 Good evening and welcome. Welcome to all of you have joined this evening. I'm Don Kinsler, the NDSU Extension Agent for Cass County Horticulture. And it looks like we've got just under 130 of you joining this evening. So thank you. I've really enjoyed these weekly chats that we've had over the last four weeks or so. Gives us a chance to talk gardening and I've really enjoyed these. This is the fourth and last of the series that I call Everybody's Yard and Garden Guide series. And I plan to do a couple of these in the fall as well, kind of to get our yards and gardens ready for winter. But of course right now, good time to talk about getting our yards, gardens, flower beds, lawns and everything ready for spring. Of course, got a lot of snow on the ground. So we've got a ways to go before we can even see our lawns and gardens and flower beds. But now is a time to kind of get thinking in our head what we need to do when the time does allow. So again, thank you very much for all of you who are currently joining in. We're going to take a quick walk around the yard and garden flower beds and we're going to pretend that it's spring and it's time to get going on some of these things. So buckle up because we're going to go through the perennial garden, rose garden, shrubs, trees, fruit trees, lawns. We're going to talk a little bit about seed starting and end up in the vegetable garden. Gosh, and just look at that photo of the tulips blooming and there's green grass and things happening. And after this winter, isn't that going to be fun again? I am really looking forward to the smell of freshly mown grass and getting out into our own flower beds and yards. It seems like it's been a long winter and we're all ready for it. So let's get right into it. So let's start with spring in the perennial garden. Now the tops, which are the above ground portion of perennials are best left on overwinter, a couple of reasons for that. One is they survive winter better because the tops that are left on helps to catch snow and which is very good insulation. But also there's beauty there. During the wintertime, the kind of the brown portions of a perennial garden do look attractive. But of course, this year in our own perennial garden, the snow is so deep, I can't see a whole lot of it. But in a less snowy winter, there's beauty to be had there. And so they winter better. They actually look nice as they're poking up through the snow. But there's another reason for leaving the tops on the above ground portions on overwinter. And that's because many of our pollinating bees do their nesting overwinter in the hollow stems of these perennials. In the fall of the year, many of these little native bees enter into these woody stems. And that's where they build their nest and survive the winter. So we are helping our pollinators by leaving those above ground portions on. And of course, the more pollinating bees we have, the better our apple crop will be and we'll get more cucumbers, more melons and everything else that's pollinated by these little bees. So in the spring of the year after the snow all disappears, and about the time that there's a little bit of growth starting at the base or before that, it's time to cut them back. So most perennials arise from the ground again each spring. So that means we need to get rid of the old dead tops. If you didn't get rid of those old dead portions, the new growth has to push through too much, just too much old dead stuff. So including the ornamental grasses that you see pictured on the right hand side, those should all be cut down to just a little bit above ground level. And by the way, if you've got ornamental grasses and you haven't tried those gas or electric hedge trimmers, or even handheld hedge trimmers, they work really good for cutting back those old dead tops like that. So the key even with those ornamental grasses is to get them cut back before much growth starts. Otherwise, if a new growth starts in the middle of those ornamental grasses, when you go to cut back the dead stuff, you tend to cut back the good green stuff too. So before the perennials get too large, that's the time. Now I mentioned the pollinating bees. Here's a wonderful article on pollinators pollinating bees, a good bulletin. And so if you simply do a search for beautiful landscapes or pollinator garden, NDSU, you'll come up with this and it has some really good information about our pollinators that help us out. So now I mentioned that these pollinators are these little bees are wintering in those dead tops. Now depending on the year, when you go to cut back those perennial, the dead parts, there could still be pollinating bees in there that haven't woken up yet. And so it's important not to throw away those old dead tops out in the garbage, because you'd be disposing of your pollinators. Instead, if you take those dead tops and put them somewhere in your yard, maybe behind the garage or on top of the compost bin, but just kind of leave them there. At some point in, or at least May, late May, when the weather warms well, those little pollinating bees are going to be exiting, and then it's safe to do something else with those tops. But you'll see a good way to help out our apple crops and everything else by caring for those little bees. So another thing in May, after the perennials start to kind of wake up a little bit and you see a little growth, it's wise to fertilize. Perennials can be kind of heavy feeders, meaning they bloom better if they get to good nutrition. So a couple of ways that we could fertilize those. One, of course, is the water-soluble type that you could mix in up in a bucket or watering can and pour those on. Or you can use the granular all-purpose type fertilizer, such as the 101010. And I'll read, of course, the label for the rate that sometimes it's not always clear how much like of that granular fertilizer to use on perennials. But generally, about a fourth of a cup or so around a well-established perennial is about right. There are, one reason I like 101010 is it can be used on vegetable gardens, flower gardens, trees, shrubs, and there are different rates on the label for each of those different things. Now, of course, in the spring would be a really good time to get your soil tested if you haven't already. Because adding fertilizer, if you don't know what the soil test is, adding fertilizer is kind of like, and I love this, I didn't invent this saying, but I'm borrowing it, adding fertilizer to untested soil is kind of like adding salt to soup before you've tasted it. So you can get soil tests done at NDSU or University in Minnesota. So simply search online NDSU soil testing, and that will take you to the page to tell you how to take the test and also where to submit it. You can mail them in also. So spring is also a good time to dig and divide any that are getting overcrowded. How do you know if a perennial should be divided? Well, a couple of ways to tell. If the center of the clump is dead, and all the good growth is on the outer perimeter, then it should be dug and divided, or maybe you want to share some with a neighbor or friend, or maybe you want to move them around. Well, the spring is a good time to dig and divide about the time that you see a little bit of growth starting, you know, don't wait too long, because for example, this hosta that's being divided, if you wait till the leaves get full out, it's much more stressful for the plant. It's less stressful if we divide them before they're fully expanded. And let's say, well, how do we know which perennials to divide in the spring and which in the fall? Because maybe you've heard that certain ones like spring division, others divide in the fall. There's an easy way to tell. And that is by the bloom time. If a perennial blooms in spring or early summer, think of peonies or bleeding heart. Okay, bloom kind of in spring, May, early June. If they bloom in early summer or spring, the time to divide is in the fall, such as September is peony planting and dividing time. The reason for that is this, when a plant is in bloom, or nearly going to bloom, that is its most tender time. It's more sensitive time. And that's not the time to be digging, dividing and tearing it apart. So we dig and divide at the season of the time opposite its bloom time. So anything that blooms in spring or early summer, wait until fall. If it blooms in late summer, early fall, then it's fine to divide in spring. For example, hosta. If you think of when hosta blooming, that's sometime after the middle of summer. So that's why we're dividing those in the spring time. So kind of a handy way to remember which of the perennials should be dug and divided at a certain time of year. And of course, grassy weeds are always a problem in perennials, if those grassy weeds get started, such as quack grass. Boy, because quack grass can be such a nuisance in the middle of a peony clump, or, or an iris. But we do have some remedies. There are herbicides that specifically kill only grasses. Now there are a couple of brand names. One of those is the high yield brand called Grass Killer. And another is the ortho grass be gone. And there's another one by the bonite company called Grass Beater. Now it's important to read the label directions. But these grass killing herbicides specifically will kill only grasses. So you can spray them right over the top of a peony that's actively growing. You can even spray them over iris because iris is not a grass. You know, you might may kind of