Beautiful spring weather means a lot of things, but for gardeners it means that we finally get to get out and get our hands in the dirt. We all have projects on the clipboard, things we’d like to do in the yard this spring.
In this post I am going to compile a list of garden related chores “things” that folks will be working on this spring with links to articles that you are sure to find helpful. Please feel free to post a comment below if I’ve missed something that you will be working on.
Hand Seeding verses Hydro-Seeding. Or what about sod?
Weed Control in your Flower Beds.
Weed Barrier Fabric, Urrrrrrrrg!
Using Nursery Fabric for Weed Control in Your Veggie Garden.
Transplanting trees and shrubs. Timing is everything!
Edging a bed with a nursery spade. Not a Shovel!
Preventing Back Injuries while Gardening.
The correct way to plant trees and shrubs.
Creating a weed free garden organically.
Getting Rid of Japanese Beetles and Beetle Grubs.
Which Wheelbarrow Should You Buy?
What did I miss? What do you need to know? Post your questions, comments or mean things to say below and I’ll respond.
Hello Mike
How do you find Japanese maple seeds ?
Thanks
Cheryl M
Cheryl,
Just look around, find a few Japanese maples and get permission to collect seeds in the fall. Or you can buy them in our members area in the fall. See this https://japanesemaplelovers.com/growing-japanese-maples-from-seed/
Hello Mike! I am just checking to see if you are alive and well. I used to watch and listen to you all the time. I bought a nice spade because of your advice. It is called the King of Spades and it is all steel…not stainless though. It is really heavy. I am 85 now. I love your donkeys
All the Best. Nancy Nowak
Thanks Nancy, still alive and kicking, helping out new members daily. https://secure.backyardgrowers.com/business-center
Hi, Mike,
Always enjoy your expertise. Thanks to you my brown thumb is gradually getting greener!
Here’s a problem we’ve encountered with Comfrey. The woman we bought the house from was an avid gardener and herbalist. She spent years developing a massive lasagna garden. However, she apparently planted Comfrey in the garden it got away from her. We now have Comfrey Officialnalis sprouting up all over the huge garden. We live on the coast in Washington state and the mild, wet climate encourages anything green to grow profusely. Any suggestions on how we can get a handle on this?
Thanks.
Kevin
Kevin,
You have a couple of options. You can pull it all, then rototill the area repeatedly until all of the roots are dried and dead. You can cover it with cardboard and put a heavy layer of mulch on that, but I’m not sure that would do the trick. Put down black plastic for a few months until it’s dead. I don’t like covering plastic with any kind of mulch, it won’t work and it will be a mess later. Me? I’d spray it with glyposate (generic round up) and then spot spray any new sprouts you see. Regardless of what you read on line glyphosate will not linger and the soil and harm anything. I’ve been using it for years. Like 40 years. https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2014/07/roundup-safe-use/
I want to remove tulip, Daffodil and other bulbs from the ground each season. I herd Holland producers use a type of cloth in the ground that is pulled up with the soil and bulbs in it. Then sift the bulbs out. All mechanically. Would you recommend 1/4 in wire cloth for home use or something else?
Rob,
I don’t know. Most bulbs are planted about 6″ deep. That’s a lot of soil to lift by hand. I know I couldn’t do it.
Our house backs up to a large wooded area where there is a good size deer population … I know this because the deer are always eating at my flowers that we have planted in beds around the house.
Please share a way to keep these guys from destroying my plants.
I’ve heard there’s a product that includes some kind of animal urine that smells really bad, but would work.
Your thoughts?
Annie,
There are all kinds of deer repellents on the market. They all work to a degree but must be re-applied often. Only a fence truly works. Or a motion activated sprinkler I’m told works pretty well. Look on amazon.
Hey Mike,
Thank you for the information all these years, I love seeing your and other people’s success stories.
I wanted to share my ongoing saga of love -hate relationship with deer.
They are cute, however, there are days I actively detest the creatures.
They jump over our garden fence as well, so nothing is safe.
We found that Milorganite works great. And we don’t mind reapplying every so often.
However we had a spell where we couldn’t find any Milorganite. So I created a concoction that worked beautifully! Not only for deer but also for any number of garden/ plant pests.
-Lots of milk (especially old, turning bad), a bit of dish soap and water, Mix and spray. That’s it.
Thanks again,
Jale
Thanks Jale, appreciate the tip. Some are using motion activated sprinklers to keep deer at bay.
Believe it or not – Irish Spring bar soap – the green kind. Rabbits don’t like it either, if I didn’t shave that stuff into the beds my coneflowers would be gone.
Deer and racoon were devastating my garden at night. Buddy of mine says set a battery radio on a talk station put a 5 gallon bucket over it to keep the moisture off it and let it play all night. Still experimenting but I tried it last year and nothing was touched
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
Here on the edge of North America , this winter has been gentle, versus our Snowmagedon winter of 2 years when the Army had to be brought in……you never know what you’re going to get. But I stray. This winter with virtually not much snow and sunny days, I did my ‘spring clean-up’ work and it was glorious. The twigs, the leaves missed last fall, etc. etc. This is a rare chance here. I’m ready!
