OUTDOOR NEWSLETTER

You can prune in February but do not prune in the spring. Flowering shrubs such as (azaleas, flowering quince, forsythias, or lilacs) or you will sacrifice blooms. Start looking for seeds you will want for your garden or order your seeds early to get the varieties you want.
In March you may want to uncover roses, bulbs and perennials, but do not hurry to uncover them.  Pull mulch back gradually as plants show signs of growth and by April 15 you can uncover them and not worry about the cold doing damage to them.  You can prune branches of flowering shrubs like, forsythia, early spirea, flowering peach, and quince will bloom indoors in a vase of water.
April is the best time to fertilize all your trees, shrubs, perennials, and fruit giving plants.  A tree and shrub fertilizer is a good fertilizer to use in the spring on your plants.  Fertilizing your plants early will give them the boost they will need to put out new growth.  You will need to make a list of your fruit giving plants and see what kind of fertilizer they will need, example; blueberries need to be given ammonium sulfate.  Also, keep in mind that you will be eating the fruit, so you may want to go with an organic fertilizer on your fruit giving plants.


For more gardening tips visit: http://extension.missouri.edu/bollinger/ Greater Southeast Master Gardeners