Gardening Tips for April
Perennials/Annuals – Begin planting your gardens, but remember that the last average frost date in Lynchburg (zone 7A) is between April 15 – 25 (VCE Publications 426-331: Virginia’s Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide: Recommended Planting Dates and Amounts to Plant). Pansies and Geraniums may be planted early in the season, but hold off planting heat lovers such as impatiens, petunias and coleus until mid May. When planting your annual flowers, they require rotating just like vegetables. New bedding plants will get established faster if you pinch off their flowers at planting time.
Insect Patrol – Mild winters are favorable for ticks. . . . more
Save the date: FOG 2024
Saturday, May 4, 2024
For Love of Nature: Consider becoming a Master Gardener this spring
This article is from January 12, 2022, but the message is the same. We start a new class every February. Want to learn more? Information is available on the Become a Master Gardener page.
We graduate a new class of
Master Gardeners every year.
The 2024 Class has begun.
Applications for the 2025 Class
will be available in the Fall.
MORE INFO HERE
The 2023 Festival of Gardening, our annual plant sale and celebration of all things gardening, was a smashing success. Thousands of plants went to new homes.
We can’t wait to do it again.
FOG 2024 is on May 4 on the grounds of E.C.Glass High School.
Virginia Master Gardeners are volunteer educators who work within their communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices through sustainable landscape management education and training. As an educational program of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Master Gardeners bring the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, to the people of the commonwealth. All information we disseminate must be research-based by VT/VSU.
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/hillcitymastergardeners/
Look for our latest HCMGA postcards.
Available at HCMGA events and project sites, and at the Community Market Information Booth.
Spring is blooming and there is always something new to see in the garden. Whether you are cultivating a hybrid, nurturing an heirloom, or propagating to support your local pollinators, there’s lots to learn and lots to do. A garden gives back everything that you put into it. Do you know what’s next? Monthly Gardening Tips below.
Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as looking across at the garden at the end of a day.
Our next Master Gardener Training Class is anticipated to start in February 2025. Applications and information will be available on our Become a Master Gardener page, and the 2025 Training Schedule will be available there in the fall. Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hillcitymastergardeners/] and be the first to see the announcement.
In the Garden This Month
APRIL
Gardening Tips for April
Perennials/Annuals - Begin planting your gardens, but remember that the last average frost date in Lynchburg (zone 7A) is between April 15 - 25 (VCE Publications 426-331: Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide: Recommended Planting Dates and Amounts to Plant). Pansies and Geraniums may be planted early in the season, but hold off planting heat lovers such as impatiens, petunias and coleus until mid May. When planting your annual flowers, they require rotating just like vegetables. New bedding plants will get established faster if you pinch off their flowers at planting time.
Insect Patrol - Mild winters are favorable for ticks. Keep your lawn areas mowed and stay out of weedy areas. You may protect yourself by putting your pant legs inside your socks. Read the label before using any type of pesticide.
Mow - Prepare for mowing season by removing tree branches, twigs and other debris from your lawn. Wait to mow until the grass has grown at least two inches. The roots are being renewed in the spring and grass needs vigorous top growth initially.
Moss - May be a problem. Moss grows well in most any soil whether acidic or alkaline, wet or dry, sun or shade. Removal or treatment without changing soil conditions is not long lasting. http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/430/430-536/430-536.html.
Cleanup - Don't be over anxious about pulling up what appear to be dead plants. Many perennials are killed to the ground, but the roots are still alive and will support new growth. Butterfly Weed is a late arriving perennial - mark where you planted it so you don't dig in the area.
A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. – Doug Larson.
