We are positively fiending to get out into the garden and start planting! It's still a little cold here in New York, so we're planning our garden, hoarding plants, seeds, and bulbs, and waiting for the weather to warm up.
Here's our handy monthly spring planting calendar - use it to plan your garden this year!
.png "monthly spring planting calendar for zone 7")
What to do in January and February in your garden:
Here in the Northeast, there's not a lot you can do. This is a good time to plan: order your spring-planted bulbs and seeds. In late February, start your seeds in seed starter trays.
What to do in your garden in March:
Things start to thaw out a little bit in March.
- Once the buds start appearing on roses, you can begin pruning them. Make sure to prune according to your rose bush's breed! Knockout roses and hybrids are easy to prune - prune criss-crossing or rubbing canes, anything thinner than a pencil, and you can hard-prune up to a foot above the ground. Heirloom roses need more artistry and care.
- Once temperature lows at nighttime are above 25*, you can plant spring bulbs like ranunculus and anemones. We wait till the nighttime lows are 30*, just to be safe.
- Some seeds require a process called "cold stratification." This can be sped up in the freezer - check your seed packets to see if they need this (some seeds like poppies benefit from it). March is a good time to start cold stratifying, you usually need 4-6 weeks.
- Plant grass seed, but be careful: some municipalities, like those on Long Island, outlaw fertilizer application until April 1 to avoid contaminating the groundwater.
What to do in your garden in April and May:
- You can start planting once the last frost has definitely passed. Here in zone 7, a good rule of thumb is Mother's Day weekend.
- It's best to wait on clearing out fall leaves from your beds until nighttime lows are in the 50s. Pollinators and bunny rabbits usually sleep in leaves until late April/early May.
- Once the daffodils, tulips, and ranunculus blooms have died off, leave the green stalks - they'll need the photosynthesis to make the bulbs strong for next year. Some gardeners braid them together to look less unkempt. Once these get brown and die off, you can dig them up and store them in peat moss for the winter, or plant on top of them. Daffodils and tulips usually are fine to overwinter in zone 7, but ranunculus should be overwintered if you want it to be a perennial.
- May is a good time to mulch, but wait until after Memorial Day if you have lots of oak trees. The oak tree "hair" and pollen sheds around this time and will get all over your fresh mulch!
What to do in your garden in June:
- Prevention is the name of the game when it comes to fungus and pests. Neem oil and copper fungicide are all-natural preventatives. You could also use a more gentle, less expensive mixture of baking soda, water, and dish soap called the Cornell Formula for the fungicide. Both can be sprayed once a week, on different days: neem for pests, copper fungicide or Cornell Formula for fungus. Spraying early in the morning is best.
- Roses are especially finicky and prone to fungus. Mulch, especially dyed mulch, can carry a lot of fungus in it and can infect your plants. Sweet plants like hibiscus will get eaten alive without neem oil. Make sure to keep an eye on your different plants to ensure they're getting the treatment they need.
What to do in your garden in July and August:
- Make sure everything is being watered, dead-headed, and pruned as much as it needs.
- Powdery mildew gets bad in the humid days of August, so spraying the mulch (where it often originates) and any powdery-mildew prone plants with copper fungicide or cornell formula is the best way to prevent it.
What to do in your garden in September and October:
- Order fall-planted bulbs and get them in the ground.
- Prune anything that likes to be pruned before the winter.
What to do in your garden in November:
- Spread corn gluten as an all-natural weed preventer on the lawn.
- Once the first frost hits, dig up dahlia bulbs and store in peat moss for the winter.
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