Warm Winter Weather Woes- What to Do! Water and Weed!

Feb 23, 2017 | Blog

Warm Winter Weather Woes- What to Do! Water and Weed!

Wow- it has been such a warm season this year! In some ways it feels like winter never came. Us gardeners are wondering what the heck we should do.

Here are some thoughts:

1. If you have plants that are not established yet (newly planted in the last year or two) water your beds- it’s dry and its warm!

2. Water your flower pots that have perennials, shrubs, trees or even pansies overwintering. They’ll need extra water because of the lack of precipitation and the extended warm temps and sun.

3. Weed early and often. Since the ground did not freeze for very long this winter I am predicting a heavy weeding season. Many weeds have carried over since fall in my garden. When we don’t have extended freezing temps, the existing weed roots don’t freeze and the new weed seeds are ready to go in the warmer temps. Get mulch down early this year.

4. Use a natural weed and feed like Espoma natural weed blocker to block new weed seeds in your garden bed or lawn.

5. Start scheduling your seasonal garden and lawn care now since this year will be busier, earlier, with some companies getting booked earlier due to early warm temps.

One concern I have is that plants will start their growth and budding early and we’ll end up with a late freeze. It’s really tempting to buy and plant new plants now that its warm. You can take that risk and most likely it’ll be okay, just based on the forecast for the next few weeks, where we are in the season and what the early spring has been like for the past few years. If we get cold weather, its likely to be short lived and cause less damage then if it were to turn cold and stay cold for several weeks. Be prepared to protect your newly planted perennials from a heavy freeze with blankets or plastic. Shrubs and trees are usually a little more resilient. It looks as though you may be able to plant annuals earlier this year. We usually wait until Mothers Day in May but I think we could get away with early to mid April this year. Of course, it’s always hard to know for sure. Do know that you can start planting seeds in your veggie garden since they may thrive earlier this year. You can try planting some transplants but you’ll want to protect them.

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