look somewhat like a grass, but, but it's not in the grass family. But of course, ornamental grasses are a true grass. So we can't take quack grass out of those by using these because it would kill the good grass too. So we have some good effective herbicides that can be used in those cases. Now I found that they're they're slow acting. First of all, the quack grass has to have at least six inches or so on. And the label will tell you this has to have about six inches of fresh new growth. And these chemicals I found work slowly. So we have to have patience, you may not see any effect at all for a week or so. But in the spring of the year, when that quack grass starts growing up in the middle, it's a good time to apply these, you know, probably in sometime the last half of May, when the quack grass starts growing. Next, we're going to talk a little bit about roses. I should mention also, that as you have questions, as we're moving along, if you type those into the Q&A box there. So as you go along, and we'll have plenty of time for questions at the end. During our last webinar on pruning, I think we spent about 45 minutes at the end, you don't have to tune in for the whole thing. But we spent about 45 minutes at the end of the program, talking about questions. So anyway, feel free to type into the Q&A and I'll be checking those at the end. Let's talk about roses. Roses are always fun. They're a wonderful plant. Now, of course, there's different types of roses. The hybrid teas are winter tender. They do need protection. Boy, and our roses this year are under about four feet of snow. So they're getting good, they're getting good winter insulation this year. Now, of course, there are types of roses that are termed on the label hardy. But of course, hardy for Georgia is different than hardy for Fargo. And so we have to take some of that with a little bit of a grain of salt if some of these roses call themselves hardy. But my favorite type of roses are those developed in Canada, because they had a very great breeding program that develops some wonderfully winter hardy roses. Some of our favorites, why there's a beautiful one called Campfire, more the Morden series such as Morden Bell, Morden Blush, Morden sunrise, it's a beautiful, orangey colored one. There are some that act like climbers, Henry Kelsey and William Baffin. And so if you do a little bit of searching for Canadian shrub roses, some beautiful ones, another one, Canadian blooms, that's another great variety. So you can do a little checking. But you know, hybrid teas are well worth planting to if you don't mind a little bit of work on protecting those for the winter. Now, here's here's something that I really enjoy on roses. Because let's talk a little bit about how roses are propagated or starting the kind of the traditional way of propagating a rose is to graft the variety graft the good flowering variety onto a rootstock. That's a kind of a quick and easy way to propagate a rose. Okay, the problem with that is and there you see that pictured on the left hand side. The problem with the grafted roses is that if that upper portion winter kills, yet the roots remain alive, anything that grows from that is just kind of a non descript rose. Anytime it's happened to me, I've never seen them bloom. They weren't the rootstock wasn't selected for blooming. It was just selected because they grow nice roots, I guess. But take a look at the photo on the right hand side. I'm seeing more and more roses offered as and look down at the bottom word their own root, own root roses. Instead of being grafted, these roses are started by cuttings or maybe tissue culture. But the entire rose from the top of the canes all the way down, including the roots are all that good flowering variety. So even if the top winter kills a little bit and an open very cold winter, even if the top dies back a little bit, anything that grows from the crown or the roots is going to be that good variety. So I was looking through a rose catalog just the other evening. And I'm happy to see that in the descriptions, some of these rose catalogs are saying grafted or own root. So when I buy a couple of roses, rose bushes this year, I'm choosing the own root, because they're just so much easier to deal with than anything that grows from the base is going to be the good, good product. So spring care on roses, well, after we uncover any protection that we might have given them such as rosecone or mounting leaves. After we do that, oftentimes you'll see some winter dieback which is common on roses. And if you take a look at the central picture there, any of the dead canes, the winter injured will be brown. So it's fairly obvious what you need to cut out. The dead wood needs to be removed to allow the new fresh growth to occur. So the first step in pruning roses in April is a good time. I don't know at what point in April this year, we'll be able to see the roses. But usually in April is a good time to look and you'll see the winter injury prune that out. And if you look at the diagram on the right hand side, you'll see kind of a method for pruning roses. Now roses respond very well to heavy pruning. And the reason for that is heavy pruning will stimulate nice fresh vigorous growth and roses bloom better on that fresh vigorous growth. So oftentimes you'll maybe cut a rose bush back by half at least. And then any kind of weak growth, just remove that and leave the good sturdy healthy, they'll be green colored canes. And then the rose will bloom much better. The roses are heavy feeders, they love nutrition and they'll produce more blossoms as a result. So in the spring of the year, late April or early May, good time to fertilize. You can use special rose fertilizer, or a fertilizer for flowering type shrubs 101010 will work fine to or a bucket of of the water soluble type on mulch roses love mulch. Roses don't care to be in rock mulch as much because roses kind of like it a little cooler. Now they don't automatically die if they're in rock mulch, but rock mulch heats up so much in the summertime. And so rock mulch is less rose friendly, but shredded bark or shredded wood product mulch is very rose friendly, it'll keep the soil more moist with roses love. It will discourage weeds, but also keep the soil cooler, which roses also love. Okay, next we're going to talk about shrubs. Now if you were on last week's pruning seminar, we talked about a little bit about pruning. So I'm going to go over this a little bit rapidly, but I want to cover the key points too. So in shrubs, I like to talk about the Annabelle hydrangea, which are the big white clusters of flowers, beautiful. Now Annabelle hydrangea, you dyes back each winter to somewhere, maybe right at the base, or maybe just six inches above ground level, but it generally dyes back. So in the spring of the year, before new growth starts, we can cut those back usually to four to six inches above ground level. And most of the new growth comes from that base, you could also almost cut them down even closer to the ground. So that's just the way Annabelle hydrangea does those we cut all the way back. And to get rid of that old dead wood that will come. But there's another type of winter hardy hydrangea that is equally beautiful. They're called the panicle or paniculata hydrangeas. The blossoms are in a pure middle or panicle type shape. I guess the one on the left hand, there isn't that beautiful. I believe that's the variety called vanilla strawberry. There are different varieties. Some have the white and pinkish tone, some are almost entirely pink. Some are white. Some are even kind of a lime green. Well, anyway, the panicle type of hydrangeas act like what I would call a normal shrub. They don't freeze all the way back to the ground level like the Annabelle type. Instead, they leaf out from the above ground portions like most of our landscape shrubs do. So in the spring of the year, about alls we have to do for pruning is to cut back the old flower head on those maybe trim them up, shape them up a little, remove some of the weak wood. And then they're they're good to go. And of course, the spring is a good time to rejuvenate any shrubs that have gotten kind of overgrown, maybe they're leggy, such as the dogwood here. The dogwood branches get kind of woody. They lose their nice red twigs and to get kind of grayish like and cutting them back in the spring of the year before they start new growth, cutting them all the way back like that to four to six inches, they'll send out fresh new growth from the base. And we can do that with potentilla shrubs, the yellow flower. In fact, they love being trimmed back heavily, all about every three to four years. Otherwise, it get kind of woody and choked out. And lilacs rejuvenate beautifully. Now lilacs won't usually bloom the summer in which they've been rejuvenated. If you just need to do a little bit of trimming on lilac, it's probably better to wait until after they bloom. And then you can enjoy this year's flowering. I should mention too, spring is the time to prune shrubs. There's really not a good time. The fall is really not a good time to do pruning, because it leaves open wounds over wintertime and you can get more branch dieback. And so the spring upcoming here, April is really a great month to do pruning and rejuvenation. So don't feel bad if you didn't do any trimming last fall. That's actually a good thing, because the spring is the time. Nine bark, the purple flower, purple leaf that rejuvenates beautifully