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Home » Gardening Tips » Gardening Things You Should Know for Spring.

Gardening Things You Should Know for Spring.

Updated : February 12, 2020

27 Comments

Black Eyed Susan

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.

Stump Removal Instructions.

Stump Removal Tools.

How to Edge a Bed.

Planting Grass Seed.

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!

23 Landscaping Ideas!

Dividing Perennials.

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?

How to Trim Fruit Trees.

What did I miss? What do you need to know? Post your questions, comments or mean things to say below and I’ll respond.

Take a gander at these posts...

  • Do You Have Shotgun Fungus?
  • How To Identify Poison Ivy
  • How to Get Rid of Japanese Beetles and Grubs in Your Lawn
  • Hydrangeas: When do I prune them? Why didn’t they flower?
  • Enhance Your Landscape With Roses

Comments

  1. JAN BRIEN says

    March 15, 2022 at 6:17 pm

    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!

    Reply
  2. Mel K says

    March 6, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      March 7, 2021 at 9:58 am

      Mel,

      All I can suggest is wet them and re-plant them and see what happens.

      Reply
  3. Patty Murphy says

    March 6, 2021 at 11:40 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      March 7, 2021 at 10:00 am

      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.

      Reply
  4. Josie says

    February 20, 2020 at 10:44 am

    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

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 21, 2020 at 7:49 am

      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.

      Reply
    • JOHN SVEC says

      March 7, 2021 at 2:06 pm

      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

      Reply
  5. Carrol says

    February 19, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    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!!!!!

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:11 am

      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; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2015/01/easy-summertime-plant-propagation-techniques-can-home/

      Reply
      • Dottie says

        March 6, 2021 at 3:29 pm

        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.

        Reply
  6. Melinda says

    February 19, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:12 am

      Melinda,

      You can use 1/2″ electrical tubing, very easy to find.

      Reply
  7. Robert Padula says

    February 19, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    How about best way to get rid of Creeping Charlie?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:17 am

      Robert,

      See this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2013/07/how-to-control-creeping-charlie/

      Reply
    • Anonymous says

      March 7, 2021 at 2:21 pm

      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.

      Reply
  8. Ellen says

    February 19, 2020 at 11:48 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:19 am

      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/

      Reply
  9. Lori says

    February 19, 2020 at 10:07 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:29 am

      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.

      Reply
      • Lori says

        February 20, 2020 at 5:23 pm

        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)

        Reply
  10. Cathy says

    February 19, 2020 at 10:05 am

    The neighborhood cats use my flowerbed as a litter box. It is under the overhand from the roof and is always dry.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:29 am

      Cathy, see this; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/2014/05/how-to-keep-cats-out-of-garden/

      Reply
  11. Nancy macfarland says

    February 19, 2020 at 8:46 am

    I want to replace my grass with ground covers but don’t know what will do well in Fl.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 20, 2020 at 8:30 am

      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.

      Reply
  12. esther bardack says

    February 19, 2020 at 7:53 am

    Any suggestions for a yard that does not have grass in Maryland?

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 19, 2020 at 8:17 am

      Esther,

      Lots of info on this page about growing grass. New lawn? Too much shade?

      Reply

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