April's Chores

I’m trying not to panic, but my April chore list has grown to leviathan size.  And yet, when I woke up yesterday morning, the ground was covered with snow again and a cold wind kept temperatures hovering in the 20s.  Where is my spring-like weather?  Where is the sun that should be slowly warming the frozen depths of my soil so I can get my bare-root plants in the ground?  As I write this, I have two Midwinter Fire dogwoods sitting in pots of soil in my mudroom because the soil was too frozen to get them in the ground, and 9 winterberry bushes and 10 yellow potentilla waiting for pickup at St. Lawrence Nurseries this weekend.  I’m trying not to think about the roses, potatoes and onion sets that will be arriving shortly as well… 

So deep breaths…remaining calm in the face of such a daunting list is crucial.  I must face this like triage; deal with the critical to-dos first and work my way, with Nora’s assistance, down the list until the last item is crossed off.  What should be happening in April, even in our Arctic-like zone 4?  For starters… 

Early April

• Mid-March/early April – sow certain veggie and flower seeds inside
• Put remaining dahlia tubers in pots
• Buy bags of compost (ours is not ready yet)
• prune fruit trees
• prune lilacs
• cutback perennials / tidy flower beds
• fertilize bulbs (incl garlic)
• add liquid natural fertilizer & 1-2” compost on all beds
• uncover strawberries and garlic (keep old hay for mulch btw garden rows)
• rake out old mulch from blueberries
• cut down middle bed of raspberries; prune out dead or pencil thin branches of others to thin out; shorten remaining canes by 6-8”
• till new 3’ bed for new blueberry plants
• plant midwinter fire dogwoods
• put bare-root plants in ground as they arrive
• relocate:
•  red osier dogwood
• snowball viburnum to front yard, left of gate
• Buy drip-hoses for vegetable garden (need to measure garden space)
• Lawn mower to wood chop shop for maintenance (note to self: do this in the fall next year)

Mid-April

• Start other seedlings inside  (tomatoes, peppers and some flowers)
• prep rows / plant cold crops (peas, lettuces) outside / put under hoop covers
• request mulch delivery for early May (weather depending)
• till garden area when soil is dry enough / add amendments as needed
• till new flower beds (always expanding!)
• prune roses when forsythia blooms
• fertilize shrubs & roses (after all danger of frost)