or a little trimming back and the pink flowered spirea, they bloom so beautifully on fresh new growth. So giving them a nice prune back every so often in the spring really does well. And trees, we're going to cover this briefly, because we did a whole session on pruning last time. But for anyone that missed pruning trees, most trees would be pruned in April. Well, they're still dormant before they start growth. And it's important to give trees their proper pruning cuts. Now, if you take a look at the photos on the left hand side, notice that ridge where the side branch or twig meets the main branch. Notice that ring in which the which the green arrows are pointing to that ridge contains the healing tissue of that intersection. So if we prune to flush, we're cutting away those healing cells. So the prop pruning cut is just on the outside of that ridge. If you look at the lower left hand photo, there's a pruning cut that has been made, and that's proper the arrows pointing, and it's been made just beyond that growth ridge. Because what that will do then that growth ridge will compartmentalize and seal off that pruning wound, it will kind of do the healing process. So then disease and, and bacteria fungi won't be able to enter. Also, also I should mention pruning paints and sealers are not recommended. A lot of research has been done on that and they've been shown to be counterproductive. The cells of the tree need to do the healing and they do that better with just the nature's fresh air. Okay, and in the springtime after the snow is all melted and the weather warms up, that's the time to remove the tree guards for summer. They should be taken off because that would be a spot that insects or even mold could accumulate. So it's better to take those off for the summertime and then replace again about November 1. That will give the trunk exposure to sunlight and it's much better for the trunk. So off with the tree guards for the spring and summertime. Let's talk really briefly about fruit trees. Time to prune is basically before the buds swell and talked about this last week too, but we'll give just a quick little refresher course for those that maybe weren't on. Apple trees are best pruned into a shape like a Christmas tree where the lower branches are wider out. And the reason for that is if the lower branches are wider out, they will catch more sunlight. More sunlight means more blossoming lower down the tree, more blossoming means more fruit. You'll have more fruit within easy picking distance. If left to their own devices, apple trees become big and large and round. And the flowers and fruit form up on the outer perimeter where the sunshine and fresh air is better. So if we get our trees into this pure middle Christmas tree shape, it's just a lot easier and healthier on the tree. Now if you've got a big old apple tree, it may take four or five years of gradual trimming to get it into that shape. Now there are other things of course do that a person should prune on an apple tree, any suckers that are rising down at the base of the tree should be removed. And the idea here is to just thin out the branches, go in and start cutting, thin them out so that more air and sunlight can get internally into the tree, you'll have less disease. And also you'll get better flowering and fruiting in kind of internally in the tree, and closer down. So it's not up all on just the outside big, the outside big perimeters. Also the preferred height of a tree is taken down to about 12 feet, just makes for easy picking. And if it's a big old tree may need to reduce it down gradually. It's usually recommended not to take more than about 25% of a tree is growth off at any one time. So the old saying of course is to be able to throw a football through the branches of an apple tree and not hit a branch. If a person is going to make any mistake in pruning, the mistake is usually not to remove enough. I love the old saying prune until it hurts and then prune some more. So thin the thin the apple tree out really, really good. It works wonderfully. Now we just wanted to talk briefly about raspberries, because raspberries benefit greatly from pruning in April. But it's oftentimes not quite evident what a person should be pruning. So I want to talk about those boy and raspberries are a wonderful crop because in almost any of our backyards, there would be space for a few raspberries. That's strawberries too. But that's for another program. So anyway, let's take a look at raspberries. raspberries, of course, have a winter hardy root and crown from which the growth arises. But it's interesting, the canes or branches only live to growing seasons. Okay, which means after a second growing season, there's lots of dead in that raspberry patch, and that deadwood needs to be cut out. Otherwise it crowds out the growth or it's going to get disease also. So let's take a little closer look at okay, in the spring of the year, what do we need to remove? Okay. So here in this photo, this is about the middle of a summer. So if we take a look there at the middle of summer, the canes of the branches that are the brown brownish red, those are the ones that are currently producing the raspberry fruit. The greenish are the ones that are just growing that summer. And next year, the next growing season, they'll produce the fruit. Okay, so that means now, when we can see our raspberries again, we need to cut out the old dead canes. Those are the ones that pour fruit last year because they're not going to bear again. So you'll identify them by the old brown, sometimes they'll have kind of grayish old bark. And those need to be cut out down to ground level. And notice in that photo, how we will leave the fresher green canes. So it's quite evident when you're actually in the raspberry patch. Oh, yeah, I need to cut out these old dead brown canes. Oftentimes it'll be kind of crisp also and leave the rest. And also, for the raspberries to bear best, nice big fruits, it's important to leave only about three to six of the new healthy canes per each foot of growth. And I want to mention honeyberry. Honeyberry is relatively new, relatively new, I suppose what over the last last, I don't 12 years or so, that they become popular honeyberry also called Hascap is a wonderful winter hardy fruit. They're delicious. Now there the garden centers handle different types. And you do need two different cultivars in order to get fruit, but the locally owned garden centers handle very nice varieties of these. Now the honeyberry is a kind of a woody shrub and again, fully winter hardy. So they're a decent landscape shrub as well. So a person could have a double duty shrub in the landscape, one that looks pretty good, and also one that will bear fruit. Now, depending on the cultivar, some grow four feet tall, some grow up to about seven feet. And they don't sucker, they don't become messy. So if you haven't tried, honeyberry, give them a try. But again, you do need two different varieties to get fruiting. And eronia, similar, you know, you hear about eronia because the antioxidant level is so high, they're a healthy fruit, fully winter hardy, and look at the fall color down at the lower right hand. And that pretty, they just become a brilliant bright orange. And eronia berries, when they're fully ripe, I enjoy eating them even fresh out of hand, but they can be a little tart unless they're fully ripe. But gosh, eronia, wonderful juice, jellies, we include them in apple crisp as well. A wonderful fruit. Juneberry, Juneberries are making a resurgent. You know, it used to be in pioneer days, most farm seeds would plant, they would have asparagus, they'd have rhubarb, they'd also plant Juneberries, because they're so winter hardy. These are the blueberry of the north, they're well adapted, they're native to our areas. In Canada, they call them the Saskatoon or serviceberry. Now they make a very large shrub or a smallish tree. They can work well on a landscape to where you might like a small kind of decorative type tree. And some of the varieties handled at garden centers have larger improved fruiting as well. Now you do have to battle the birds for these because the birds love them too, which usually means and the birds know when they're ripe too. They attack them kind of like the afternoon before you're going to pick them. So bird netting is probably the preferred way on those, but I just wanted to mention those because they're such a good, good shrub or tree fruit. And plum, if you've never tried growing the plums that are winter hardy for our area, they are delicious. They have a sweetness that is just totally awesome. Well, anyway, here is a list of some of the varieties that you'd find at locally owned garden centers that do very well. And oh, there's a tree ripe and plum is just mouth watering. You'll see names like Toca, Pipestone, Alderman, La Crescent, Juanita, Pembina, Underwood, Black Ice, Mountain, Royal. Now most of these do need two different types for cross pollination is preferred. If you don't have room for two, well, plums don't grow into a big huge tree. They're smaller scale than apple trees. So most yards would probably have room for two, or maybe you and your neighbor can each get a plum tree, but make sure you get two different varieties and some varieties are listed as good pollinators. So two different varieties. Okay, next, we are going to go into lawns and talk about some lawn care. Well, when to rake? Well, first of all, we got to get rid of the snow. But