Somewhat Stupid Question

Hey everyone, I'm kinda new to this forum. I've lurked a bit here reading, but I don't think I've posted before. Who knows, maybe I did post, it's so hard to keep track of things sometimes.

Ok, my somewhat stupid question is this...when can I start my spring clean up in the garden? I'm in zone 5 and it's still getting cold here and we are still getting some pretty heavy frosts. My Hyacinths, Crocus, Tulips and Daffs are just starting out of the ground now. I also have been watching my Delphiniums and they are up a bit. The Daylilies are just starting to peek through. No signs of the Hostas yet and no new growth on the Iris either.

For some reason I seem to have more clean up to do this spring than usual. The strange thing is that I thought I did a lot of clean up last fall too...more than usual.

How does everyone else judge when it's time to start removing the piles of leaves and dead, brown ickies from winter? When can I prune my fruit trees? I can hardly wait to get going, but I don't want to uncover everything too early. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help,
Heather

I'd say you can start now. Frosts will be fewer and lighter as the days go by. Let the sun hit the ground to help warm it.

Yay - you're back! You have posted here before...
i'm no expert, but i have been doing some cleanup when it is warm enough to go out and do it. i have just been cutting off dead leaves and stems from daylilies, coreopsis, and some herbs, but mostly leaving the mulch around stuff so it doesn't get too cold...

amy
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I raked a lot of leaves out of all my gardens today - one corner was still frozen.

hi heathrjoy- the sooner the better with cleanup is what i think! get out into the garden.... i try to get as much as i can done before bugs start biting! (up here we have some bad ones)

I actually had the same question so thanks Heather for asking and the others for answering. I raked some of the lawn today that was dry but I haven't started removing leaves form the gardens and uncovering the plants. Oh, hi Heather I forgot my manners!! Welcome to the Northeast Forum. I was so excited about reading the answer to your question that I forgot to welcome you. Just have to get through a little glitch in the weather tomorrow and then I can get started and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! Eleanor

I've heard that when the forsythia is in bloom, that's the time for the clean-up. I could be wrong in that respect, but for me up here in the cold North, it seems to be the most safe.

I did all my big cleaning up last week..... just have some spent plants to cut back now

Allison

Candyce - that sounds like a good plan!! My forsthyia doesn't look too far along yet! I'm not sure I can wait that long! This is my neighbor's forsthyia and this pic was taken in May! WOW - my little man looks so small! He really has grown a lot in the past year. Eleanor

I am almost finished with my cleanup. Trimming back and using the vac on leaves to shred and dump back in the garden. Planting lilies and other bulbs. Spring is finally here!

Hi and welcome again, I think clean up like leaves and twigs can be done any time they are not frozen to the ground. Any dead stalks also. Pruning roses and butterfly bushes I wait for the forsythia because it can trigger new growth that can get zapped by a heavy hard frost. Some people even do all the clean up in fall, I just do the mushy black dead stuff then. If there is a thick layer of oak leaves over things, I usually take it off in stages, because two things need to become accustomed to moving so much away, the plants and my back muscles. Have fun and get out there in the wonderful fresh sunshine of spring. :)

I hear you on the 'climatizing' of the back muscles, ngam!!

My daddy said we should start Spring cleanup when the yellow begins to appear on the Goldfinchs. At that time we lived in the warmer zone 5. He wanted to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Onions, spinach and lettuce within a week later.

Easter follows the moon. My daddy was very much into planting by the sign.

Cleanup in the gardens of course had to preceed the above. I clean up when the fork fits my hands and prune when the axe is sharp. Works for me.

Excellent advice, doc.

I start little by little promptly on march 15th, I finish when I take the covers off the A/C's. ☺

I just checked in to see if I had gotten any responses to this post...and HOLY COWS! Thanks everyone! I guess I know what DH and I will be doing during this week that he has off. Oh, I can't wait. Whoo-hoo, it's gardening time.

We stopped at Lowe's today and I just couldn't resist picking up some bright yellow pansies and some bright purple pots to put them in. They are just small pots, but will bring a lot of color while everything is till gray and brown and icky.

OooOOoooh, but I almost forgot...DH was supposed to build me some new compost bins for this spring's clean up. Tee hee hee. Guess we'll be going back to Lowes...I wonder how many pansies they'll have left???

One further tidbit...........If you are just begining use the KISMIF principle. Keep it small make it fun.
A little goes a long way when you are new or have lots of other responsibilites. More folks give up simply because they made the initial garden way to big to take care of.

My starter garden suggestion: Two tomato, two pepper, one little neck squash, leaf lettuce and some onion sets. Keeping that weed free and looking nice is enough for beginers and oldsters unable to spend hours and more hours in a garden. Judge the size of next year's patch on this years success and experience. Understand that to grow a green thumb there needs to be four dirty brown fingers below the green thumb for many a days before the green shows up.

