7 Essential Steps
By Ken Lain, The Garden Guy

This week I’ve received emails galore as well as numerous ‘phone calls at home, at the garden center, and on my cell ‘phone asking where my radio show 'Gardening in Granite' went. As announced in this column, I have a new Saturday show, ‘The Mountain Gardener’. It airs from two new places on radio dials, KQNA 1130AM or 99.9FM. You can catch it every Saturday morning from 11:00 to noon. Along with a new station I’m trying a new format, and I’d like you to tell me if it rates your “thumbs up”.

‘The Mountain Gardener’ is part of an entire morning of home and garden talk shows on KQNA. It follows famous home and garden radio host, Rosie Romero’s 8:00 -11:00 a.m. show, ‘Rosie on the House’. Our back-to-back programs offer a home and garden lineup of all things local, real, and timely. Clearly, KQNA is the place to be listening every Saturday morning.

My personal landscapes have just been the targets of the 7 essential garden tasks that I believe every gardener should complete within the next 2-3 weeks. Time is of the essence if they are going to affect gardens during this growing season. This is my own list of spring garden to-dos that I find really make a difference in local landscapes.

#1. Finish pruning everything in the yard. Cut back and shape hedges, prune fruit trees and summer bloomers, and shear back grasses. I just finished my last rose bush this week.

#2. I’ve created a very specific food that helps plants thrive at higher elevations; it’s called "All Purpose Plant Food". It’s completely natural, manufactured locally to support Arizona jobs and reduce trucking costs, and it is far more earth-friendly than most national brands. This one simple food should be applied to every growing thing in every landscape ASAP. From lawns to trees this truly all-purpose food will make a huge difference in how your landscape looks this spring. I even fed my yard’s pale-looking natives and the specimen trees I want to keep healthy and strong.

#3. There is only one product I use in my yard to keep weeds from becoming problematic. It’s "Weed & Grass Preventer" by Hi-Yield. I don't like to spray chemicals in my yard so this easy- to-spread seed killer is the answer. Because it kills the seeds it prevents weeds from cropping up at all. Spread like fertilizer, it makes for easy landscape maintenance and reduces the long-term cost of weed control. It really makes a difference.

#4. Top off raised beds and containers with "Potting Soil", add manure and composted mulch to vegetable gardens, and fill holes in the landscape with "Top Soil". I added about 12 bags of organic bagged soils to my garden beds to get them ready for spring planting. This is especially important for vegetable and flower gardens. You may bring a small sample of soil to the garden center and we can help you determine the appropriate amounts to add. If quantity is more important than quality, I recommend contacting Karl over at Wilby's Compost; he's in the book. He has a small dump truck that can deliver good quality bulk compost at a very reasonable price.

#5. Plant a new tree. This is the ideal month to plant new trees, especially fruiting varieties. Because large plants and trees take longer to establish themselves, they should be planted early in the season to maximize growth. Typically, fruit trees are 4-7 years old before they can set fruit, so be sure to ask if the plant is of "fruiting age" before you buy. It's worth spending a few extra dollars to get older, more mature trees if you want fruit anytime soon. The sooner you plant mature fruiting varieties the better your chances to see fruit this season.

#6. If your yard needs some spring bloomers like lilac, forsythia, quince, and viburnum, now is the time to plant them. They disappear from garden centers when their spring bloom is gone. If you have large areas to landscape ask to see the contractors’ plant section at your favorite plant provider. Every nursery has its “down-and-dirty’’ section. The plants in this section usually are sold to contractors, but frequently you can receive the same prices if buying in the bulk quantities needed to successfully complete a large landscape project. These plants are never featured on end caps, but are stored inconspicuously at the back of the garden center where contractors frequently can be seen to congregate.

#7. Watch for grubs, aphids, pinion pine scale, and other early spring pests and get after them. For season long control of White C-shaped worms living in the soil use Hi-Yield "Kill-A-Grub". Aphids are easily killed with an organic spray by fertilome called "Fruit Tree Spray". White egg masses at the bases of pine trees should be collected, disposed of, and the trees treated with "Systemic Soil Drench". Fruit trees should be sprayed with "Dormant Oil".

There you have it. It always is tempting to start planting flowers and other spring color before the foundation has been set for a great growing season. Start with these 7 essential garden steps and watch your landscape ease into spring with an unmistakable vibrancy and flair.

Until next week, I’ll see you in the garden center.

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