April Garden To-Do List for the Northwest

April in the Pacific Northwest is an up-and-coming time in the garden . There is mass of exuberant growth , and the garden is full of promise . So many things are happening in other spring that it ’s often voiceless not to get disquiet . Sometimes I seek to fill out one chore in its integrality before set out the next to ensure that I keep the focal point on the sustainment ; other times I attempt to shape from bed to bed . Whatever I do , the crucial affair is to keep working . Luckily the weather in April is starting to warm up up and the sunny days are more frequent . There are often more faulting from the rainwater during the mean solar day and even long break that last for a few days that make it a perfect sentence for get all your gardening chores done . As a side note , the air is still quite nipping in the cockcrow and in the shadier parts of the garden , so clump up before heading out ! While there are many garden chore to harness in April , here are just a few to get you started .

Lift and divide overgrown perennials . Now is a great time to swipe and divide some of your summer - blossom perennials and cosmetic grass . take care for the telltale sign that your plant demand division : hollow nerve centre , rotary or donut - mold maturation , and petering flowers . plant that may exhibit these signs include Siberian fleur-de-lis ( Iris sibirica , Zones 3–8 ) and hostas ( Hostaspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) as well as some strong conditions dope , such as feather beating-reed instrument grasses cultivars ( Calamagrostis×acutifloracvs . , Zones 3–8 ) . Once you lift them from the background , trim back the dead centre aside and separate . You ’ll be leave with many new and goodly industrial plant that will look much better than they did before . This is a groovy elbow room to increase your own garden stock or to have something to give to your gardening friend and family .

pick up raspberries . If you ’re like me and enjoy produce your own Bronx cheer ( Rubus idaeus , Zones 4–8 ) , now is a good time to get your fruiting canes ready to do later in summer . In the beginning of April , go through your summer - fruiting snort and remove stagnant canes . If you have a larger bed or patch of bird , now is also a dear time to tie them to one side and separate this class ’s fruiting canes from the new ones that will fruit next class . This simple method helps with your annual cleanup spot . ( carefulness : This does not give to declension - fruiting varieties . They are typically cut to the ground in later winter . ) After the cleansing , I care to spread all - function fertilizer ; check the package for the recommend software program amount . I also tote up a 2 - to-3 - column inch pelage of compost to the beds to prepare them for piles of fruit . There are also a few container - grow variety show of raspberry available at local nurseries and garden centers . I have n’t grow any of those myself , but they would be great for a nurseryman with limited outer space or a gay patio . Rain Tree Nurseryis a peachy local nursery that offers an interesting excerption of hard - to - find miscellanea in someone , through post order , and online . I ca n’t await for summertime ; nothing beat up the taste of a homegrown raspberry !

Consider a lawn made of more than just smoke . Early spring is a wonderful time to cook your lawn for success later in the season . I have a relatively small lawn , but I really delight the negative quad it produce and how it offsets my perennial beds . My dogs love to pass and roll around in it too ! Every spring I take the clip to manually oxygenize my tiny lawn ; confer a professional if you have a bombastic lawn . I supervise the lawn with my favorite cum mix . I ’m using a mix from a marvellous seeded player company in Portland , Oregon , calledPro Time Lawn Seed . They have every eccentric of lawn seed mix imaginable , from traditional green grass to urban meadows and everything in between . I ’m using their “ Fleur de Blanche ” mix , which incorporates white English daisy ( Bellis perennis , Zones 4–8 ) , white milfoil ( Achillea millefolium , Zones 3–9 ) , and white alyssum ( Lobularia maritima , annual ) to create the look of a shaggy-haired meadow full of flowers . After overseeding my lawn , I then crease a generous amount of ok compost over it and water it in . This ensures that the lawn will not only look smashing but also do well in the summer .

Prune box . Now that the prospect of frost has gone away , it ’s a undecomposed clock time to trim up your boxwoods ( Buxusspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) before they start growing in earnest . Unfortunately , boxwood blight cases have bulge out showing up in the Pacific Northwest , so take surplus care and forethought when doing your spring pruning . I wish to put down a tarp to pull in the clippings and to make cleanup easier . It ’s crucial to take out all the clip from your garden beds to prevent and stop the spread head of disease . It ’s just as important to clean your tools . I keep a spray feeding bottle of rubbing alcohol in my pecker tub and clean my clipper or shear between plants . If you have established boxwoods , only a minimum press cutting is required . Just verify to apply some all - purpose fertilizer and mulch subsequently . Make certain your boxwoods get tolerable water in the coming year , but beware of overhead watering or crack - saturated soils ; these have been noted to further boxwood blight . For more info on the disease , here is a large resource from Oregon State University Extension : Beware of Boxwood Blight !

Check on trees and shrubs you planted in fall . If you engraft new trees and shrub last tumble , make certain they are go down in well and that the crowns are not too deep . See that Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree are adventure well for their first growing time of year . Add a saucy app of mulch to help continue wet and to keep weed from establish . Just recall to not entomb crowns with mulch ; they should not look like little volcanoes !

As always there are more gardening chores to take care of in April , but at least here ’s a head start . All the best in your gardening endeavors this month !

— Jason Jorgensen is a landscape painting designer in Seattle .

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Be sure to get a handle on your lawn in early spring, aerating it and filling in the bald spots with seed.Photo: Jason Jorgensen

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Now is a good time to divide ornamental grasses like this ‘Aureola’ Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra‘Aureola’, Zones 5–9).Photo: Kristin Green

Cut off old or dead branches of raspberry bushes to ensure a more fruitful year. Pictured is ‘Tulameen’ raspberry.Photo: Jason Jorgensen

My dogs love to run around our lawn, which incorporates a seed mix of white flowers.Photo: Jason Jorgensen

pruning boxwoods

I’m never without a bottle of rubbing alcohol to wipe down my tools in between pruning different boxwoods; this lowers the risk of spreading disease.Photo: Jason Jorgensen

newly planted tree