I'm not new, but that is some very good advice that I will follow anyway! It seems like the last few years it's been more like...make it big, make it pretty, more flowers, more color...hey, my back hurts!!! LOL

I love that advice Doc, thanks! Welcome back Heather!

Harper

I have started cleanup in my 5a garden, a few things I want to get cleaned up before tender new growth comes up.

Well you see............I'm soon to be seventy two years young. My farmer's market will sell me all I want and need. My scratching about is because I love to probagate and grow just plain stuff. I nearly always give most of the started plants to friends. This year for my responsiblity and fun I shall have about thirty pots...slightly more less in and around the patio. It will be a mixed bag of flowers, onions for spikes, lettuce and just maybe a Tumbling Tom Tomato and one of those fool upside down tomato plantings growing out of a synthetic feed bag. I can see a pepper being a nice patio addition if in a large pot. I have to put my Big Zac Tomatos in the garden and try to cull to just one fruit for a record sized or bragging size fruit. I assure you by the time we get there my first culls will have to be on my over active brain and creative imagination. I just do not fit behind the hoe to well anymore. Mercy!

When I go on the Lancaster, Pa. greenhouse tour later this month I'm going to try to keep my hands in my pockets..........somewhat. :) I promised to photograph the trip. Maybe that will keep me out of trouble.

WhooHoo!!
It's spring for you!!

Ok, thank you to everyone who said it was time to get started. I cleaned in the front beds today...and I can feel every muscle in my body right now. I think my hair even hurts, lol! DH moved a bunch of stones for me, but he's not complaining...I'm wondering what tomorrow will bring?

We put our Finch feeders back out today too. It's still a bit too early for the Hummer feeders, I'm afraid they'll freeze.

The first blooms were open on the Crocus today, so that was a very bright spot while cleaning up.

Ahhh! Spring!

Congrats, Heather!

WhooHoo, heather!
What a nice welcome to spring for you.
So sorry that your muscles hurt, though. Enthusiasm always gets the best of me, too.

Heather.............your finches do not migrate in winter. They change color and fool a lot of people who do not know the winter colors. If you keep the thistle seed out and black sunflower seeds the finches will amuse you all winter.

Sounds like spring has found you Heather. Congrats! Nice hot tub will help everything seem sooooo much better. You will sleep well and dream of flowers opening to greet you.

Yeah, I know the Finches are here all year, I just can't really get to the feeders too easily in the winter so we take them down.

Today was another trip to Lowe's for lots and lots of lumber...for compost bins, a raised veggie garden and lattice trellises for cukes and one for privacy for our patio. I think that was more tiring than cleaning in the garden, lol!

We did pick up some Strawberries and a few herbs.

Now for just a couple more sunny days to get this stuff built and into place! I'm thinking we should have picked up a hot tub too...cause ngam that sure sounded nice! Oh, if it were only that simple, huh?

I cleaned out my gardens today. I started at 7:00 this morning when it was a balmy 35 degrees!! LOL It warmed up quick or I warmed up quick. Most of my plants are showing signs of life so I am happy and excited!!!!!!! I could use a hot tub right about now but will have to settle for a long hot shower!! Hope everyone else had a good garden day. Eleanor

I was checking out my Delphinium today and it's growing by leaps and bounds...hard to believe! I also found a Hollyhock that's coming back out back, I didn't think I'd ever see that beauty again. I'm still smiling about the Crocus FINALLY opening, some more were open today.

Yepper, DH finally broke down last fall (after 14 years) and let me order a few bulbs. My DMIL's old Daffs quit blooming on me a while ago...and wouldn't ya know it....they were the first thing up this spring and already have the blooms/buds forming. Maybe they got jealous about getting replaced????

Congrats on your returnees, Heather!!

Thank you. The hh bloomed last year, so I'm not expecting blooms this year. And as things seem to be going for me, if I don't expect it, well, then it may just happen!

The daffodils from your MIL may need digging and replanting after they bloom. Each year they draw themselves deeper into the earth and the new baby bulbs just need some fresh soil and food to perform beautifully for you. Have fun!

Thanks Pirl. I think the issue with the Daffs are just a whole other thing...I think I may have planted them too shallow and I don't think they are getting enough sun. Poor babies. We are planning on redoing that whole area this year, so that'll give me a chance to get them planted in a better spot...and planted the correct depth. Just as long as I remember to mark the spot where they are and then don't lose the marker. Maybe I better do that today while I'm thinking about it...maybe a nice sized stone with "Mom's Daffs" written on it would work well. I am hoping I find some baby bulbs with them, that would be extra fun!

Muscari works well around the edge of a daffodil bed. New growth emerges in the fall to warn you where not to dig when planting bulbs for the following spring.

great tip Pirl... thanks

It's not my original thought but one I have never forgotten from a gardening magazine.

Yes, that's very useful though I've always wondered if they were getting 'faked out' somehow! Too bad the other bulbs didn't do it too. I've shoveled through my share of bulbs.

I split quite a few last year