Spring

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Spring

Farm Maintenance
Lawn/Garden - March
Lawn/Garden - April
Lawn/Garden - May

Home Maintenance Tips

Check all smoke alarms to make sure they are in working order
Check for curled, damaged or loose shingles. The use of binoculars may be helpful for high roofs.
Check painted surfaces for peeling, chipping, blistering or chalking paint, water damage or decay.
Check wood structural members, such as joists, beams and columns, with a screwdriver to be sure the wood is solid and free from decay.
Clean leaves and debris from around an outside heating/air conditioner condenser and trim back shrubs that may block air movement.
Clean your gutters. Before getting out the ladder to reach them, think about safety.
Conduct a tool inventory to make sure you have all the items you’ll be needing.
Examine all roof flashing and flashing around chimneys, vent stacks, roof edges, dormers, and skylights.
Examine all trim for tightness of fit, damage, or decay.
Examine the inside of the basement walls for dampness or water stains indicating seepage or leaks.
Flush and treat ponds/pools and bird baths of stagnant water to reduce mosquito breeding.
Have a professional technician service your heat pump at least every year.
Inspect door and window screens for tears. You can often repair small tears using a kit from your local hardware store. This will prevent insects from getting into your home, and keep you comfortable on the screened porch.
Now that the heating season is over, have a chimney sweep clean any fireplaces and flues.
Paint and seal all wood surfaces.
Paint fences and the exterior of your home, especially wood surfaces.
Prepare a bill of materials of needed items for purchase.
Prune trees and shrubs.
Reseal wood decks once a year.
Re-stock cleaning supplies like dust mask, rubber gloves, buckets, chemicals, brushes, etc.
Start your spring cleaning by arming yourself with large containers, ie boxes. totes, garbage cans and a clothes basket.
Wash all windows inside and out.

Farm Maintenance Tips

Apply recommended rates of fertilizer to pastures.
Begin the planning your parasite animal control program including worms, flys, lice, etc.
Check and treat animals for illnesses.
Check out and maintain all hay making equipment.
Confirm fresh water supply for all animals.
Drag manure piles in pastures to expose parasite larva.
For second harvests, fertilize hay fields again.
Keep records current for breeding dates, estimated delivery dates, weights and outcomes.
Make sure you have necessary space, equipment and supplies for birthing animals.
Monitor health and nutrition of pregnant animals.
Vaccinate, de-worm and provide balanced mix of proper animal feed.

Lawn/Garden Maintenance Tips - March
Lawns

If you plan to use a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent crabgrass or other summer annual weeds, apply before soil temperature reaches 55°F.
Now is the time to start spring fertilizer application. Slow release nitrogen should be applied by the first week of March. A quickly released material, such as 10-10-10, can be used up until the end of March.
It is time to start mowing. Fescue lawns should be mowed 3 inches high. Try to mow frequently enough to remove no more than 1/3 of the blade at a time.
Plant new seeds. March is the time to start planting lawn seeds for the spring.

Ornamentals

Cut back liriope, mondo grass and ornamental grasses.
Fertilize roses.
Prune crape myrtles to tree forms.
Re-pot house plants. Clean old pots thoroughly and use good quality potting soil. If the potting soil contains fertilizer, do not use additional fertilizer for 6 to 8 weeks.
Shape shrubbery, that need renovation, with sharp pruners. Do not prune spring blooming shrubs.
Slow release fertilizer can be applied to trees and shrubs.
Wait until late in the month to prune rose bushes and butterfly bush.

Fruits

Fertilize all fruit trees except pecans.
Plan to stay on top of pest control for fruit trees. See the home orchard guide at:
Plant blueberries, grapes and blackberries.
Prune figs in late March.
Prune fruit trees, blueberries and grapes.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/notes/Fruit/fdin002/fdin002.htm

Vegetables

Apply organics to the vegetable garden and work into the soil.
Install the trellis, or “pea fence” when planting English or edible-pod peas so the plants can begin to climb soon after emergence.
It is time to plant cool-season vegetables. Direct seed kale, spinach, lettuce, onions and peas. Mid to late-month set out transplants for cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower.
It takes about 6 weeks to grow tomato and pepper transplants from seed. Plant in late March for garden planting in early May.
Plant Irish potatoes.
Prepare beds for annuals and perennials.
Sometimes the best way to grow a new flower or vegetable variety, or perhaps heirloom varieties, is to start plants from seed. If you do not have a location with enough direct sunlight, transplants can be grown under florescent shop lights. See “Starting Plants from Seeds,” http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8703.html
Squash and cucumbers only take 4 weeks, so don’t start them indoors until April. Or just wait until the second week in May and plant the seeds in the garden.

