The snow has melted, the temperature is on the rise and the ground has drained of its excess water. These conditions met, it is finally time to give in to gardening fever! Some actions taken before planting will depend on part of our future success in the garden. To start the season on the right foot, here is our program, step by step.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Take your time… or not
Spring cleaning is the kind of work we do as a family at Mélanie Grégoire’s. “As my children are still young and get tanned quickly, I stretch the work over several days,” says the director of Serres Saint-Élie, in Sherbrooke. Whether you stagger the work over time or are more of the type to do everything at once, there are plenty of excuses to take advantage of the beautiful days that accompany the arrival of spring.
Take inventory
After the winter break, get to know your gardening tools again. Of course, you’ve already cleaned and brushed them in the fall, but refreshing them with soapy water never hurts, all season long. A fine sandpaper can remove rust spots, a file or a whetstone, to restore bite to sharp tools. While an oil (vegetable for the metal parts and engine for the mechanisms) gives them a makeover while protecting them and ensuring their proper functioning. How much mulch, compost or fertilizer will you need? Plan a visit to the garden center if needed.
Free the plants
If, in April, we do not uncover ourselves with a thread, it is different for our plants. To prevent them from suffering from heat or excess humidity at the root, it’s time to remove their winter protection if you haven’t already done so. Ideally proceed at the end of the day or on a shady day to avoid too sudden a shock to the leaves and buds.
Cut
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
It is important to rid plants of dead, damaged or diseased branches and leaves.
In order to protect the roots of plants from the cold and prevent soil erosion, you have probably postponed the fall cleaning in the spring. Good ! Uproot the previous year’s annuals, prune dead, damaged or diseased branches from trees and shrubs, and cut the stems of your herbaceous perennials to make room for new growth. Shrubs that flower on new stems such as the tree and panicle hydrangea or the Japanese spirea can be pruned by a third to obtain a more aesthetic and compact habit. “Personally, I never prune my shrubs, except to remove damaged stems,” says Mélanie Grégoire. Your choice, then. Those that bloom on old wood like lilac, big-leaved hydrangea (H. macrophylla), dogwood or forsythia can be pruned within two weeks of flowering. Make sure your tools are clean. To avoid contamination, clean secateurs with alcohol before pruning or after removing a diseased branch.
The big cleaning
Remove debris, loosen the previous year’s mulch and hoe the soil to break up the surface crust. Small leaves and those that have been shredded to cover the soil of flowerbeds in the fall can be put back in place by simply airing them out. “It’s compost!” “, emphasizes the horticulturist. The large leaves, however, may hinder the water supply to the roots. If the soil is still waterlogged, avoid compacting it by trampling the lawn and flower beds.
enrich the earth
If you garden in pots, there is no need to get rid of the soil they contain each year. However, nutrients will need to be added. “Every spring, add a third of compost to the mix and rotate the crop to reduce the spread of parasites,” advises Mélanie Grégoire. Wait until planting time, because there is no need to feed unwanted weeds in the vegetable garden, in your planters or in flower beds in the meantime. Around trees, shrubs and perennials, however, you can amend the soil at the tip of the roots, i.e. to a width equivalent to the periphery of the foliage.
Refill the lawn
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Spring—once the risk of frost on the ground is over—is the ideal season to replenish the lawn.
Is the lawn bare in places? When all danger of frost has passed and before weeds invade the territory, be sure to conquer it. Rake the soil to loosen it and level the surface. Sow, spread a thin layer of compost, then compact the soil with your feet or a lawn roller to bury the seeds.
The final touch
At this point, you can congratulate yourself on the work accomplished… or almost. Before having an aperitif, lay a layer of mulch about 10 cm deep in your flowerbeds and at the base of shrubs and trees, making sure to clear the collar of the plants to prevent rot. You thus preserve the humidity on the ground while saving you the work of weeding during the rest of the season!