Expert tips to jumpstart spring gardening

After a long cold winter, I’m dreaming of the time I’ll spend in the garden later this spring and summer. Shawnee County Extension Master Gardeners have some advice for where to begin. If you didn’t cut your perennials back in the fall, now is the time to do so. It’s important to remove last year’s growth before new growth in the spring to give your plants plenty of room to shine. 

Spring is also a great time to refresh the mulch in your landscapes. Mulch acts like a blanket for the soil, helping reduce evaporation of the water you put on your plants and keep the soil temperature more stable. Organic mulches like wood chips or straw are fantastic to use because they breakdown over time and improve the soil.

Plan & research plants to add to your garden

In early March start thinking about what plants you want to add to your landscape. It’s still just a bit too early to get new shrubs and plants in the ground, but it’s a perfect time to plan. Before you go to the nursery I encourage you to check out kansasroots.org. This website houses a compilation of all the recommended plants for Kansas, from low-growing ground covers to the tallest trees. The plants on this site are adapted to our Kansas climate.

Address invasive plants

Remove invasive plants (like winter creeper pictured) from the landscape in early spring. Often these plants out-compete the plants we like, so early detection and control is key to their management. These plants, like Callery pears and honeysuckle, are very aggressive and can disrupt the local ecosystem. Master Gardener Becky Harwick will talk about identifying invasive plants, strategies to rein them in and earth-friendly alternatives to plant in their place on March 13. If you’d like to learn more, check out Invasive Plants: Guide to Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species by Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman and Wallace Kaufman and Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants by C. Colston Burrell, Janet Marinelli and Bonnie Harper-Lore.

Grow edible plants

In addition to providing delicious food, vegetable plants can be a beautiful addition to the landscape, are attractive to pollinators, and help dissuade insect pests from colonizing your annuals and perennials. Join Master Gardener Linda Jakle on April 10 to learn more about what vegetables fit well in your flower bed. For more reading check out Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist: How to Have your Yard and Eat It Too by Michael Judd and Your Edible Yard: Landscaping with Fruits and Vegetables by Crystal Stevens.

Integrate pest management

If you struggle with pest and disease issues in your landscape and garden, it might be time to utilize Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which focuses on early detection to stop pest and disease issues before they start. If control methods are needed, IPM focuses on using the methods with lowest environmental impact before jumping straight to spraying a chemical. Join Master Gardener Kevin Siek on May 8 to learn more about adopting these practices in your home landscape and garden. For more information check out Grow More with Less: Sustainable Garden Methods for Great Landscapes with Less Water, Less Work, and Less Money by Vincent A. Simeone.

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Written by Lane Wiens, Shawnee County Horticulture Extension Agent