April 2010 Gardening Checklist

• Prime planting season is here! It’s a good month to plant most trees, shrubs, evergreens and perennials as well as vegetables and annuals that can tolerate potential frost, such as spinach, lettuce, radishes, pansies, snapdragons, dianthus and dusty miller.
• When new plants are 2 to 3 inches tall, apply Preen Garden Weed Preventer to prevent weeds all season. In your vegetable garden, apply Preen Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer once per month.
• April is also the time to dig and divide perennial flowers – especially ones that bloom in fall, such as mums and sedum. Dig up the clumps and either pull them apart or cut them into fist-sized sections with a knife, spade or even ax, if necessary. Replant the pieces at the same depth, and you’ll have free new plants.
• April is ideal for transplanting trees, shrubs, evergreens and perennials that you realize are in the wrong place or in need of more room. The younger the plant, the better odds it’ll survive the move. Try to get as much of the rootball as possible and replant immediately at the same depth. Then water as you would with a new plant.
• Not enough spring color from bulbs? You don’t have to wait until fall to plant more dormant bulbs. Add impact now by planting blooming, potted bulb plants from the garden center. Most will come back in future years. Add some to flower pots, too.
• Start pruning early-spring-flowering trees and shrubs such as forsythia, redbud, star magnolia, viburnum, cherry, pear and bridalwreath spirea right after they’re done blooming. Evergreen hedges also can be sheared, and roses can be pruned just as the buds start to poke out.