Garden Checklist: Your spring garden is calling – and it’s hungry

Do you feel a little early spring fever? So does your garden. Get ready for the growing season ahead. It’s time to fertilize and prepare plants for their often rapid growth to come:

▪ Feed fruit trees before flowers open. Use a a fertilizer specifically labeled for fruit trees.

▪ Feed other mature trees and shrubs as spring growth appears.

▪ Feed strawberries and asparagus, two perennials from the vegetable garden that will soon hit high gear.

▪ Feed spring-blooming flowers and established perennials.

▪ Always make sure to saturate the soil around plants before adding fertilizers.

▪ Check for aphids on new growth. Knock them off with a strong spray of water or a squirt of insecticidal soap.

▪ Look out for snails and slugs. Hand-pick them off plants an hour after nightfall.

▪ Plant seed for beets, Swiss chard, collards, endive, fennel, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, peas, radicchio, radish and turnips.

▪ Transplant seedlings for broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce and leeks.

▪ Indoors, start tomatoes, eggplant and peppers from seed. They’ll be ready to transplant outdoors when weather warms in April or May.

▪ In the flower garden, plant seed for baby’s breath, calendula, California poppy, cornflower, forget-me-not, larkspur, nasturtium, nicotiana and snapdragon.

Debbie Arrington

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Garden Checklist: Your spring garden is calling – and it’s hungry."