For many home owners and aspiring gardeners, laying out a game plan for regular care and upkeep can feel like a daunting task. Knowing just when to plant, prune, fertilize, etc. also has a huge effect on the overhaul health, success and yield of your garden. So where to begin?! Here is a general Home and Garden Maintenance Guide to help you get oriented in the basic flow through each season.

Keeping a garden journal can be a great tool for helping organize a routine and plan ahead for various tasks. I’ve known some folks to take it to a whole other level and develop their garden journals into some truly amazing scrapbooks, complete with pressed flowers, family recipes, pictures, personal notes, poems and art, herbal folk remedy recipes, reference info, materials and “D.I.Y. article clippings, plant profile tags from the nursery, seed packets organized in their respective months and more! Or just print these articles to hang on your refrigerator for a ”to-do” checklist!

For more extensive lists of pruning, sow and harvesting dates, follow the links to my “Pruning Calendar” and “Vegetable Sow and Harvest Calendar”, in the above menu.

Remember, FINAL FROST date generally falls around mid-March. This guide was developed for the Pacific Northwest Hardiness Zones 7 – 9.

GOOD LUCK!!!

GENERAL MONTHLY “TO-DO’s” for SPRING

“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.”
~Charles Dickens (from “Great Expectations”)

HOME & GARDEN CHECKLIST:

Add ORGANIC FERTILIZERS to deciduous TREES and SHRUBS.
Once passed FINAL FROST date (mid-March), it’s time to address WINTER DAMAGE to LAWNS. Rake in 0.5“ – 1” of MULCH, OVERSEED and apply ORGANIC FERTILIZERS, amendments. Weed, thatch & aerate, as needed.
Get the jump on WEEDS before they seed.
Good time to plant seasonal ANNUALS, PERENNIALS, BIENNIALS, BULBS and TUBERS.
Fertilize, rotate, mist, water & pinch back old growth of INDOOR PLANTS.
Prune & fertilize ROSES. Add 3” layer of MULCH to rose beds.
Wrap up pruning of FLOWERING, DECIDUOUS & FRUIT TREES.
Scrub slippery STEPS & WALKWAYS with bleach water and/or PRESSURE WASH.
Summer flowering PERENNIALS can be divided & transplanted early this month (daisies, daylilies, hostas, iris, phlox, etc.).
Stir COMPOST BINS.
Get VEGETABLE GARDEN beds prepped & ready! PLANT: Asparagus, strawberries, artichoke, onions, garlic, peas, cabbage, potato, thyme, mint, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley. SOW (in ground): radish, spinach, arugula, chard, fennel, cauliflower, turnips, spinach. SEED STARTS (indoors): tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, sunflower, celery, cucumber, squash

HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES

MARCH 3: World Wildlife Day
MARCH 11: National Johnny Appleseed Day
MARCH 12: Plant a Flower Day
MARCH 14: Daylight Saving Time begins
MARCH (mid-month): Final Frost Date (average for Pacific NW)
MARCH 18: Global Recycling Day
MARCH 20-21: Vernal Equinox
MARCH 20: World Sparrow Day
MARCH 21: International Day of Forests
MARCH 21: World Planting Day
MARCH 22: World Water Day
MARCH 23: World Meteorological Day
MARCH 25: Pecan Day
MARCH 26: National Spinach Day
MARCH 27: Earth Hour (last Saturday in March)
MARCH 28: Holi
MARCH 28: Weed Appreciation Day

“The Sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.”
~Robert Frost

HOME & GARDEN CHECKLIST:

Keep GRASS mowed to 2” – 3” (recommended). Mow twice monthly or as needed.
Prune EVERGREEN SHRUBS & CONIFERS. PRUNE Forsythia once it’s done flowering.
Add 3” – 4“ layer of MULCH to garden beds, trees & shrubs (mid-March – early April).
Locate & remove any MORNING GLORY before they get started.
Wash WINDOWS. *(PRO TIP: use ordinary liquid dish soap & water, squeegee, & remove residual gunk, smudges, etc. on GLASS windows with “Super Fine: Grade 0000 Steel Wool.)
Swap out storm windows for SCREENS.
Good time to PRUNE Sarcococca, Hebe, Heather, Boxwood (March – April).
In the VEGETABLE garden, PLANT: lettuce, spinach and other greens, root vegetables, onions, chives. SOW (late April): basil, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, pumpkin, squash.
Finish planning your larger OUTDOOR PROJECTS, to begin starting next month, in order to make the most of the coming drier, warmer weather and longer daylight hours.
PLANT Summer blooming BULBS (lilies, dahlias, gladiolas, begonias, etc.) this month.

HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES

APRIL: National Lawn & Garden Month
APRIL 5: National Dandelion Day
APRIL 5-12: International Dark Sky Week
APRIL 6: California Poppy Day
APRIL 13: International Plant Appreciation Day
APRIL 16: National Orchid Day
APRIL 17-25: National Park Week
APRIL 17: World Aquatic Animal Day
APRIL 17: Bat Appreciation Day
APRIL 19: National Garlic Day
APRIL 22: Earth Day
APRIL 23: National Picnic Day
APRIL 23: National Zucchini Bread Day
APRIL 29: National Peace Rose Day
APRIL 29: Arbor Day (last Friday in April)

“What potent blood hath modest May.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

HOME & GARDEN CHECKLIST:

Pinch back/”dead-head” & clean up spent early blooms (rhoddies, azaleas, etc.) & ANNUALS.
Tend to ROSES. Watch for BLACKSPOT, MILDEW, APHIDS, etc. For perfect, healthy, insect-repelling, more disease resistant ROSES, Plant with chives( onion and/or garlic), giant allium, onions. AND they look great together!
Rake in/“cycle” GRASS clippings back into LAWN. Add excess clippings into COMPOST BINS.
Good time to PRUNE Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camellia, Pieris Japonica, Winter Daphnes, Weigela.
In the VEGETABLE garden, PLANT (mid-May): tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumber, pumpkin SOW: corn, beans, potatoes, kale, beets, squash.
Break out the hoses & sprinklers! Establish & begin your WATERING REGIME. *TIP: For stronger, more drought & disease resistant plants & lawn, the GOLDEN RULE of WATERING is to “water more, less often” (every 3 DAYS or as needed), rather than “less, more often”. The first encourages deeper root growth, while the later encourages roots to remain closer to the surface, where more vulnerable.
Start any larger OUTDOOR PROJECTS. *Remember, later Summer months can be especially dry & dusty, should that prove a factor with your type of project (painting, stains, etc.)
Wrap up any big PLANTING INSTALLS (perennials, etc.) early this month.