Spring fever? Here's a checklist of yard and garden tasks (2024)

Did you hear about the argument between the two potatoes? They just couldn’t see eye to eye.

It’s too early to plant potatoes, but it’s not too early to look ahead and plan other spring yard and garden tasks. Here is a calendar checklist.

• In early March, cut back wintered geraniums to 3-inches above soil level. Repot if needed, and begin fertilizing every 2 weeks. If cut back in March, geraniums will branch from the lower stems and be ready for planting outdoors in mid-May or after.
• Prune back overwintered hibiscus and mandevilla, give plenty of sunshine, and begin fertilizing every two-to-three weeks. Monitor for insects.
• Flowers to seed indoors in early March include petunia, snapdragon, coleus, and vinca.
• Seeds to plant March 15 include marigold, pepper, alyssum, salvia, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.
• Begin fertilizing houseplants in March, as they respond to increasing daylength and light intensity.
• Fruit trees are traditionally pruned in late winter, but some fruit professionals suggest delaying until after buds have opened. Cuts will heal faster, helping to block out the deadly black rot canker that infects trunks and main branches.
• Deciduous (leafy) trees and shrubs are best pruned in March and April before new growth begins. Wait to prune evergreens until May and June.
• Prune shrubs that are choked with old wood, such as potentilla, spirea and ninebark every three or four years by cutting back to about six inches above ground level.

David Samson/The Forum

• Sow seeds of tomato and marigolds on April 1.
• Loosen or remove winter protective mulch from perennials.
• Before new spring growth begins on perennials and ornamental grasses, cut down the above-ground parts, called the “tops,” to an inch above ground level.
• Prune roses that suffered cane dieback. Dead cane portions are dark brown-black compared to the green live canes. Prune out weak branches while reducing height to stimulate fresh branching capable of better flower production.
• Prune summer-bearing raspberries by removing the two-year-old dark, woody canes that bore fruit last year, leaving the one-year-old, fresh-looking canes that will bear this summer. Everbearing types, also called fall-bearing, can be pruned the same way, or by mowing all canes to a few inches above ground level, as they’ll bear on the new canes that regrow.
• Rototill garden soil when a handful of squished soil will crumble apart. If soil remains in a mudball, it’s structure can be harmed by tilling when too wet.
• Improve garden and flowerbed soil by incorporating a three-inch layer of peatmoss, compost or bagged manure.
• Begin spring lawn raking when the ground is dry enough to kneel on the lawn without getting a wet spot on your jeans. It’s recommended that power raking, also called dethatching, be delayed until May, because tender grass can be injured if done too early.
• Delay lawn fertilizer applications until Memorial Day.

• Apply preemergent crabgrass preventer to lawns before crabgrass seeds sprout, which begins when soil temperature approaches 50 degrees one inch deep. The herbicide could lose effectiveness if applied too early, and won’t work if applied too late.
• Begin early outdoor gardening by planting cool-season vegetables that thrive in cool temperatures and tolerate light frost, like pea, radish, lettuce, onion, carrot, potato, cabbage and broccoli.
• Plant bareroot trees, shrubs and roses.

• Start squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melon seeds indoors May 1.
• Sow grass seed. Soil must warm before Kentucky bluegrass seeds sprout.
• Divide perennials whose bloom season is mid-summer through fall, like hosta and mums, as new growth is just barely visible.
• Remove tree wraps for the growing season.

David Samson/The Forum

• Plant potted trees, shrubs, roses and perennials. They can be planted earlier if not in full leaf, which makes them susceptible to spring frosts.
• Turf researchers recommend delaying spring lawn fertilizer application until Memorial Day for healthiest grass structure.
• Power rake (dethatch) lawns after they’ve been mowed several times.
• The ten days between May 15 and May 25 are a prime window for the majority of spring planting including bedding plants, vegetable gardens and containers. Frost is certainly still possible, but less likely.

Don Kinzler, a lifelong gardener, is the horticulturist with North Dakota State University Extension for Cass County. Readers can reach him at donald.kinzler@ndsu.edu.

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