Lawn/Garden Maintenance Tips - April
Lawns

If broadleaf (non-grass) weeds are present in April or early May, apply a broadleaf herbicide such as 2-4, D or MCPP, when weeds are growing.
Apply crabgrass preventer before the soil temperature reaches 55°F.
Continue to fertilize cool season lawns (fescue and bluegrass).
Maintain mowing height for fescue lawns at 3 to 3 1/2 inches.
Stressed lawns might benefit from core aerating. This really should have been done last month, so rent an aerator soon. Aerating will allow spring rains to soak into the ground more readily.

Ornamentals

As soon as spring blooming shrubs have finished blooming, it’s time to prune if they have gotten too large.
Control tea scale, lace bugs and white flies on shrubbery with a systematic insecticide.
Do not plant frost-tender flowers before May unless you will be able to cover them in case of frost.
Evergreen shrubs can be pruned now through June.
Fertilize roses.
Prune azaleas after they flower.
Put out mixed flowers in containers.
This is still a good time to plant shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Remember to keep them watered this summer.
Winter annual weeds such as chickweed and henbit should be addressed before they go to seed. Hand pulling is the best option in landscape beds. Broadleaf herbicides can be used as long as the chemical will not contact landscape plants.

Fruits

After flowering is finished, consider beginning your fungicide spray program to prevent black rot on grapes and brown rot on peaches and plums.
All fruit crops can still be planted.
Fertilize fruit trees, blueberries, grape vines, and brambles.
Finish pruning brambles, grape vines and fruit trees.

Vegetables

Asparagus should be coming up soon. Cut spears when they are about 4 to 6 inches long.
Have row cover fabric handy if frost sensitive crops are planted before May.
Perennial herbs such as rosemary, thyme and lavender can be planted later in the month.
Plant warm season vegetables. Delay planting peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Set out transplants for cool season crops such as cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce. Make sure they are hardened off before planting into the garden.
You can still plant potatoes as well as plant seeds for lettuce, beets and leafy greens.

Other
The first hummingbirds arrive in our area between April 10th and 15th. Get the hummingbird feeders cleaned and read
to go out.

Lawn/Garden Maintenance Tips - May
Lawns

Core aerate lawns.
Fertilize fescue and bluegrass lawns through May.
Fertilize warm season turf grasses.
Mow cool season grasses 2 1/2 to 3 inches high and keep the blade sharp.
Mow frequently enough to remove no more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time.
Plant grass seeds in early May.
Zoysiagrass lawns can be fertilized with 1/2 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet 3 weeks after the grass has greened-up.

Ornamentals

Do not remove leaves from bulbs until they have turned brown.
Fertilize and mulch shrubbery.
Fertilize roses and water them weekly.
If you move house plants outdoors for the summer, wait until nighttime temperatures are above 50 degrees. Do not place plants in direct sunlight.
If you would like to rearrange some of your daffodils, the bulbs can be moved now. Dig deep so you don’t damage the bulb. Keep the leaves and roots in tact and replant at the original depth.
Organic mulch is the best tool for maintaining soil moisture and reducing weeds in the landscape. Mulch should be 2 to 3 inches deep, including the old layer. More than that is not only a waste of money, it can be detrimental to plant growth.
Plant perennials.
Plant summer annuals such as periwinkle, petunias, begonias, berbena, marigolds and zinnias.
Plant summer flower bulbs.
Prune spring blooming shrubs soon after blossoms fade.
Repot root bound house plants and fertilize them monthly.

Fruits

Begin fungicide sprays, especially on peaches, plums and grapes.
Fruit trees may have set a good crop this year. But too many fruit on the tree is not a good thing. Thin apples, pears and peaches to about 6 inches apart when the fruit is the size of a nickel.
Keep weeds out of the strawberry bed and put straw mulch or pine needles around plants.

Vegetables

Check cabbage family crops for cabbage worms.
Plan the vegetable garden on paper. Keep the plan from year to year so you can plan crop rotations.
Prune herbs and vegetables.
Soil temperature should be warmed up to at least 65 degrees before planting beans, melons and okra – after May 5.
Thin seedlings of radishes, carrots, lettuce and other early plantings when they have 2 true leaves. Carrots and radishes should be thinned to 1 to 2 inches apart, lettuce and other greens to 6 inches.

Other
Honeybees may swarm in the spring. Swarms are not aggressive and not a cause for alarm. If you have a swarm of honeybees that takes up residence in an unwanted location, contact the Extension office for the names of beekeepers who may come and collect them.