Tasks:
- Attend plant sales: Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Spring Plant Sale, Aloha (Oregon) Garden Club Plant Sale, Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreations District Native Plant Sale, and the Portland Japanese Garden Plant Sale.
- Plant up new purchases.
- Plant Swiss Chard, Lettuce, and other leafy greens.
- Apply compost around the Japanese Maples and select other plants.
- Start applying fish fertilizer bi-weekly to the Annabelle Hydrangeas and other needy plants.
- Continue to be vigilant over Hostas and other potential slug victims; apply slug pellets as necessary.
- Be on guard for weeds; hoe and/or remove by hand as time allows.
Notes:
The best of the best plant sales happen this month and so I spend quite a few hours planting in April. I like to collect all the purchases together and then plant from the complete selection. I’m less likely to need to yank out recently planted items this way.
This is the month when I dress the soil surrounding my Japanese Maples. Every few years, I get compost blown onto all my beds before tender ferns and herbaceous plants emerge. In the years when compost is not blown in, I apply a layer by hand to the base of each tree, taking care not to stack it up against the trunk for fear of smothering the tree. This helps to retain moisture during the Summer drought and also acts as a soil conditioner and natural fertilizer for the maples. As much as my back allows, I apply compost to my Hydrangea collection as well.
April is also the time for me to tackle some of the baby weeds that appear in front of the house. Dandelions, wild Geranium, and others take hold in April. They’re quite easily removed when they haven’t yet seeded. Clad in waterproof pants, you’ll find me after a rain shower pulling the suckers when the damp ground yields them quite readily.
