Newsletter for the week of April Fifth.
We are so excited to be ready this spring offering consulting, planning, design and maintenance services for your edible raised bed garden! Spring is officially here and it’s time to get your garden ready for a new year of growth and harvest.
Spring Clean Up
All the little shelters you left for wildlife in the fall should be cleaned up now, especially if you’re direct seeding. Slugs love to hide under leaves, rocks, and other debris left on the ground and you’ll need to be vigilant in keeping slugs away from new seedlings. Now is also prime time to get a jump on your weeds. Temperatures are cool enough that many seeds won’t yet germinate and weeds are still semi-dormant. Getting the little starts out now will help keep weeds from multiplying once the weather warms.
Cover Crops – What you can start right now
Some annual clovers, vetch, and other legumes can be started right now. When using cover crops you’ll want to consider your goals, timing of sowing and harvest, and cultural conditions. One of my favorite flowers, and a great cover crop to start right now, is Phacelia tanacetifolia, or Lacy Phacelia. They have gorgeous feathery flowers in a bluish lavender and ferny foliage attractive to ladybugs. In addition to attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects, their roots do an incredible job of softening and conditioning the top few inches of soil in a new bed. This feature makes them an excellent first crop before you try putting in annual vegetables. They can be weedy however, so if you don’t want them reseeding all over your garden you’ll want to cut or till them before they’re in full flower so they don’t go to seed. Sometimes in new areas I like allowing them to seed out to “upgrade” my weeds and get something more beneficial into the seed bank.
Dormant Pruning
There is still time to prune back your perennials, shrubs and vines while they’re dormant. Raspberries, grapes, perennial herbs and other berries often need some spring pruning for productivity and longevity. With perennial herbs like oregano, lavender or rosemary I like to do a hard prune once new growth begins to appear. Lavender especially benefits from a hard prune in late winter and late summer, to prevent the accumulation of old wood which is very porous and attracts rot.
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