When the ground-hugging blanket of vivid blue scilla bulbs appears and crocus flowers push up their tiny heads, we know that spring is here. Soon the unfolding cascade of flowers will arrive to delight us.
Spring is here, and Mother Nature's outdoor housekeeping starts today. For a garden, a yard, a tree, a flowerpot ... spring is cleanup time. One can hire a crew to do the heavy work or take rake in hand and begin the cleanup -- not all at once, of course.
Start at one spot, like the place you look at each day. Then spread the circle of cleanup wider and wider. The bulbs emerge. Perennials poke up their tentative green heads. The grass will thank you. It's amazing how some minutes of outside work can clear the mind. Greener and cleaner begins to cheer your mood. It's as good as yoga or meditation.
There are so many things ... so doing just a bit at a time is the way to approach this outdoor housekeeping. Many publications with lists and more lists exist. Advice of what to do first, what's next, what's essential, what's worrisome. The secret is not to worry. Just enjoy the air and the meditation.
One of the best small horticultural newsletters I know is Garden Clippings published by the University of Massachusetts Extension Service. It's written by U.S. Dept. of Agriculture experts and it covers monthly basics, what's new, and explains some complex things that are hard to find in books.
Last month it was all about clematis and how to prune it. Clematis is a temperamental plant but a beautiful challenge that real gardeners cannot live without.
There was a time, years ago, when the extension experts and agriculture professors themselves answered telephone questions from the public. Now, budgets being what they are, they have the newsletter, $10 for eight monthly issues ( Send a check payable to the Univ. of Mass., mail to Garden Clippings, French Hall, 230 Stockbridge Road, UMass, Amherst, MA 01003-9316)
So what's on a short list for spring? Clean ornamental beds but don't rake the leaves out of the ground cover or under the bushes. These will eventually decompose into nice, organic compost. Also it saves a lot of work. If you like things neat, apply mulch. It now comes in almost every color of the rainbow, except yellow and pink.
Cut down ornamental grasses and dead perennial foliage, now, before the new growth begins. Privet hedge may be cut to any height or shape now, or later as needed.
Lightly prune summer blooming shrubs like Rose of Sharon and Hydrangea before they set this year's flower buds in May. Prune roses now too. To get more new shoots on roses, work a little epsom salts (magnesium) into the soil.
If you're reading this column, you already know not to prune anything that flowers in spring until after it's bloomed. Evergreens should not be sheared until the new growth starts, usually around May.
Prepare the vegetable garden if you still have one, and make the first sowing of cold crop vegetables... peas, lettuce, beets, carrots, Swiss chard, radishes. Or if you'd rather just enjoy some flowers, pansies love this weather. They'll carry on until June, then peter out, as all things do. Lettuce and radishes can go in next to the flowers. So work a little at the outdoor housekeeping, and be sure to meditate a little while you're at it.
Ruth S. Foster is a landscape consultant and arborist. More gardening information can be found on her Web site: www.mothersgarden.net.
author: Ruth Foster