JAN-APR GARDEN

March - named for the Roman god Mars

"The stormy March is come at last with wind and cloud and changing skies; I hear the rush of the blast that through the snowy winter flies. Ah! passing few are they who speak, wild and stormy month in praise of thee; yet though thy winds are loud and bleak Thou art a welcome month to me." Bryant

Prune box woods, hollies and forsythia after blooming

Buy and plant English primroses

Fertilize Spring bulbs as they emerge

Plant potatoes around St. Patrick's Day and cole crops

February - named for the Roman festival, Februa

"One month is past, another is begun, since merry bells rang out the dying year, and buds of rarest green began to peer, as if impatient for a warmer sun; and though the distant hills are bleak and dun, the virgin snowdrops, like a lambent fire, pierces the cold earth with it's green-streaked spire and in dark woods, the wandering little one may find a primrose." 'Fair Maids of February' Hartley Coleridge, 1842

Plant winter daphne in sandy soil

Force forsythia & willow blooms

Prune camellias when finished blooming

Start seeds indoors for Spring/Summer plants

Plant peas, potatoes, set onions, asparagus & cole crops

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Jonquil Garden Club Smyrna Georgia

April - from the Greek word for opening

"Soon o'er their hearts blithe April airs shall sing; a thousand wild flowers round them shall unfold; The green buds glisten in the dews of Spring, and all be vernal rapture as of old." J. Keble

Plant caladiums, elephant ears, lilies and Peruvian daffodils

Water houseplants more frequently & begin regular fertilizing

Gradually move houseplants outdoors after last frost

Check azaleas for lace bugs, use lady bugs or insecticidal soap

Spray roses for black spot every 2 weeks

Move veggie starts gradually outside then transplant

With thanks to Edith Holden's Diary of a Victorian Lady

January - named for the Roman god Janus

"The leaves which in the Autumn of the year fall auburn tinted, leaving reft and bare their parent trees, in many a sheltered lair where winter waits and watches, cold, austere, will lie in drifts; and when the snowdrops cheer the woodland shadows, still the leaves are there, though through the glades the balmy southern air and birds and boughs proclaim that

Spring is near." 'Old Year Leaves' Mackenzie Bell

Prune crepe myrtles

Put houseplants on diet during winter as too much fertilizer will burn roots

Cut ornamental grasses to "crew cut"

Veggie garden - cover soil with compost, fallen leaves and other organic materials.Spade or turn soil occasionally