SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — As the winter season has officially wrapped up and spring is in full swing greenhouse owners and assistants are giving tips on how to be successful when gardening and landscaping this year.
This past winter may have had its toll on several landscapes as snow fall and plows may have disrupted your lawn. Many are eager to begin raking and planting new crops and flowers, but starting on your landscaping too early can affect how well your plants grow.
Carol Watson, owner of Carol Watson Greenhouse in LaFayette, N.Y., says that picking up sticks and clearing out leaves to OK to start this month, but when it comes to raking and actually planting crops, its important to wait until later in the season.
“You can’t go out in your garden today and start raking because all the beneficial insects are still living there and we don’t want to disturb them,” Watson said. “You’ve got to wait for probably five days over 50 degrees before you get out raking, it’s hard because on a sunny day you want to do that.”
Sarah Smith, Greenhouse Assistant at the Carol Watson Greenhouse, recommends waiting until Memorial day to really begin gardening, as the ground may be hard and even frosted over, but if you are really eager to start early there are some things you can do to keep your plants alive.
“If you do have some hardier plants, like hardier annuals like pansies, osteospermum, snap dragons your cold vegetables, like lettuce, spinach you can start them out earlier and they can go out before May 15th, but if we do have a hard frost or any kind of snow, just cover them up even with like a blanket,” Smith said.
Central New Yorker James Lanning has noted that several people have begun working on their landscapes, but he is choosing to wait as he knows how successful your plants will be if you wait until later in the year and keep the ground intact.
“We try to hold off raking all of the leaves and debris until the weather really takes, we get a nice warm day and we all want to get out in the garden but you have to leave the to protect the roots,” Lanning said.
Both Watson and Smith suggest going to a greenhouse to buy plants, so you are able to ask questions to specialists and get advice on where to plant certain crops, They note it is important to understand what plants your are buying. They also said privately owned greenhouses often have a wider selection of plants to chose from with better prices throughout the springtime.
