Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

Happy Earth Month!  Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for April. Events include Montgomery Parks Speaker Series, Nature Matters Lecture Series: African Penguin Conservation, MCT Garden Club’s Brookside Garden Guided Group Tour, Earth Day Festival, and more! Join us for our 50th Anniversary Mill Creek Town Garden Club Celebration on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 @ 7:30pm with special guest speaker Kathy Jentz, who will provide garden tips on native plants in Montgomery County, MD gardens!

Planning:

• Take an inventory of pots and containers; clean or replenish potted soil.
• Set aside a few hours each weekend for attending garden shows and tours.
• Mark beds outside where new plants are to go.
• Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.
• Read a good gardening book or magazine.
• Select and order fruit plants
• Decide on new tree/shrub locations.
• If you want a street tree, pick one under 20-30 feet if you have overhead power lines.
• Plan landscape design projects.
• When planning your wildlife-friendly backyard don’t forget to include native trees and shrubs that produce fall and winter persistent fruits.
• Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
• Support our local farmers! Visit a local farmers’ market near you. Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2018 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Hardy spring bulbs begin to emerge (crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips).
• Plant pansies.
• Transplant seedlings into individual 3″-4″ pots when crowded.
• Pinch out growing tips of leggy seedlings.
• Transplant spring flowering bulbs after flowering.
• Begin hardening off hardier transplants. Sow seeds outdoors of hardier annuals.
• After spring bulbs bloom, let leaves turn yellow and die before trimming.
• Pests to watch for: voles
• Diseases to watch for:  Botrytis on peonies, Volutella blight on pachysandra.
• See UMD’s HGIC’s April Flower tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Plant a tree for Arbor Day, Friday, April 27th.
• Prune flowering shrubs, such as forsythia, lilacs, and azaleas when they finish blooming.
• Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
• Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
• Keep mowers and trimmers away from trunks!
• Prune winter damage on evergreens when new growth begins.
• Prune damaged branches.
• Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs before new growth.
• Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
• Remove dead and dying trees.
• Water newly planted trees and shrubs weekly or as needed.
• Pests to watch for:  Gypsy moths late in month, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, and caterpillars.
• Diseases to watch for:  Anthracnose, Exobasidium gall on azaleas, Phytophthora, top dieback and root rot on azaleas.
• See HGIC’s April Trees and Shrubs Tips for more details.

• Mow high to reduce weeds and stress: Fescue and Bluegrass: 3″ – 3 ½”
• Test soil if you haven’t already (every 3 years minimum).
• Start lawn seeding.
• Dethatch if necessary and plug aerate BEFORE applying weed control.
• Control wild onions in warm season turf with broadleaf weed control.
• Apply pre-emergent crabgrass and broadleaf weed control when forsythia finishes blooming.
• The annual soil science calendars from the Natural Resources Conservation Service are both educational and beautifully done. The one for 2018 as well as those for previous years are available as free PDFs here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcseprd1250008
• Build a compost bin.
• Get your lawn mower serviced.
• Diseases to watch for: brown patch, and red thread
• Pests to watch for: Grubs
• See HGIC’s April Lawn Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• Repot larger plants that are going outside for the summer.
• Repot and fertilize houseplants when new growth begins.
• Maintain moisture in pots wintering indoors, but do not over water!
• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film to build-up.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Fertilize houseplants now that they are actively growing again.
• Pests to watch for:  aphids, mealybug, spider mites, scale, and  whitefly
• See HGIC’s April Houseplants Tips for more tips.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Ticks are very active now.
• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Put up birdhouses.
• Wash and refill the bird bath or set out a shallow bowl of water in icy weather.
• Vacuum up any ladybugs that come in the house.
• Check for vole problems and set up traps.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• See HGIC’s April Insect Tips for more details.
• Watch for: carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information on wildlife management and attracting wildlife see HGIC’s April Wildlife tips.

Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.

See below for upcoming local events in April.