how do you know when it's time to rake? If we start too early when the grass is kind of wet and soggy, we can actually uproot some of the grass crown. So that's not good. There's a fairly unscientific way but it works to know when it's time to rake a lawn and that's to kneel on the lawn. And if your genes get a wet spot, we need to wait until the lawn dries up a little more. Well, what about also power raking or dethatching it's called which brings up all the fluff up out of the lawn and lays it on top and then it needs to be raked off or baked up. And of course, that needs to wait to until the grass is really good and firm and not wet. Otherwise, it will really tear it up. So how do you know if your lawn needs power raking? Now my wife, Mary, and I have never power raked ours. There's an easy way to check. The reason for power raking or even raking period is to get rid of the fat accumulation. Now the fat, as the photo shows here, is that undecomposed layer of old grass clippings between the grass blades and the soil. Okay, now a certain amount of thatch is wonderful and necessary. Because the right amount of thatch will conserve moisture. It helps control weeds. And it keeps the soil cooler. So in the middle of summer, it won't dry out as much with the right amount of thatch. So what's the right amount of thatch? Well, if we cut a plug out of the soil profile and pull it on up, the right amount of thatch is about one half an inch. If it's greater than that, that thatch could be impeding the movement of water and air and nutrients down into the lawn. And so if it's greater than a half an inch, then power raking would help. Now thatch decomposes naturally on its own. And as that thatch does decompose, it releases nutrients back down into the soil. So power raking should maybe be done with caution as needed. And but otherwise no need to remove that thatch, which can be a valuable layer if it's not too deep. And of course, weed control at a certain point in May, when the dandelions start blooming and the different lawn weeds come up, when I say wise weed control, now most of our lawns are not a carpet of weeds. And so there's really usually not a reason to blanket the lawn with herbicides, because most of our herbicides are weed killers are not preventatives, they're contact killers, they need to contact an actively growing weed. So if we blanket our lawn with weed and feed or liquid, we're probably wasting a great deal of money and chemicals that just end up in our rivers and lakes and streams. So instead, since these products are contact, they need to be applied to actively growing weeds. And since many of our weeds just have a, you know, weed over there, one over there and one back there. It's oftentimes more beneficial or effective just to spot treat those weeds could just be with a simple hand held bottle or I use a little two gallon pump type sprayer and just go along. And that way we can target just what we want to kill. And of course, in a lawn, there are very effective called broad leaf, we weed herbicides that will not kill grass, but they'll take out these wider blade non grass weeds. And of course, I have a photo there of a dandelion weed killer. And of course, hand weeding popping the weeds out is still very much a good way if the weeds aren't too, too numerous. Now what about grassy type weeds in a lot? Well, now here, here you see a photo of crabgrass. Now crabgrass is interesting. It's not a perennial grass. It doesn't come back from winter hardy root. Each spring, it has to start from seed that it deposited the previous summer. And so there are products that we can add that will prevent that seed from sprouting. I'll talk about that in just a minute. But it's very important to to determine which weedy grass is actually in your lawn. It's important to to identify that what you've been troubled with is actually crabgrass. Sometimes the the grass in the photo there with the pearly white roots, sometimes that's mistakenly nicknamed crabgrass. But this this grass that I just showed there is quackgrass. Now quackgrass is a winter hardy perennial. If you take a look at the long runner rhizomes, that's how it survives winter and that's how it spreads. So each year it will pop back up from that winter hardy root system. And so the crabgrass preventers aren't going to work on quackgrass. So it's important to kind of know which one you're working with because there are crabgrass preventers that will prevent that seed from sprouting. Now it's important to get that crabgrass preventer on at the right time before the little seedling sprout and the seedling sprout in reaction to soil temperature. When the soil temperature start get starts getting above about 50 degrees or approaching 50 degrees that crabgrass seed can start to sprout. So the crabgrass preventers that are sold need to go down and on the average, it's about tax day April 15. That's probably going to be slower this year later this year, just because of the conditions. There's a good way to tell what your soil temperature is. Well, you could use a soil thermometer. You could use a food thermometer if it goes down, you know, below you know, 60 degrees or so, it's got to measure about 50 degrees. Or you can check the end on NDAWN that stands for North Dakota Agriculture Weather Network. If you just simply search end on soil temperature, it will come up with a chart with a lot of regional cities placed on and then you can look at the nearest city and the chart says the soil temperature at two inches, four inches all the way down to I think about eight feet down. So if you take a look at that the surface soil temperature, you can monitor for your area when the soil temperatures are starting to approach 50 degrees, then that's the time to get the crabgrass preventer on. Now if you put that preventer on too early, it can lose its effectiveness by the time that the crabgrass starts to sprout. So you don't want to get it on too early or too late. Well, what if we've got some hard to kill weeds such as thistles in the lawn or the creeping Charlie shown on the left, the fall is the preferred time, the best time to kill these weeds, because that's the time when these weeds are carrying food down into the roots to survive winter and come back to haunt us the next year. So in the fall of the year, if we apply weed killer, it'll carry that down into the root and you get a better kill. But usually one application such as in the fall isn't going to totally control it because these are difficult to kill. So the secondary application is in the spring in May when they start growing. So now if you didn't get your application on last fall, go ahead and spray these apply the appropriate weed killer to them in May or early June, and then hit them again in the fall of the year because usually again, one application in either spring or fall isn't going to do it. But twice a year, we can usually overcome them. Okay, now lawn fertilizer, we used to think that lawns should be fertilized right away, such as in April or early May to get them to green up. But that was kind of like force feeding before the lawns were ready to use it. And a lot of that fertilizer can just be washed away in spring rains. So a lot of lawn research has been done and it's shown that the optimum time in the spring to apply lawn fertilizer is around Memorial Day in May. That's the time when the lawn has already greened up, and it's able to use the nutrition right away that we're going to apply. And another time very important to apply lawn fertilizer is around Labor Day. In fact, if you were going to apply fertilizer once during the during the year, Labor Day is the preferred. Because that's when the lawns are really rooting in really, really good for the next season. And then Memorial Day is secondary time. Seeding, if we've got any lawns, lawn areas to repair, and gosh, the last couple of years have been tough on lawns. They just the dry season, the hot summers have been tough on lawns. So any areas that need to be reseeded can do that in May. The grass seed doesn't start to sprout until the soil temperature reaches about 50 degrees and above. So it doesn't pay to put it on too early. Otherwise, the birds will will have a good time with it. So maybe delay until the soil temperature is approaching 50. Now, just quickly, we're going to talk a little bit about starting seeds indoors, had a whole webinar about this number of weeks ago, but just a little refresher for those that didn't join that webinar, starting seeds indoors. Now is a good time to start some things such as, well, peppers about March 15. Petunias could start now, marigolds pretty soon. Tomatoes grow so quickly from seeds. So they are delayed until about April 1. So now, just a couple of little points that I always enjoy. And one is moistening down the seed starting mix and do use a special seed starting mix, but moisten that down well the day before, mix it around really good. And it'll be nice and mellow when you're going to use it. Otherwise, if you don't pre moisten it, it just is so dry and the seeds will float around. So pre moisten, and then after seeding, you still need to water the seed tray. Now, rather than direct seeding into the little cell packs, it's more efficient and effective to start the seeds in a seed tray, and then transplant the little seedlings when they're big enough into your individual cell packs that transports a vigor, a transplant vigor into the seedlings, you can duck them down a little closer