REGIONAL GARDENING NOTES
Pacific Northwest
Prune and fertilize spring-blooming shrubs and trees after they finish flowering.
Early this month, fertilize your lawn. Spring rains will soak the fertilizer into the soil.
Start marigold, zinnia, cosmos, and nasturtium seeds indoors.
Look for perennial vegetables like horseradish and asparagus in garden centers. Choose dormant plants (ones
that show no active growth) and plant them right away.
Southwest
Don't overwater your cacti. You'll know you're watering too much if your saguaro cactus swells and cracks.
Other types of cacti and succulents turn yellow, rot, and fall over.
Spring is the time when rabbits, pocket gophers, and javelina begin raiding gardens in search of food. Two-foot-high
chicken wire fencing keeps rabbits away from your garden; hardware cloth supported by strong, 3-foot-tall posts will deter
javelina.
If you've had hornworms on your tomatoes in the past, try planting cherry tomatoes. They have thicker skins
and a higher alkaloid content, which seems to repel the worm.
Midwest/Mountain
As weather warms, uncover mulched roses and other flowering perennials. Remove some mulch each day so plants
gradually get used to spring weather.
Sow cool-season annual and vegetable seeds such as peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes, cabbage, violas, and
pansies.
Fertilize grapes, raspberries, and blueberries before growth resumes in the spring.
If you need to prune oaks, do it before April 15. Oaks pruned later are more likely to get oak wilt disease,
which is spread by infected beetles feeding on sap from fresh wounds.
Northeast
If you want your holiday poinsettia to rebloom, start now by cutting it back until there are only a few
buds left on each stem. Set the plant outside when danger of freezing is past, and grow it as a potted plant.
Before buds start to open, remove and destroy gypsy moth and eastern tent caterpillar eggs on trees and
shrubs. Gypsy moths have buff-colored eggs, while eastern tent caterpillars lay eggs in brownish masses resembling a large
raisin.
Remove dead foliage or stems from perennials if you didn't do it last fall.
Southeast
After spring-flowering bulbs have bloomed, feed them with a bulb fertilizer. Allow their foliage to turn
brown and die before cutting it back.
Once night temperatures reach 60°F, plant caladium tubers 1 to 2 inches deep in loose, well-drained soil
with plenty of organic matter. They thrive in shade with dappled light or morning sun.
Plant okra, pumpkins, squash, sweet corn, lima beans, collards, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, tomatoes,
snap beans, cantaloupes, and watermelon.
