Even though spring officially arrives on the calendar in March, the longer days and warmer temps of April feel more like spring to most homeowners and north Texas / Dallas area lawn and garden beds need a bit help to kick start the growing season and protect them from insects that can hinder your plantings from reaching their full potential. Read on for the top three things you should do to protect your home's landscape investment and help it look it's best.
1) Fertilize Your Grass
Keeping grass healthy and robust is one of the best ways of eliminating weeds, so feed your lawn in April and in the Dallas area, we recommend that be around April 15th. Neil Sperry recommends "having your soil tested to determine the best fertilizer for your needs. Don’t be surprised if the test suggests that you apply an all-nitrogen fertilizer in clay soils and a 4-1-2 ratio high-nitrogen fertilizer in sandy soils. Choose a quality fertilizer with half or more of its nitrogen in slow-release form."
2) Spray for Aphids
Aphids, also called "plant lice" by some gardeners are common in cool weather and love to feast on the new growth of daylilies, ornamental cabbage, pansies and other tender new growth. Aphids have pears-shaped bodies, are about the size of a pin head, come in a variety of colors and congregate on new growth with rapidly increasing populations. Aphids have piercing / sucking mouth parts that damage your plants and can cause irregular growth because they suck sap out of the plant's tissues. They also can carry diseases from one plant to another as they move and feast and lastly they secrete sticky resin as they feed which coats leaves and hard surfaces below. Basically, ICK!
Removing aphids is quite easy, you may be able to knock them off with a hard stream of water, but be careful of tender new plants. Ladybugs love to eat aphids so you might want to bring some of those natural helpers into your garden and lastly most general-purpose organic and inorganic insecticides will eliminate aphids. Best to spray and protect your plans early and avoid all the hassle!
3) Plan Your Summer Flowers
We'll be diving deeper into our recommended summer flower superstars in a coming post, but for now we suggest that you start planning what you'd like to plant, and where, so that when you head to the nursery, or meet with your landscaper, the professionals can help you select what will work best for the type of soil and sun exposure that you have.
Our 3D landscape design service is also a great option to help you visualize what your summer flower installation will look like.
A couple of timelines to keep in mind: Geraniums are only available until mid April and Pentas are typically not available until later in the month.
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