down into the soil. So they're not as whippy. And this is a kind of a cold frame that my wife and I use for growing our plants, our bedding plants. And so we start them in the basement, grow them as long as we can. And when the weather starts to moderate a little bit in April, that this gives us a kind of a frost free spot to finish off the plants. And then you can raise greenhouse quality bedding plants and tomato plants. Now a little bit about wintered plants, things that we brought indoors last fall, such as geraniums, hibiscus, those are a favorite to bring in off the patio or deck and winter those. So in the spring of the year here, it's important to trim them back. These plants know that the days are getting longer, they sense the longer day length. And they'll start some new growth. And if we trim them back fairly heavily, they'll branch nicely from the base and you just get a much better plant from them. And we can begin fertilizing now. These plants sense the longer days, they're getting some growth spurt. And if we give them some nutrition now, March through September, that nutrition will help that new growth. So spring in the vegetable garden. That's actually a rototiller that I inherited from my dad. He bought it, I think when I was in junior high. And so that rototiller is about 55 years old or so. And I enjoy it. I enjoy tilling. As for some parts in our vegetable garden, I am moving to a less tilling. But parts of it, I still give a spring tilling when the soil is workable. My wife and I enjoy large vegetable garden. I like all things. I like flowers, I like houseplants, I like fruit trees, and I love our vegetable garden as well. Now one thing I wanted to mention in the vegetable garden is the use of clear plastic mulch on heat loving crops like melons. Could you be used on cucumbers too? But melons, both watermelon and musk melon have a hard time ripening during our season. But if we use clear plastic mulch, the clear plastic creates a greenhouse like effect over the soil, and the melons will ripen faster. Now this was research that was done at NDSU in the 1960s and 70s as how to how to grow melons in North Dakota so that farmers market growers could get melons for sale. So they did a lot of trial. Now you might think, well, wouldn't black plastic warm up better? And warm is the key. These, these melons like to think that they're in South Texas. They want warm soil that gets them to grow really, really well. Okay, well, black plastic, you might think sounds like that would warm up more. And the surface does. But if you put your hand under black plastic on the soil, the soil is still cooler underneath. Whereas if you put your hand under clear plastic on the soil, that clear plastic has let the sunshine in and it creates a warm greenhouse over the soil and the plant roots love it. So another key in those is to start them early watermelon musk melon start them early about May 1 indoors. And then they're ready to transplant out when all danger of frost has passed. Maybe the last week or so in May. And then we can get melons that grow just beautifully. This is one of our melons from water melons from last year. And just beautiful homegrown fresh mouth watering is just wonderful. Ah, test time. Now don't panic and don't everybody jump off. There's only five questions to this test. And I didn't do these on their last webinars, but I do need to collect just some data. And it's five easy questions. And I'm going to try this I need to launch what's called a pole. Okay, great. Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate you guys answering that. Okay. Now, before we get to the question and answers, I want to just mention a podcast that we've started when I say we NDSU Extension, Cass County and forum communications have started a joint venture on a gardening podcast, forum reporter john lamb who's been with a forum for a long, long time. Great reporter. And I do weekly conversations on podcast. And so if you simply do a search for wherever you get your podcasts, growing together a gardening podcast, you can listen to those of course they stay in an archive. And last week we talked about emerald ash borer and things that homeowners can do. And so do do check those out if you get a chance. Okay, and I want to wish you guys a happy spring. And if you do have any questions, feel free to I mean, for the future, feel free to send me an email. And now we're going to go into the question and answers. There's about 23 questions. And if any of you need to jump off, you know, feel free to do so. But I want to thank you guys for joining. I've really enjoyed these discussions that we've had. So anyway, thank you again for anybody that does need to leave. But if you'd like to listen to the questions, we'll continue those now. All right. What is the difference between 10 1010 and 2020? Can you just use half the amount? Yes, you can. Because 10 1010 would be half the strength of 2020. And now 2020 is kind of considered a kind of potent type fertilizer. And so you'd want to make sure you follow the label directions. And half would be right half of what I mentioned. So instead of a quarter cup would be about an eighth. But again, consult the label because 2020 could, you know, it's that's fairly potent. Would hydrangeas be one to divide in the spring? Yes, the Annabelle hydrangea that all arises primarily from the lower part can be split and divided quite effectively. Mary and I did that and created I think about four hydrangeas out of one. The peniculata type that is less likely to all come from a multiple crown, those are a little more difficult to divide. But spring is definitely the time just starting a little growth. Can you use the use the grass killer on red raspberry plants in the garden? Yes. Yep. raspberries are listed on now check the label on the grass killer. But it's very effective. There may be a waiting time on that between application and the time of harvest. But yep, it's very effective on both strawberries and raspberries grass killing herbicides. Grass is invaded by Lily of the Valley. Can I use a grass killer on that? You absolutely can. Lily of the Valley is not a grass and not in the grass family. So you can use that effectively on Lily of the Valley. Crackgrass is taking over my yard. Any suggestions. Crackgrass in a yard is problematic. The problem is that anything that will kill the crack grass is will also kill the good grass. We can be assured that the herbicide companies are trying to find something that would selectively remove that currently there's not. So a couple of choices on crack grass in a lawn. You could use a a an herbicide that kills all plants, such as glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in the original roundup that could be used to kill off. It'll kill off the lawn grass as well. And then you would reseed. You could smother it, such as with black plastic or cardboard, smother it takes a couple of months to kill probably. And then you would need to reseed. Now crackgrass is tricky, because when the original part of the crack grasses is killed, there are still kind of dormant buds down in the rhizomes that kick into action. So there will oftentimes be a second spurt of crackgrass that you need to reapply the the product to. We find berries in a temporary garden last year. When is a good time to move them to their permanent spot? berries, either raspberries or strawberries would be moved in late April, early May, just as maybe a little bit of growth is starting. But the spring is a good time early spring before they get much new growth on should fertilizer be put down around perennials before or after new mulch is added. Does it need to be mixed in with the soil? Or is sprinkling superficially okay? No, it kind of depends on what type that's that's a great question. All these are great questions. Okay, if it's a water soluble type fertilizer, miracle grows probably the most popular brand that you'd mix up in a bucket, those you course just pour on and they quickly find their way down into the root system. So for some perennials that we have wood mulch around, that can be an easy way to fertilize them. But the granular fertilizer is actually a little probably a little easier to go and sprinkle around. You don't have to mix them up in water. But the granular type fertilizers have to find their way down in the roots. Now find their way down in they have to dissolve in water and get down into the roots, which means if you sprinkle them on the mulch, they need to be they need to dissolve and get down. You see, because roots drink in so it has to be in a solution. So you when when I fertilize our perennials, which we have wood mulch on when I fertilize them with granular, excuse me, granular fertilizer, I immediately water that in to dissolve the granules or apply it before we're going to get a spring rain. And that will help dissolve the granules down in. It's difficult. You could pull some of the mulch back and incorporate it into the soil. But the key there is you need to do something to get those granules into a solution. And of course, if they're incorporated into the soil, they dissolve into solution there. Does the campfire rose have its own root? Because as I mentioned, own root is preferable. It's sold both ways. So if it is own root, it will usually tell that or you can look down at the point where the canes, the branches meet the roots. And you can usually see a knobby graft. But most campfire roses that I've seen are on their own