Gardening With Gutner: Spring Cleanup

BOSTON (CBS) - After a long winter, we focus on cleaning up the wreckage in your yard.

As March comes to a close it is finally time to get back into the garden to begin another gardening season of creating and enjoying. I for one am so ready to get my hands in the dirt again but I know that first I must do my least favorite part of gardening, the clean up!

Watch Todd and Mark's report:

There are really only three things you need right now.

A good pair of hand pruners, a tree saw and a rake.

As it is too early to begin planting now what we can be doing is cleaning up from the long snowy winter we had.

Did your trees and shrubs get damaged from the excessive snow?

If so, take this time to do some pruning on your Evergreens.

Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Hollies and many other Evergreens experienced some snapped stems and branches and now is a great time to prune them back to help encourage new growth once the weather warms up.

How about your Dogwood tree?

I for one had several branches break during that awful, heavy January snow and now must get out my ladder and cut down and clean up some branches that were snapped off. Be careful, if the damage is too high you may want to call in a professional tree service.

Once you have trimmed up your trees and shrubs it's time to turn to the ground! Focus on your lawn and flower beds next.

Now is a great time to do a light raking (thatching) of your lawn surface. This will allow the grass to breath again, encourage new growth and also identify areas that may need to be over seeded or patched from snow damage.

Are you seeing large white cotton patches in your lawn? This is snow mold. Look for circular, matted areas of grass blades that have turned gray, white, or pink and cling together. Snow mold is a lawn fungus and looks damp, fuzzy, and maybe a little slimy, kind of like cooked spinach. If you have snow mold, wait until the grass has had a chance to dry out before attempting any first aid.

HOW TO TREAT SNOW MOLD

Rake the area affected with grass fungus and lightly fertilize to encourage new growth.

Give your lawn a grass transplant.

Reseed the affected area.

Make sure your lawn has proper drainage.

Lawn fungus likes moisture as much as it likes thatch.

Next Fall, apply a fungicide specially formulated for grass fungus.

Once the trees are trimmed, the shrubs are pruned and the lawn is raked, it's time to turn your attention to what we gardeners love the most, our flower beds and it's only a matter of days now before we can begin to plant!

Pansies are just around the corner.

Mark Saidnawey
Pemberton Farms
2225 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, Ma. 02140
617-491-2244
info@pembertonfarms.com