utilize Daddy Pete's Composted Cow Manure, one of Evergreen's most recommended soil conditioners. This wonderfully textured organic compost will provide you excellent results that you'll not regret.

• If you want that extra push and quick development for your newly planted perennial and annual flowers, treat their roots with Fertilome Root Stimulator during their initial planting. This can be done by dip soaking their root balls into a diluted solution mix or soil drenching the individual or mass planting afterwards. Either way will encourage above average root development which is the heart of a plant's performance.

house plants

• It's common for house plants to develop insect problem when brought into the home during the winter months. Continual 70-75 degree temperatures provide a 24 hour tropical temperature condition that allow insects to flourish and spread rapidly. On mild days, treat your house plants with a insecticide, such as "Safer Killing Soap" or Fertilome All Pupose Indoor/Outdoor Insect Spray. Both of these are safe and easy to use around the house. Also, ask about Fertilome's Insecticide granules to place in the soil area of houseplants highly prone to scale such as Weeping Fig or Ficus trees.

• Spring is a good time to repot your house plants, but only if needed. Remember, over potting or repotting your house plants into too large of a container is one of the most common killers of house plants. Always increase pot size slowly by increasing the total pot width no more than 2-4". Never place the root ball any deeper than it's original depth leaving the original soil level at the surface of the pot.

• House plants need to be fertilized monthly during the spring thru fallmonths. We recommend utilizing Fertilome Gardener's Special water soluble fertilizer as an all purpose fertilizer for those house plants you're wanting to flourish. 

garden

• Starting your indoor seeds for vegetables and annuals for now to get a jump on your intended spring crop. A bright light window of high intense artificial grow light would be needed to keep seedings short and more compact.

• When planting your tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, beans, and other crops prone to early and late blight, soak and treat the soil with Maneb fungicide at time of planting to enable the maximum control of blight to your vegetables. Another great all purpose fungicide to use for controlling various types of diseases in the garden is Fertilome's Lawn & Garden Fungicide.

• Incorporate Natural Guard Soil Activator as a mineral and humate supplement to your garden soil. Click here to check out the many benefits of Natural Guard's Soil Activator.

• Use Fertilome Gardeners Special as your garden's #1 fertilizer. One of Evergreen's favorite recommendations for your garden as well as perennials, annuals, and flowering shrubs. Click here to view our page of recommended Fertilome products.

• Clean out and service your garden pump or hose sprayers to ensure their working condition when you need them. Pump sprayers for use on gardens must only be used for fungicides and insecticides. Never reuse pump sprayers that have contained any form of herbicide "weed killers". Mark  your general all purpose sprayers for fungicides and insecticides separate from those used for herbicides "weed killers".

• Experience Fertilome's Air-O-Matic Sprayer that's one of the easier and most versatile hose end sprayers that you'll ever use. Simply put concentrated insecticides or fungicides into it's container and turn the dial to the proper teaspoon or tablespoon mark and spray away. No wasted concentrated chemical. Simply spray and store away for quick use and calibration.

• If your garden is congested with a multitude of weeds and unwanted grasses, utilize Fertilome Kill-Z-All which is a herbicide that you can spray over the surface of the unwanted grasses adn weeds to kill out without harming the soil as you prepare for upcoming vegetable crops.

• An important first step is to determine when to turn the soil. If the soil is still sticky and clumps together, then tilling may cause soil compaction, drainage, and aeration problems later on in the season. If the soil crumbles when you work it around in your hands, then it's okay to till. Till the soil once, turning under any cover crop or residues left from the fall. Then add manure, lime, and other organic matter and work in well to avoid harming the tender roots of plants as they grow. Chemical fertilizers, that your soil test also may recommend, are best applied right before planting. Chemical fertilizers work quickly, but if they are applied too early in the season they may leach out of the soil and lose their effectiveness.

Pest Control

• For a one time treatment of lacebug, Scale, Aphids, Adelgids, and other various ornamental pests on Azaleas, Rhododendron, Holly, Euonymus, and other evergreens and flowering shrubs, apply a soil drench of Bayer Tree & Shrub Advanced Insecticide that provides a year of system insect control.

• Utilize Fertilome all purpose Kill-A-Bug insect control for a broad range of garden and ornamental pest. This utilizes a natural derived insecticide called pyrethrins that provides a quick kill of various insects without worrying about dangerous toxic non-organic insecticides.

• Apply Fertilome Kill-A-Bug insecticide granules to lawn and landscapes to control unwanted soil insects such as spiders, ants, crickets, and other troublesome pests.

• Borer control is best to be prevented other than cured once borers have entered the tree. Over the counter insecticides perform limited control to borer infested trees, so treat your landscape trees & shrubs highly prone to shrubs with Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub Care.  Trees & shrubs that should be considered for preventative treatment are the following......(Trees) Dogwoods, Flowering Cherries, Birch  (Shrubs) Rhododendron & Otto Lukens Laurel.

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