root, which is the preferred. So I think at most local garden centers, Larry, I think you'll probably find them on their own root, which means then anything comes from the base, even in a cold, cold winter is going to be campfire. Does Bleeding Heart prefer rock mulch or wood mulch? Definitely wood mulch. They'll grow in rock mulch. But wood mulch is more Bleeding Heart friendly. Bleeding Heart likes cool. In fact, they'll keep their foliage longer into summer if it's cooler. So rock mulch where it tends to heat up more, you'll get a quicker dieback. And of course, Bleeding Heart tends to dieback at some point in the middle of summer. When should bridal respirae be cut back for rejuvenation? On bridal respirae blooms so much more prolifically on fresh growth. So they can be cut back, should be cut back in early spring before you see much growth. So the month of April at some point, cut them back, can be cut back all the way down to four to six inches. And they'll regrow nicely. They might not bloom the first year. I'd have to check on bridal wreath whether they bloom anew or old wood. Probably old wood. So you may skip a season, but that's okay. It'll look good for years and years and bloom well after. Okay, we have a lilac that's over 60 years old, massive. Many of the branches are the size of my arm. We want to prune it, but worried because of the age and size of the branches. How heavily you're light? Okay, to rejuvenate an old lilac. I first saw my parents doing that when there's a little boy. They had a very old lilac similar to what you described. They cut it all the way back to about six inches of ground level. And I was kind of shocked. Grew back beautifully and was beautiful for years to come. So yeah, chainsaw, pruning saw would work fine. So do it before it starts growth in April. So cut it all the way back. That works on an old lilac 99.9% of the time. The only time it doesn't work is if the lilac hasn't been healthy, or if in the last 60 years if the trees have overtopped it and if now it's in dense shade. Lilacs love full sun or at least half-day sun. So as long as it's still in full sun, I would definitely cut it back. Take before and after photos and send to me. That'd be awesome. How should we rejuvenate very old bridal wreath? Yep, cut it back early spring before it starts growth four to six inches above ground level. Works beautifully. What do you recommend for controlling weeds and flower beds? Have had very limited success with preen. Yep, I appreciate that. Preen is a weed preventer and a weed preventer means that it only prevents weeds that pop up from seeds. And many of the weeds that come in our flower beds are perennial weeds like dandelions and different things coming back from a root. So preen can work. That's a product sold in the yellow and red containers. And so weed control and flower beds preen accompanied with hand weeding. If it's grass type weeds then we could use the grass killers. But weeds and flower beds is a piece of work. What and when to fertilize hydrangea plants. Hydrangea plants fertilize in the spring that will help these summer blossoms. So fertilize probably early May would be good. And with what to use it could be an all-purpose water-soluble type or 10-10-10. Or you could use a fertilizer that's tailored for flowering shrubs. That's probably the preferred is one for flowering shrubs. It's tweaked a little bit for flowering. But even an all-purpose type would work well. We also planted asparagus in a temporary place. When is a good time to transplant it? Transplant the asparagus preferably well it's still dormant before and they start growing kind of quickly. So as soon as the snow melts and the soil falls enough for you to dig it go ahead and move it just as soon as you can and early as you can. My Minnesota Extension partners has to not overprune an apple tree and do it over three years. Otherwise overpruning in one year promotes sucker growth and reduces both. Yep it's yeah and I would certainly echo my a co-worker over in Minnesota saying not to overprune. Yeah there there's a limit. So I would agree you know especially if it's an older apple tree especially do it over three. I think I mentioned even four to five years. Otherwise it's harder on a tree. Yep so I certainly do echo his comments. Yeah don't don't too much. I mentioned to not removing more than about 25 percent that's kind of a good rule of thumb on whatever apple tree you're working on don't take out over about 25 percent. Any thoughts on adding clover to lawns or replacing with clover? You know in the 1940s and 1950s clover lawns was considered a good thing. I remember our lawn at home had clover and it was kind of fun looking for a four-leaf clover. Clover is beneficial to a lawn because it fixes nitrogen down into the soil and it plays well with lawn grass. We used to think that was a really good thing until 24d was invented somewhere in the 1940s and then weed killers on lawn started to eliminate the clover. So I'm all for adding clover it's so deep rooted that it it stays green and so clover lawns are becoming a thing again either entirely clover or mixing it in to lawn grass and you can buy clover called the white dutch clover is the one to look for. I have a pretty large lilac tree right alongside my driveway. I want to trim it down because it hangs over the driveway. How do you suggest cutting it back? Okay right alongside the driveway if it's if the lilac is hanging over the driveway. If you totally rejuvenated it it might send up a bunch of growth that would be too close to the driveway so you might have to remove what's hanging over but then balance it on the opposite side so that you're kind of balancing the two sides. So I hope I answered that one okay feel free to send me a photo at my email address if you wanted to photograph that one and I could maybe help a little in more detail too. If I'm turning back my indoor hibiscus how much should I prune it back 25% yeah with an indoor hibiscus yeah about yeah a fourth to a third at least it could go almost as much as a half prune back on hibiscus. We can prune those more heavily than you would like an apple tree outside because hibiscus, geraniums, geraniums we cut back to just a couple inches above ground level let them regrow nice. Pruning rhubarb um pruning rhubarb um maybe dividing rhubarb. Rhubarb comes of course from the lower crown from the ground level each year and that can be divided either in early spring just as it starts or September it can be divided so if a rhubarb plants have become really large and all the good stuff is on the outer perimeter it can be moved in early spring just as a little bit of growth is starting. Is it possible to start a new garden bed from a spot in the lawn and get a good result the first season or will it take a year or two it is possible the first season uh my wife and I when we relocated started a garden the first season um now there are a couple ways if it's currently in lawn it's going to take a little bit of time so your garden might be laid uh the first thing a person needs to do of course is get rid of the grass itself you could rent a sod cutter and strip off the lawn or you could use a grass-killing herbicide or something such as glyphosate roundup uh now glyphosate generally uh will not affect soil there's been a lot of research done on that generally uh it's activated by soil so it uh you can do your garden yet this uh yet this summer but again it would be late by the time you get the grass off unless you do the sod cutter the lawn or the garden might have to wait until some point in June because even if you do use something a grass killer like glyphosate uh it takes probably a couple of weeks to kill the grass and then you would need to rototail or strip off that dead grass um so your best lawn is going to be the next year but for sure work on it this year you might be able to plant a later garden middle June or so and then next year you're really going to have a good lawn or i mean a good garden thanks uh when do you start tilling well a good way to till tell whether your soil is ready to work up in the fall is to just take a uh handful of it give it a squeeze if it stays in a clump uh then it's too wet yet but if you give that dirt ball a squeeze and if you can break it apart easily then it's usually crumbly enough to start tilling uh especially in our heavy clay soil there's danger in going too early because it can make a lot of little mud balls how do you treat for snow mold and other fungus and lawns uh we can probably look forward to a snow mold invasion because we've had snow for so long it started early in December and so snow mold the best thing to do after the snow disappears if you notice that grayish or pinkish material on the lawn is to take a rake and rake and fluff it up the exposure to air will uh usually get rid of it uh there are fungicides that can be used but usually they're not necessary uh just kind of fluffing them up uh will usually do the trick and the grass will start growing you mentioned pruning pink spirea do you prune white spirea the same um the pink spirea blooms on what is called new wood the current season's growth uh white spirea the bridal wreath blooms on older wood so um you can prune them the same but the bridal wreath the white spirea will probably delay until the next spring to bloom but in the meantime you've got a nicely rejuvenated shrub do you have a good reference uh by book you would recommend i do do an online search for a book