It’s time to get out and get some spring chores done. This should be easy since we are surrounded by so many beautiful blooming plants this time of year.

Many plants can and should be divided this month. Liriope and other similar grasses should be divided when they get over crowded, or about every three to four years. Simply dig up the clump and use a sharp knife or spade to cut the plant apart. Make sure you leave a good bit of root on each clump and replant 12-16 inches apart.

You can also divide shasta daisies this month. Make sure you dig up the entire clump. You may be able to tease the clumps apart. If not, use a knife. Mix some compost into the soil before replanting. Mums and most other perennials can be divided in the same manner. Use a clean knife to avoid the spread of disease.

This is also the time to prune any freeze-damaged and dead wood from trees and shrubs. Wait until spring flowering shrubs like azaleas are finished blooming before you prune them.

Most of the local stores have a variety of vegetables available now. It is easy to intersperse vegetables into your flower beds. This is becoming a very popular trend for many reasons. You can grow enough of most vegetables for your own use without dedicating a large space to a vegetable garden. It is also more aesthetically pleasing to incorporate the vegetables into the flower garden. Another added benefit is that plants, both flowers and vegetables, are more resistant to pests when they are mixed. For example, one plant that might otherwise attract a specific pest may be planted near other types of plants that repel the same pest. You do not have to spend time reading about the plants and the pests they attract, just mix it up and have fun!

Now a word on mulch. You probably think I can’t go a month without mentioning it, but it is important for so many reasons. If you did a good job of mulching last fall you are probably in pretty good shape, but don’t forget to mulch around new plantings. You will have much greater success, especially as the heat of summer approaches.

The Adams County Master Gardeners are having a plant sale April 23. The plant sale will be at Copiah-Lincoln’s Natchez campus for the first time. Through a partership with the master gardeners and Co-Lin, we now have a fabulous greenhouse. Master gardeners have been working through the winter in the greenhouse to make a large variety of plants available at the sale. There will also be workshops on various topics. The sale will be from 7:30 a.m. to noon in the parking lot in front of the greenhouse.

Email your questions or comments to me at newsroom@natchezdemocrat.com.

 

Karen O’Neal is an Adams County Master Gardener. She writes a monthly column for The Democrat.