Spring Chores 2025

Yearly Tasks

    Set up irrigation

    Amend soil

    Top dress with compost

    Mulch

    Fertilize perennials

   Add supports

• Set up drip irrigation. Roll out and connect hose. Attach water filter and timer. Replace broken emitters or split hoses.

• Amend soil two weeks before planting- mid-April. Replenish Veggie beds with Coast of Maine Tomato and Veggies Soil

• Top dress beds with compost. 
• Bagged compost from Schenectady County Conservation District. 
• Price 3 for $8 
• A 20 dry quarts package of potting soil is approximately 3/4 of a cubic foot.

• Mulch beds: Try pine shavings this year. Comes in bales in plastic from Tractor Supply. Or pine straw for strawberries and dried grass clipping for tomatoes. 

• Remove and store plant covers and wraps.

• Add plants supports before they start growing: Peony, Bells of Ireland, etc…

• Fertilize perennials: Hydrangea, Peony, Asparagus, etc…

Early Spring Chores

• Divide or transplant perennials: Aster, Balloon Flower, Bee balm, Black-eyed Susan, Catmint, Coreopsis, Dianthus, Echinacea, Hosta, Hyssop, Lamb's Ear, Phlox, Speedwell, Yarrow

• Rake up old wood chip mulch and put down 2-4 sheet layers of newspaper before replacing new mulch.

• Turn Compost. Sift and harvest completed compost and apply as top dressing for plants.

Veggie Garden

• Fertilizer Option 1: Choose a general All Purpose Fertilizer like Down to Earth
• Amend at planting- three beds are 96 square feet, 6 lbs fertilizer covers 110 sq. feet
• Use 2 types of Fish Emulsion: Tomato and Veg for the first few weeks, and Rose and Flowering for the rest of the season.
• Fertilizer Option 2: Heavy feeders like tomato and broccoli should receive 4.8 ounces per 100 sq. ft. Blood meal Recommendation: 0.5 ounces of 12-0-0 per 32 square feet
• Broccoli- side-dress 3 weeks after transplanting (side-dress broccoli a second time after central head is harvested to encourage small heads on side shoots).
• Tomato- side-dress when fruits first form.

• Harvest Asparagus more frequently (every day when they get going, once spears are 6-8", width of spread hand) and continue for six weeks, June 1 -14. Note when this falls this year for future reference.

• Dig cover crops in at least a month (early to mid April) before sowing or planting.

• Use fish emulsion for tomatoes and peppers. For determinate tomatoes, once in mid-June. For indeterminate tomatoes and peppers, apply monthly in the growing season: mid-June, mid-July and mid-August.

Fertilize Perennials

• Peony- An annual application of compost mixed with a very small amount of fertilizer around the base of the plant is all that is needed. When you do feed with compost and fertilizer, do it just after the plants have finished blooming.
• Hydrangea Macrophylla- For optimal growth, bloom production, and quality, fertilize three times:
• In early spring when plants are just leafing out
• In early May to boost their flower production for summer
• In late June/early July to help your plants finish the summer strong