series by a non-profit organization uh and uh gosh i keep i keep the whole series right here it's called the prairie garden the prairie garden it's written in uh manitoba winnipeg manitoba a wonderful book series so it's called the the prairie garden book series uh there are different things called the prairie garden but look at the prairie garden um book series winnipeg manitoba and uh they aren't overly expensive they're a really really good practical uh book series on different topics for our growing area uh will these recordings be available on the website uh it will take a while to get them uh modified for recording but yes we do plan to do that i've long stretched a little valley on the north side i didn't get them cleaned up last fall can i pull them out or do i need to cut them off to not destroy that okay the tops will be just kind of dry when the snow disappears while they'll be wet and then they'll dry off and you can just rake away the old dead tops uh usually they'll rake away okay and if not then you can cut them off uh okay so i hope hope that answered uh how do you prune rhododendron shrubs ah rhododendron are beautifully borderline and hardiness but some of the those developed in minnesota have um have merit for our area they're the hardest and rhododendrons are best pruned after they're done blooming because they bloom so early they already have their flower buds formed and if we prune too early we'd be cutting away this year's flower buds so we wait until after the rhododendrons azaleas are the same thing until after they're done blooming uh and they bloom early uh and then do pruning on them and uh yep so right after blossoming what is the best way to eradicate ground ivy ground ivy another name for that is creeping charlie best way to eradicate is making sure that you apply a lawn weed killer the uh in the fall of the year in september a the active ingredient called trichlopyr tr i c l o p y r trichlopyr is uh one of the most effective it doesn't kill grass won't harm the grass but uh ground ivy creeping charlie uh apply in the fall but apply now in the spring too and then again in the fall uh didn't mention whether that's in the lawn or in another landscaped area um so anyway i hope hope that answered it can i use the weed killer on monograss uh grass killer is it part of the it is part of the asparagus uh family you know i i'm not i'm not totally sure what that what that is to be honest with you monograss uh part of the asparagus family i'd have to do a little checking on that if you wouldn't mind if you're still on if you could if you could send me an email because i'll probably lose your question here when we go off i'd like to pursue that with you um can i use the weed killer on monograss so we'll find out what weeds are actually growing and let's fine tune that if you wouldn't mind emailing me at my email address that'd be super thanks and uh okay erin asks any suggestions for out of control snow on the mountain uh and if controlling it is out of the question how do i keep it from browning in late summer and of course that's one reason people like to get rid of snow on the mountain is but it's it's a very vigorous ground cover with uh white and green very good leaves does well on the north side of homes but it does tend to brown in late summer especially if it's in a hotter area okay uh you can try an all-purpose plant killer such as glyphosate the active ingredient roundup you can try that it probably won't die all in one application um but also you could try smothering smothering is becoming more popular uh in place of some of the herbicides so in smothering you would cover with black plastic or cardboard weighted down uh it would need to remain on for several months because the snow on the mountain would need to run out of all its energy underneath and there could be a little regrowth but you might try smothering uh or the herbicides you might even try a broadleaf weed killer a lawn weed killer with the active ingredient that i just mentioned called triclopyr triclopyr tri clopyr all right starting a new lawn this spring previous owners let it all go to weed planning to till it all and reseed any tips on timing the problem with the weeds uh that are active that are currently there chances are they are perennial weeds coming back from roots so even if you till it uh and seed lawn grass those perennial type weeds are probably going to come up in your new lawn so uh what i would do would be to delay just a little bit here's where patients um patients pays off let everything start growing in in may and then apply a product such as glyphosate to to the lawn that will kill off both annual weeds that are sprung from seed but also the perennial weeds and let all of that die and then till it up and reseed now that may mean you don't get to the reseeding until towards the end of may but in the long run that will help otherwise you will probably be dealing with some of these especially if there was crack grass in the lawn if that's not dealt with before you'll be trying to deal with it as it's growing in your lawn what is a good tree to plant under boulevard Julie asks um hackberry uh there are many good varieties of lindens uh anything other than ash because we know of the emerald ash borer that's been found in the neighborhood um so i mentioned hackberry uh lindens uh oak trees um ohio buckeye ndsu has a good variety of both oak and some nice uh ohio buckeye those will all be good choices for boulevard tree and depending on what city you're in if you consult your local forestry department they will usually have trees that they want you to select from how far back should lilac uh probably be pruned uh lilacs if you want to rejuvenate it down to about four to six inches when should you use a fertilizer that has more phosphorus such as 10 15 10 judy asks and um the first number in a fertilizer uh series the first is nitrogen which feeds the grassy part the leafy part um and the middle and the last numbers are more for root and flower growth so 10 15 10 would be more for either fruit production or flower production so that's when you would use fertilizer that has more phosphorus when we're trying to encourage uh roots and fruiting or flowering what is the lifespan of sedum plants used along a sidewalk also can they be split in the spring they can be split in the spring just as new growth is starting lifespan of sedum plants they should uh they should live without a certain uh death lifespan um but they do tend to get some older kind of growth that dies out and the newer the the good stuff is kind of on the outer perimeters so you do oftentimes in spring need to dig and reset uh the healthy plants and remove what is probably the older that is probably suffering dieback can you speak a bit about forcing branches for indoor flowering when to cut uh indoor um flowering such as um the yellow flowered uh for cithia um the uh rhododendrons and azaleas can be done a pussy willow that can be done and really just about the time that the branches are thinking about waking up uh late winter it's probably might not be too early to start now uh spring isn't too far around the corner and so you might try them now you might delay just a little bit until those branches have had a little more mild temperatures but uh branches uh things that flower in the spring already have their flower buds set in those branches so when the warm weather comes or you bring them indoors in uh jar of water those flower buds are already preformed so they're sitting there waiting for you uh so before too long you should be able to probably bring them in in force is there a blackberry variety that does well in north dakota blackberries are certainly borderline in hardiness um so if you do a little bit of an online search because i'm not going to come up with a variety name for you but if you do an online search uh blackberry variety ndsu or university of minnesota you'll probably come up with the latest variety name that would be worth checking but blackberries definitely borderline in winter hardiness for north dakota minnesota can you use the grasskiller around daelos without harming you sure can because daelolies um uh daelolies are actually on the label of one or more of those grass killers because daelolies are not a grass and so i've used them effectively and they are on the label of at least one of those products and you can check the labels online on those products as well in superior wisconsin we have about sections of ice on the ground under the snow how will that affect the perennials and grass this year um ice ice on top of those tends to be more smothering than just snow which has snow has a little more air capacity and so uh on perennials and grass sometimes the ice will tend to smother and mold what's underneath so on the lawn you could have more mold underneath that ice and possibly on perennials too as soon as that as soon as the ice might be revealed under the snow if there's anything you can do to break it up that would probably be great started new lawn on my boulevard what is the best plan to prevent weeds reinvading the area um there really aren't too many weed preventers for lawns but as they appear there are a lawn weed herbicides so that would probably be the best bet as as weeds appear um the grass type um such as quackgrass you probably won't be able to get out of there but uh uh broadleaf weeds there are products that you'll be able to use should the old mulch be removed from plants in the spring