Rain, wind and snow continue, so it
must be Spring. We should be seeing a few crocus soon. And May will
bring the tulips and daffs. We did get outside on a few warm days to
begin the chore of cleaning up dog stuff. Found some deer stuff in the
yard, too. Right alongside a few chomped remnants of iris and
bellflower; now they really liked that bellflower. Right to the ground
they liked it But I'm glad the deer prefer the bellflower to my iris.
Iris cleanup and weeding will be the major chores as the month
progresses. I don't trim mine in the fall as some good gardeners do,
so there's plenty of trimming and clean-up in the spring. Working in
some compost or other fertilizer will be helpful for later bloom. Be
careful when working around the iris plants to avoid damaging the
rhizomes.
Not much soil activity takes place until the soil warms up to about 40
degrees, so as the iris plants begin to grow they rely heavily on
nutrients stored in the rhizome the previous year. Most growth occurs
above ground as the plant produces leaves and flowers. New iris roots
develop as the bloom stalks begin to swell in the fans. These new
roots will help supply nutrients for new growth during and after
bloom. The old roots will die and wither away. During approximately
six to eight weeks after bloom the rhizome stores much of the food it
will need for the next spring's growth, initiates increase buds and
sets new bloom stalk buds. While iris do need to be fed from time to
time, it is essential that fertilizing be done early in the spring so
the fertilizer can be broken down into forms the plants can use. The
finest quality of bloom is developed in richer soil, but be careful as
the soft growth that too much food produces is more susceptible to the
dreaded root
rot. So I lean toward a little, not a lot of feeding. For most of us a
5-10-10 or 6-10-6 commercial fertilizer will work quite well. Organic
based fertilizers are also available in various formulations or you
can mix your own. Iris does need calcium, too.
Now, for the fun stuff. Starting seed indoors can be very rewarding
this time of year. I've compiled a start up list for our area, based
on our average last frost. When I put this together several years ago,
our average last frost was May 27th in Missoula and May 24th in
Hamilton. Generally we have about 111 frost free days. The dates are
weeks before last frost:
7 weeks ahead or about 4/8:
- Broccoli out
- Lettuce out
- Zinnia seed in
- Dwarf marigold seed in
- Basil seed in
- Glad bulbs in pots
- Dahlia bulbs in pots
4 weeks ahead or about 4/29:
- Cabbage plants out
- Radish seed out
- Restart tomato seed inside
- if the whiteflies
get them
- Lettuce out
- Squash in
- Pumpkin in
- Basil in
- Restart pepper seed inside if
- whiteflies get
them
- Cantaloupe in
- Corn inside in peat pots
- Cosmos inside
- Green beans inside
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6 weeks ahead or about 4/15:
- Lettuce out
- Spinach out
- Onions out
- Radish out
- Tall marigolds in
- Alyssium in
- Cabbage seed out
- Peas out
- Carrot seed out
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5 weeks ahead or about 4/22:
- Beets out
- Potatoes out
- Melon inside
- Swiss chard out
- More lettuce out for a staggered crop
- Calendula in
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Talk to you next month.
Carol Addeo
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