SACANDAGA GARDEN CLUB By Barbara Henry

We would like to invite everyone to our next meeting which is on Thursday, May 1 at the Northville Public Library when Sue Pezzola presents a program on the British point of view of gardening.  Sue is the Community Educator for Horticulture with the Cornell Cooperative Extension for Albany County and is in charge of their Master Gardener program.  She will discuss the historical perspective of English gardens as well as a practical one – providing tips and tricks for developing and maintaining English-style gardens.  We will have refreshments afterwards and lots of opportunities for everyone to meet and mingle. 

Although the sun is shining and most of the snow has gone from my yard and the

ice is retreating on the Great Sacandaga Lake, do be aware that our last average frost date doesn’t happen until the end of May and many plants do not like to go into cold soil.  I was out in my garden a few days ago and I could only dig down about a couple of inches before finding hard frost.  Don’t rush to put your annuals or your carefully tended seedlings in the ground.  Peppers and impatiens in particular tend to sulk and may never grow to their potential during the season.  Try covering the soil where you plan to plant your tomatoes and peppers with plastic for a couple of weeks before you plant to help the soil warm up.  Otherwise just hold the plants in their pots until the night time temperatures reach above 45 degrees F.  Also don’t mulch your plants yet, the mulch will help the soil stay cool so wait until mid June when it will have warmed up enough. 

If you didn’t do a pH test in the Fall, now is a good time to get one done. But remember that if your pH is low and you need lime it can take a few months for the lime to adjust the pH.   Get a jump start on weeds by taking your hoe and remove any emerging weeds.  Do this every couple of weeks until you can get a summer mulch down and you will have far fewer weed problems.  Check your lawn for any damaged areas and repair.  You can do over-seeding now and a spring feeding in late May will set your lawn nicely for the year.  Do make sure that your lawn mower blades are sharp and continue to sharpen those blades frequently during the season so the grass gets cut rather than torn.  

Besides not looking as good, ragged torn edges are an invitation to various bacteria to come and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in your lawn.  If you didn’t feed in Fall a general 10-10-10 fertilizer on all your flower beds will be beneficial now as the fertilizer will work itself down to the roots and be available to the plants as they are actively growing in early summer.  Alternating thawing and freezing can heave your perennials right out of the soil.  If you see any plants that have heaved just push them back into the earth and tamp lightly with your foot.

Wait until you see some new growth emerging from your perennials before dividing them.  Look around and see what needs thinning or what you want to move. But 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 than others to wake up.   Cut your ornamental grasses to the ground.  You can cut up the dried grass and use it as mulch in your vegetable bed in June.  Wait for new growth to appear on tender shrubs such as lavender and buddleias before pruning.  Prune the buddleias to about eight inches and prune the lavender to the shape you want.  Forsythia and lilacs should be pruned immediately after flowering; remove one fourth of the old growth each year to keep the bushes more compact and flowering well.  Remember to put in your plant supports for the peonies and delphiniums.  The new growth will hide the supports and protect the plants during our spring thunderstorms. 

Come check out our plant sale during the village wide garage sale on May 3.  We are located on Main Street across from Stewarts.  We thank Ginger Driscoll for allowing us use of her property for the sale.  Gale McGowan has been working hard to make sure we have plenty of plants for you to check out so come and talk to us, we love to chat. 

On May 17^th the Master Gardener’s will having their plant sale at Udderly Delicious on Route 30.  If the weather is warm enough several of the Master Gardeners will be bringing plants from their own gardens.

As always you can contact us at POBox 675, Northville NY 12134.