before you fertilize and add new mulch now usually wood product mulch is left in place it um the lower surface that touches the soil will just decompose into good stuff so you really don't need to remove old wood mulch uh just let it decompose and add the new mulch right over the top and as you're fertilizing if it's a granular type maybe you remove a little bit of the mulch from around each perennial plant so that the fertilizer can get down next into the soil where it can dissolve and then pull the fertilizer or the mulch back around so anyway wood mulch usually left in place to decompose naturally new added on top do roses that are graft ever uh that are coming from the root ever produce flowers again if the rose bush is all growing from the root uh i've never heard of them flowering um if it is it's an inferior type of flower um maybe more related to a wild rose uh and i've never experienced the rootstock producing flowers uh have you used coca bean mulch coca bean mulch is a wonderful wonderful product in addition to or as an alternative to woodpride mulch coca bean mulch is awesome there is a there there is a hesitation if you have pets in the yard uh of course chocolate cocoa um you're not uh not encouraged for pets to have access to chocolate or coca bean but in the absence of pets in the yard coca bean mulch is a great product i have a little limelight hydrangea seven years old that i want to move when and how should i do it in the spring before it starts new growth uh when shrubs are dormant is the less stressful time to move them and do a little bit of pruning back to compensate for the roots that will be lost is there a nice companion to bleeding heart to flower after the bleeding heart dies back uh bleeding heart yeah you don't want anything that's going to overtake the bleeding heart so a nice companion to the bleeding heart uh well you could put annual flowers uh that would be planted in may and by the time they kind of reach their their peak the bleeding heart would probably be died would died back that's what i used to do uh back home uh elizabeth north dakota mom had a bleeding heart and i used to care for the flower beds and i would plant marigolds or petunias around the bleeding heart which would take over another perennial that would uh be good around bleeding heart why did i have to think about that a little but i think consider maybe annual flowers uh what natural fertilizers do you recommend well the fish emulsion is great um really any of the organic type natural fertilizers most any of them look at the analysis now the wonderful thing about natural or organic type fertilizers is they're longer lasting they're slower acting than the synthetic fertilizers they're slower acting uh because they have to kind of kind of mesh in more with the soil and be taken up so they're usually slower acting but longer lasting so they definitely have some good benefits and some of them have soil building properties as well so almost any of them uh you know the rotted manure type bag manure fertilizers work well uh the seaweed fish emulsion all great products i have a small greenhouse backyard when is the right time to plant in there well um seeds could be started they could be started indoors on a heat mat such as with fluorescent lights or you could get them going in your little greenhouse so the right time to plant in there depends on how you can keep it heated you'll need to keep it certainly above freezing and so uh depending on your heat source if you can keep it really for plants going in there you need to be able to keep it really above 60 uh day and night of course it'll heat up nice during the day in the sunshine but it really shouldn't drop below 60 at night so whenever you can keep it above that then you can start using it i have several lilacs one sends out a lot of suckers what is the best way to contain or remove these and of course the old-fashioned lilac uh is known to uh send up suckers um removal is pretty much with digging uh the best way to contain once you cut them down to ground level try putting a um like a landscape fabric if you don't currently have a landscape fabric with a good heavy thick layer of mulch will at least slow them down they'll still pop up in between you know etc but uh suckers on lilacs it is hard to contain those i have uh hotlips turtle head yeah nice perennials on the southeast corner of my house every summer it gets black specks on the leaves is the fungus or too much heat probably a fungus um do mulch the soil with wood chips to keep it cooler because the turtle head perennial uh doesn't like it overly hot but it sounds like it probably is a fungus so try an all-purpose uh flower and vegetable fungicide applied before you typically start seeing those black spots on the leaves when should you trim evergreen shrubs evergreen shrubs are usually pruned in may time uh about the time that they're starting to starting to send up a little bit of growth so evergreen shrubs are a little later pruning than we would do the leafy type what is needed to treat peach and kiwi tree in and blueberries this spring to prevent bugs try the um the insecticide called spinocet spi n o s ad spinocet a wonderful uh fairly new it's also an organic insecticide uh so that would be a good a good product to investigate how do i get rid of virginia creeper vine virginia creeper of course is a very vigorous vine and so the couple of things you can do um mix up a bucket of um herbicide such as glyphosate mix up a bucket and then bring the vines down once it send it up send up leaves send out leaves then pull the vines down at least some of them down into the bucket of glyphosate and do that in as many places as it is and get that uh get at least some of the leaves as many leaves as possible on the vine to soak up some of that and uh it'll take a little bit of persistence for that but that would be a fairly useful method how long do you have to wait after fertilizing in the spring to reseed the lawn uh if you are totally going to reseed uh how long do you have to wait after fertilizing the spring to reseed the lawn uh there are fertilizers that can be that are are mentioned for a seeding uh such as for new lawns so investigate at the garden centers or even the national chains for a fertilizer it's a lower analysis it'll give the lawn its nutrition but it won't be quite so hot that would burn a new seed so check um check the stores for uh lawn fertilizer for newer lawns uh it is available so that that would be a good product to use so you wouldn't have to delay receiving the lawn should a bleeding heart be cut back in mid-summer after the bleeding heart has totally died back so it's crisp brown then it's safe to cut it back otherwise it's still feeding the root system our coffee grounds good mix in the plant soil coffee grounds work well the acid which actually our soils could use a little more acid because they're so alkaline um but most of the acid is already gone in the coffee that we drink and the coffee grounds are a good organic material to mix into planting soil either house plants or outdoors is there a cheap light source for trying to grow seeds indoors uh we use um shop type fluorescent lights uh they work beautifully uh led lights work well but uh shop lights that that hold two tubes you can either get them in you know two foot four feet we use eight foot long shop type lights work great and keep the seeds only a couple inches below the fluorescent tubes okay uh let's say we're almost to the end how do you keep voles from the garden last question uh i better check chat box too how do you keep voles from the garden can they climb wood legs if we raise the beds voles uh can't climb as much as house type mice but they will go at least six inches high um because they've traveled up at least six inches on some of our raised beds how do you keep voles from the garden um you can use rodent type traps or rodent baits put in sections of pvc pipe that'll keep them the baits away the poison away from kids or pets so by the raised beds you might use that sections of about 18 inches of pvc pipes with rodent bait tucked inside or um yeah because otherwise uh you would have to raise it up probably you know 12 to 18 inches voles aren't real great climbers but they can easily go six inches uh let me quickly check uh eight messages in the chat box um what do we need to treat okay uh i think we got those the crabgrass killer um crabgrass killer is under many different brand names and most of the different brands will just say simply crabgrass killer or crabgrass preventer and so they're fairly clearly identified and there are different brand names uh thank you for the kind words uh oh well you're very kind uh the person said the lecture made the day a bit better thank you for kind words and i think we've covered all of the uh the chats and questions so thank you uh thank you to the 60 of you who held right on into the end and thank you very much i appreciate these uh the discussions that we've had and thank you i'll sign off very soon and yeah thank you and have a very very good spring you might also check even though my series is done uh check out the spring fee end issues spring fever garden forums i'm actually uh one of the first speakers which is this next monday evening so even though my own webinars are done there are other good things happening so check out the spring fever garden forums from ndsu thank you very much and have a very good uh week and a very good spring thank you much