TIPS

MARCH / APRIL:

• Clean planting beds of winter debris such as leaves, twigs and branches.
         
• Prune dead canes on roses and broken branches of deciduous plants.
         
• Cultivate soil and add fertilizer to roses and flowering shrubs.
         
• Spade edge planting beds to redefine the bedline.
         
• Add bark mulch if needed.  Keep an average 2” coverage of mulch.
         
• Aerate and fertilize lawn.  Reseed areas where needed.
         
• Tune up the lawn mower and get the blade sharpened.

MAY / JUNE:

Prune evergreens.  Remove all dead or undesirable wood.  Be careful
not to over prune.  Evergreens, broadleaf and needle, will benefit from
a light spreading of a high nitrogen fertilizer at the base of each plant.
         
Prune deciduous flowering shrubs and ornamental trees ONLY AFTER THEY FLOWER.  (Example, forsythia and lilacs.)

Do not remove bulb foliage until it begins to turn yellow and dies back. 

It is also a good time to make a friend in the neighborhood by dividing some of your large perennial massings, such as daylilies, and giving them to your neighbors, family or friends.