Best way to ‘revive’ dug up daylilies from the fall due to concrete patio install. They are stored in garage in cardboard box….roots are shriveled. I’m in Denver, CO and want to replant them here soon in new spots. Thanks.
Mel,
All I can suggest is wet them and re-plant them and see what happens.
Mike, do you ever REMOVE old
Mulch before applying new mulch? Or, do you lay Dawn newspaper on top of the old
Mulch? And how close to the ‘edged-edge’ do you place newspaper? And lastly, a comment: if possible, please use black ink & not this ‘grey’ ink as it’s hard
To read with these older eyes / too light!! Thank you, Sir.
Patty,
Rarely would I ever remove old mulch but I often loosen it up if it clumps together. You can put the news paper pretty close to the edge as long as you can cover it with mulch. The ink? That’s part of the theme we have on this site. I have little to do with that Duston does all of that.
He has young eyes!
Hi Mike. I enjoy your newsletter and all the info! We once had a wisteria plant in our backyard growing over a pergola. Well, the wisteria outgrew the pergola and began sending up runners all over the place; literally twenty or twenty five feet away. I think wisteria is beautiful but this is ridiculous! How do I get rid of these runners everywhere? Thanks for your help. Josie
Josie,
You can spray them if you like, that will kill some grass but you can reseed the next day after spraying. Or just keep digging them out.
Had nice wisteria on pergola years back that did not flower. was told to aggressively root prune (3-10 ft back from main stems) worked great. will probably stop your runners too
I don’t like the hoops I have to go through to get to see how to grow massive roots You already got my email address or I wouldn’t be interested in the massive roots!!!!!
Carrol,
Massive roots on what? Had you simply asked a question I could have directed you to an article that will help you. Start here; http://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/
Is Carrol referring to your ad to the right of this column? “1 Simple Trick Produces Massive Roots”. It has a place to click to ‘view trick. Sounds like what she’s talking about.
Hi, Mike, One of my projects this spring will be training a Harry Lauder into a tree… I watched your video on how to do that, but where do you get your stakes? I haven’t been able to find one nearly as tall as those appear to be… I’m thinking they must be at least 10 ft. tall? Thank you.
Melinda,
You can use 1/2″ electrical tubing, very easy to find.
How about best way to get rid of Creeping Charlie?
Robert,
See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2013/07/how-to-control-creeping-charlie/
I understand Boron/ Borax (Twenty Mule) is effective, but need to be very careful. Too much kills the grass too, and area probably wont take new seed for quite awhile. Boron is also toxic to pets, so not a good idea if your pets run and sit in the grass.
Hey Mike,
Do you know any way to get rid of Japanese Climbing Fern besides nuking the whole area with Roundup?
Pulling and digging make it multiply. Burning makes it multiply. It’s perfectly happy to grow & send runners under a foot of mulch.
I hate using herbicides but I think it might be our last resort.
Any ideas?
Ellen,
Of course it’s possible but you have to be persistent. Get all of the vegetation out then keep the area tilled. Never let new sprouts get more than a couple of inches. See this https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2019/11/organic-weed-control-an-alternative-to-chemical-herbicides/
We have a small yard and landscape so we didn’t put any weed barriers down but we mulch heavy in the spring. Mike, you mentioned about creating a water hole when planting in clay soil. Well, I did just that and it makes sense now why my hydrangeas seemed to not be doing real well in their beds. I dug large holes and replaced with good soil then planted my shrubs. We didn’t own a rototiller when we first began so I did it all by myself with a shovel..argh! Now, this spring I need to go back and till around those shrubs all down the side of the house BUT what do I do about the drainage with the clay soil now that I’ve amended the soil around my annabelle hydrangeas and boxwoods? Drainage pipe? Gravel streamed down under the soil? on top? Oh my! We hoped to put in irrigation system to water them as well but we’d end up with a pool at the roots of my shrubs. Ideas welcomed. My husband is garden and decor challenged so it’s just ole me digging..how can I fix this?
Lori,
The solution is pretty simple. Just raise those shrubs up in the early spring before they leaf out and fill around the roots with topsoil. I’ve landscaped between 500 and 1,000 homes and the only thing I ever did was raise the beds with topsoil before we planted anything. All of those plants thrived.
Thanks Mike! I will do that. That makes total sense…as you see my light bulb in my head light up! That’s it!
Your a life saver…well a shrub saver:0)
The neighborhood cats use my flowerbed as a litter box. It is under the overhand from the roof and is always dry.
Thanks
Cathy, see this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2014/05/how-to-keep-cats-out-of-garden/
I want to replace my grass with ground covers but don’t know what will do well in Fl.
Nancy,
In all honesty either do I. Keep in mind, a project like this takes years before the ground cover fills in enough to keep weeds at bay. It will be a lot of maintenance until then.
Any suggestions for a yard that does not have grass in Maryland?
Esther,
Lots of info on this page about growing grass. New lawn? Too much shade?