Thinking Gardening in Early, Early Spring
A bleak landscape. Frozen soil. Dreary weather. Not much inspiration to think about gardening. Yet there are some outdoor tasks that might be done now and it is a pleasant time to look at catalogues and garden books and make plans for better weather. It surely must be coming soon.
Late winter or March is a good time to prune most deciduous trees, shrubs and vines, with some exceptions, which will be noted shortly. With no leaves in the way, it’s easy to see what you’re doing. Also with spring just around the corner, the plants will soon begin to heal.
A good plant to start on would be the red-twig dogwood. The red color is mostly on new growth. The older twigs are brownish. We cut ours back severely at this time of year. If you stick the cuttings in the ground, you may soon have a whole hedge of dogwood as they root easily.
In early spring, prune shrubs and vines that flower in summer, broad-leaved evergreens, and all roses except climbers. An example of a summer flowering vine would be Autumn Clematis. They should be pruned back severely.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs in late spring, right after they’ve bloomed. Summer or winter pruning of these plants will remove the buds and prevent flowering. A bush like the vigorous forsythia is in this group, and a third of its growth should be cut back to the ground each year.
In early summer, prune climbing roses, as well as birch, dogwood, elm, maple, yellowwood and walnut trees, which “bleed” (exude a lot of sap) if pruned in winter.
When pruning trees, remove branches to where they’re attached to the trunk. Don’t cut off just part of a branch, and don’t cut into the trunk. Instead stop at the swollen collar at the base of the branch.
Most fruit trees need regular pruning. The primary objectives are to create a strong tree form and maximize the harvest. During the first three years of growth, concentrate on developing three to five main branches. Space these main branches to fill all sides of the tree. This will promote development of side branches and fruiting wood. In the following years try to maintain a Christmas tree shape.
Each type of fruit has a different bearing habit which determines the correct pruning procedures. Apples, cherries, pears and plums produce their best fruits on two- to three-year-old wood. Peaches produce their fruits on the previous year’s growth. Prune peaches heavily to remain productive. Prune apples and pears more selectively to avoid removing fruit-producing spurs. This information about pruning fruit trees came from the February issue of Tree Care Industry magazine.
March can be terribly stressful for birds. Birds like the gold finches replace their drab winter plumage with bright yellow. Although it’s not so obvious, many other birds molt at this time.
Male cardinals, song sparrows, Carolina wrens and chickadees spend much of their time in song vying for mates. Some will soon begin building nests. All of these activities require energy, or in other words - food. So please continue feeding until the trees leaf out. Even those pesky squirrels are searching under every feeder for every dropped seed.
This time of year would be a great time to take a field trip to James Cunningham’s house at 125 Baker Street in Green Springs. His backyard is home to the largest colony of purple martin houses in Ohio. He often has more than two hundred birds there. There probably isn’t a mosquito within miles. The first spring he put up a 16- compartment house, and he had a set of martins. After that he experimented and developed his own design which he patented. He now has at least 12 poles each with four houses. Each house makes room for 16 nesting pairs, altogether room for 192 nesting pairs. He equips each pole with a lightening rod and a crank for lowering the houses for cleaning.
Another interesting bird that we like to see in the backyard is the yellow-shafted flicker. In years past, there were many stout stubs of trees that had broken off during winter storms that provided homes for flickers and other woodpeckers. Now in suburban landscapes such stubs are rare, and often if a flicker finds a suitable tree and excavates a hole, starlings arrive and drive the flickers away.
One solution to the flicker housing shortage can be bird houses built especially for them. Flickers have declined 52% since 1966. Flickers make good neighbors. They eat ants. They are fun to watch as they move up tree trunks. Their strong four-toed feet support them well as they chisel into the wood. They have thickened skulls and powerful neck muscles that cushion its brain from the pounding. Their tongues are flattened at the tip which allows them to maneuver eggs, pupae and adult insects from the soil. This information and directions for making a flicker nesting box are on page 68-69 of the May-June 2002 issue of Audubon magazine found at the Tiffin-Seneca Library. There you may also find directions for making bluebird houses, wren houses, and many other kinds. .
This is a great time to plan this year’s garden and browse through some of the many gardening books at the library. One I’ve seen recommended is Rosemary Verey’s English Country Gardens. Excellent color photographs of private English gardens. If the library doesn’t have it, it is very easy to order it through interlibrary loan.
Happy armchair gardening!
– Mary and Percy