Gardening calendar

April - weeks 1 and 2

• Cool-season vegetables: finish sowing seeds outdoors; thin crowded seedlings from earlier plantings. Finish transplanting broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower plants into the garden; high phosphorous fertilizers help get transplants off to a quick start.
• Roses can have their winter mulch removed. Prune canes but only remove dead wood from the climbers at this time. Cultivate soil lightly and work in some compost or other organic matter.
• Stink bugs and tarnished plant bugs are becoming active on peaches.
• Examine shrubs for winter injury. Prune all dead and weakened wood.
• When crabapples are in bloom, hardy annuals can be transplanted outdoors.
• Eastern tent caterpillars start to make their tents in crotches of trees. Destroy or prune off the webs; B.t. is a safe, biological spray.
• Asparagus and rhubarb harvests begin. Asparagus beetles can be picked off by hand.
• Groundcovers can be mowed to remove winterburn and to tidy up plants. Raise mower to the highest setting. Fertilize and water to encourage rapid regrowth.
• Bare-root or potted fruits should be planted as soon as the soil can be worked.
• Termites begin swarming. Termites can be distinguished from ants by their thick "waists" and straight antennae. Ants have slender "waists" and elbowed antennae.
• Look for morel mushrooms when lilacs bloom and the forest floor turns green.

• Prune boxwoods after April 15. Evergreen and deciduous hedges may be sheared; prune the top narrower than the base to allow sunlight to reach lower limbs.
• Prune spring-flowering ornamentals after they finish blooming.
• When selecting bedding plants, choose compact, bushy plants that have not begun to flower.
• "Slow starters" in the garden include balloon flower, hardy hibiscus, gasplant, some lilies, and butterfly milkweed. Cultivate carefully to avoid injuring these plants and others that are slow to break dormancy.
• Break off the rim from peat pots when transplanting seedlings, otherwise the pot acts as a wick to draw moisture away from the roots.

(Missouri Botanical Garden)