We had a really interesting presentation in April from Viktoria Sefain on native plants, wildflowers and hostas. Viktoria owns Glenbrook Farm in Fultonville and has hundreds of plants at her nurseries. She shared with us some of the wildflowers that are blooming at this time of year and showed us how she uses hostas in combination with native plants and wildflowers for the best effect. I look forward to visiting her nursery in the not too distant future. May is just around the corner and as we all know, April showers bring May flowers which brings – pilgrims! Moving right along ….Even though we have had good weather recently, don’t be in a hurry to rush your annuals into the ground. We can still have frost up until mid or even late May and many plants do not like to go into cold soil. In fact impatiens and peppers are two great examples of plants that will sulk if planted too cold and they may never grow to their potential during the season. Take the time now to get a pH test of your soil; take your hoe and cut off the weeds every couple of weeks as soon as the soil can be worked; don’t mulch your soils yet, wait until mid June when the soils have warmed up. A general purpose fertilizer such as 10-10-10 can be applied to all your beds just as the daffy flowers are fading. Mid to late May sees the return of the hummingbirds to make sure your feeders are clean and fill them with a mixture of one part white granulated sugar to four parts water and boil for a couple of minutes.
As the new growth on your perennials emerges it is a good time to divide and transplant. Give the extras to friends. Cut the ornamental grasses to the ground. You can cut up the dried grass and use it as mulch in your vegetable bed in June. Don’t be in a hurry to discard plants you think have died. Many plants such as Joe Pye weed, Rose of Sharon and hibiscus take a little longer to wake up. Visit your local garden center to fill in any empty spaces in your garden. Contrast leaf textures and heights, use complementary colors or plant a single color themed garden. Any new plants should be well watered in and watered consistently the first year. New plants don’t need feeding the first year.
In the veggie garden, have a plan of where you plan to plant. Try to rotate your crops every year. Different crops have different nutrient requirements and changing their location can disrupt the life cycles of many pests. Peas should be in by now and your cold weather crops such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage can be planted out after they have been properly hardened off. Sow beet seeds an inch deep. Later you can thin them to one strong plant in each position. You can treat carrots and radishes the same way. Don’t be in a rush to plant those tomato plants yet, they like warm soil. I like to wait until the end of May and a week or so later, depending on the weather, for peppers. 
You can lay black plastic over your beds to warm the soil. This is particularly good for melons and pumpkins because they love warm soil and have a long growing season. You can start zucchini, melons and pumpkins about three weeks before you plant to transplant them. They prefer to be started in peat pots because they really don’t like to be transplanted and putting them in a peat pot to start means you can pop pot and all in the garden. It’s a good idea to tear off the top of the peat pot and make sure it is below the level of the soil because the peat will wick moisture from the soil and your precious seedling might not get the water you think it is getting.Come join us on Thursday, June 7 for the third of our series of community presentations. This is the orchid presentation we had originally scheduled for March but out first snow storm of the year forced us to cancel. It is at the Northville Public Library at 1:30 p.m. and we will have refreshments afterwards. Janet will be bringing plants to sell if you are interested.
On Saturday, May 5 starting at 9:00 a.m. we will be having our annual plant sale so come see what we have to offer. We are located on Main Street across from Stewarts and our thanks go to Ginger Driscoll for allowing us to use her property. The Master Gardeners of Fulton and Montgomery counties will be having their plant sale on May 12 starting at 11:00 a.m. at Udderly Delicious, just past Hamilton Avenue on Route 30A in Johnstown. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer any of your gardening questions.
Remember to visit our webpage that Betsy Emery created for us as part of the visitsacandaga.com website (for which we are forever grateful to her). Previous articles are archived and as always you can contact us at P.O. Box 675, Northville, NY 12134. Remember too, Germaine Greer’s words: A garden is the best alternative therapy.
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