It’s spring!

Nurseries and garden centers are bursting with colorful flowers. Store shelves are stocked with products promising to deliver greener and lusher lawns. Vegetable seed packets are packed tightly in store display compartments. And flower beds are begging for a weeding and a fresh layer of mulch.

Do the pleasant springtime temperatures and abundant golden sunshine have your head dancing with visions of bountiful vegetable gardens and overflowing flower beds? To bring your garden dreams to fruition, you’ll need to get off your duff and prepare to get your hands dirty.

Now is a great time to get out and browse the garden centers and nurseries for ideas and inspiration.

It’s better to have a plan of action before you begin planting. That way you’ll avoid making landscape mistakes that end up costing you time and money.

Folks have already begun ducking into greenhouses and milling about local nurseries and garden centers, fetching what they can plant now and making mental notes of what they’ll plant later.

“They’ve got spring fever,” said Margaret Thompkins, manager of Southland Nurseries off U.S. 501 in Myrtle Beach. “They’re going crazy over the azaleas, trees and shrubs. And people are asking for palms.”

If you’re new to the area or a seasoned gardener, we’ve put together a spring gardening guide designed to inspire, motivate and keep you on task with advice and tips from environmental horticulturist Gary Forrester, environmental horticulturist with Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service, the National Gardening Association, “Southern Lawns” by Bert McCarty and Lowe’s:

What to do now

If you haven’t already, spend this weekend cleaning up flower beds, clearing away debris, weeds and cutting back dead perennials. Remove old mulch and prepare for a new layer. Grab your rake, clippers and a trowel for extracting stubborn roots.

Heavy pruning should have been done by now, but take time to recheck shrubs for winter damage and trim away dead or damaged plant material. Avoid pruning plants that bloom in the spring, such as forsythia and lilac, until after the flowers have bloomed and fallen away. Loppers are best for this job.

Do a soil test to gauge the health of your soil. To do this, pull 10 to 15 sub-samples of soil from various areas in the yard. Mix them to create a composite sample, shooting for about a quart. Have it analyzed at the local Clemson Extension office, which costs $6 per sample. Act fast as it can take up to 14 days for a completed analysis.

Devise a gardening plan. Decide what plantings you’ll use to accentuate your landscape and what vegetables you’ll plant. Avoid overplanting and consider how much time you want to spend in the garden in July. A small vegetable garden may yield all you need. Visit area nurseries and garden shops for ideas.

Time is running out for transplanting trees, which should be done by the end of the month.

When planting trees, avoid planting deeper than the height of the root ball and dig it twice as wide as the root ball. Add some peat moss in the soil for added nutrients. Planting too deeply will hinder growth.

Prime your lawn mower for the season. Drain any leftover fuel from the previous season. Check the air filter. Wash a foam filter in soapy water or replace a soiled paper filter. Check the spark plug, replacing a cracked one. Check the oil and sharpen the blade. Replace cracked, chipped, bent or worn blades. Finally, tighten all screws and check tire treads, replacing worn wheels.

What to do next week

Inspect your lawn and shrubs for warm-weather pests, such as mole crickets, which are on the move as they search for a mate. Mounding and tunneling are evidence of their presence. To treat the pest, use a labeled turf insecticide if damage becomes extensive.

Examine shrubs for the presence of aphids and white flies, which can be treated with a contact insecticide or a systemic. However, avoid harming beneficial insects.

An infestation of broadleaf winter weeds can be treated with an application of weed killer, but avoid treatment when the grass begins to green up.

Consider adding a butterfly garden to your landscape this year. Keep in mind butterflies thrive in full sun, so choose an area that gets at least six hours of sun each day. Morning to midafternoon sun works best.

Add a flat stone near your plantings as butterflies prefer to bask in the sunshine for their wings to absorb the sun’s warmth. Also consider adding a puddling place, which allows the insects to gather in groups on wet sand or mud and absorb minerals from the soil.

To create a puddle place, put a shallow pan in the soil, fill it with coarse sand and keep it moist by placing it under a soaker hose or near a drip emitter.

Top perennials for attracting butterflies include aster, black-eyed Susan, butterfly weed, Joe-pye weed, lantana and phlox. Top trees and shrubs include blueberry, hawthorn, redbud, spiraea and viburnum. Top annuals include impatiens, marigolds, caladium, monkey flower and wishbone flower.

Move your houseplants outdoors to a partially shaded spot for a few hours, allowing them to acclimate slowly to the new outdoor temperatures.

Till your vegetable garden in preparation for planting and make a plan. Sketch out a map, showing arrangement and spacing of crops, keeping the tall and trellised crops on the north side of the garden so they don’t shade the shorter vegetables.

Keep in mind that gardens need at least six hours of direct sun daily.

Now through mid-April

Now is the time to plant beans, cantaloupe, honeydew, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, peas, peppers, corn, squash, tomatoes and watermelon.

Where space is limited, consider raising vegetables in containers. Use a sterile mix to avoid insect and disease infestation and choose dwarf varieties. Place containers in full sun and water as needed.

Be sure to mow your lawn at the proper mowing height. Heights vary according to the type of turfgrass you have. This time of year, turfgrasses can be mowed at their lowest height. Optimal height for Bermuda grass is 1-1½ inches every three to five days; 1-2 inches for centipede grass every 10-14 days; 2-3 inches for fine fescue every seven to 14 days; 2½-4 inches for regular St. Augustine every seven to 14 days; and 2½-3½ inches for tall fescue every seven to 14 days.

Want to attract hummingbirds? Plant salvia, pineapple sage and honeysuckle.

Got a shady or partially shaded area you want to beautify? Plant these perennials: false spireas, bleeding heart, ferns, coral bells, coleus, impatiens and hosta.

Want pops of color in an area that gets full sun? Try planting roses, daylilies, black-eyed Susans, phlox, begonias, petunias and vinca.

Be sure to mulch flower beds to reduce weeds, conserve moisture and reduce compaction. Choose either an organic material or synthetic compound, such as ground rubber or synthetic pinestraw. Apply it no thicker than 1-2 inches on clay soils with poor drainage and no more than 3-4 inches on sandy soil. Avoid mounding mulch around tree trunks as this can cause the trunk to stay damp and invite disease.

source : www.myrtlebeachonline.com By Elaine Gaston