Monthly Tips for the Landscape & Garden
by Bob Westerfield

• Geranium seeds started now will produce plants large enough to transplant to outdoor flower beds in May. Plant in sterilized potting soil, covering them about one-fourth inch deep. If you overwintered geraniums indoors, root cuttings now.
• Watch for signs of growth in early spring bulbs. When foliage is 1 inch high, gradually start removing mulch. Cloudy days are best for the initial exposure of the leaves to strong sunlight which can burn tender foliage.
• Pinch off early buds from developing pansies to encourage plants to branch and form more buds.
• Check stored bulbs, tubers, and corms. Discard any that are soft or diseased.
• Branches of forsythia, pussy willow, quince, spirea, and dogwood can be forced for indoor bloom. Make long, slanted cuts when collecting the branches and place the stems in a vase of water. Change the water every four days. They should bloom in about three weeks.
• Proper rose pruning is the key to successful summer blooms. Prune roses back 25 percent if you want many, medium-sized blooms. Prune back 50 percent if you want fewer, larger flowers. Modern roses should be pruned just before the buds break dormancy after the last frost.
• Remove honeysuckle and other weedy vines from deciduous plants while the plants are still leafless. It's easier then to distinguish between the weeds and desired plants.
• Late winter is the time to prune many deciduous trees. Look over your plants now and remove dead, dying unsightly parts of the tree, sprouts growing at or near the base of the tree trunk, crossed branches, and V-shaped crotches.
• Consider using ferns in your home landscape. Maidenhair, sensitive, cinnamon, and Christmas ferns are good choices. Ferns like an even supply of water throughout the growing season, so soil with a high humus content is ideal because it retains water.
• If bird feeding has been a favorite activity this winter, order trees and shrubs that provide cover and small fruits for your feathered friends. Consider species such as crabapple, hawthorn, holly, dogwood, and pyracantha that can help lure hungry birds from cultivated fruits, if planted on the opposite side of the yard.
• Once a month, water your acid-loving house plants, such as gardenia and citrus, using a solution of 1 teaspoon of vinegar to 1 quart water.
• Check all five growing factors if your house plants are not growing well. Light, temperature, nutrients, moisture, and humidity must be favorable to provide good growth.
• Never fertilize a plant in dry soil. The fertilizer could burn roots that need water. It's better to water plants a couple of hours before fertilizing.

• Pruning aging apple trees is largely a job of renovation followed by renewal of fruiting wood. The pruning must be moderate and spread out over two or three years to avoid stimulating excessive growth and/or causing injury to large limbs from sudden over exposure to sunlight. Such pruning consists of gradually lowering tree height to 18 feet or less, removing surplus scaffold limbs, and eliminating weak, damaged, and dead wood.
• If you want to raise fruit in your garden, try grapes, raspberries, or strawberries. It is much less difficult to succeed with them than with tree fruits, and you'll get much faster results.
• Producing insect- and disease-free fruit trees requires a thorough spray program, proper pruning, and good cultural practices. Give thought to this before planting a backyard orchard.
• Blueberries are somewhat self-sterile. Be sure to plan for more than one variety to enhance the pollination necessary for fruiting. Highbush blueberries make attractive ornamental hedges with bright-red, fall color.
• Prune fruit trees and grapes in late February or early March, after the worst of the winter cold is passed, but before spring growth begins. For disease and insect control, cut out dead wood and dispose of the prunings.
• Nut and fruit trees should be planted three to four weeks before the last killing frost in spring.
• Fruit trees, such as peaches, pears, apples, and plums, can be sprayed now with dormant oils to reduce insect problems.
• Even under ideal storage conditions, some vegetable seeds have a fairly short life and probably will not be good one or two years after purchase. These include sweet corn, onion, okra, bean, and parsnip.
• Early varieties of onions are most productive when grown from transplants (small plants) or from sets (small onion bulbs grown from seed the previous season). Direct seeding is satisfactory for growing green onions or for late varieties.
• Don't start your vegetable plants indoors too early. Six weeks ahead of the expected planting date is early enough for the fast-growth species such as cabbage. Eight weeks allows enough time for the slower-growing types such as peppers.

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