Sunny Days are Here Again

After last nights freeze, I didn't see much damage at all. But some Hosta foliage was looking like it got nipped. Surprisingly, tulip blooms looked great. One night of frost didn't treat them too badly.

Tonight's Weather...Freezing Temperatures on April 15th...

Because I am getting these questions from several folks in Nashville TN: 

Do you need to cover everything in your yard tonight when it may drop below freezing temperatures?

For plants ....mostly you don't need to cover stuff.
However, here's some things to consider covering: warm weather loving plants or tropicals. For example if you already planted tomatoes, peppers, petunias, vinca, annual begonias...summer stuff, cover it. Cover your elephant ear. If your azaleas and rhododendrons have buds, showing color, then the frost could damage the bud, but not really harm the plant..just maybe you don't get flowers. 
Tulip blooms may freeze and then they're done, but the foliage is fine. Leave it alone until it browns. Just like your daffodils.

One night of frost/cold wont do anymore damage than has already been done. If we had this warm up and then a week of freezing, yes we might be more concerned about damage to other shrubs and plants. That is to say, most of the damage is already done from the brutal winter.

Cover with cloth (old sheets and dropcloths) not plastic. Or use cardboard boxes. You are trying to create an insulating layer of air. I think plastic is bad if it touches your plant tissue.

Related: Later in spring or summer, you may see shrubs or small diameter young trees with split bark. This could be (although there can be other causes) a result of the winter. On very warm winter days, trees and shrubs with good southern exposure may leave dormancy and start to generate fluid movement up their bark. The plant tissue becomes sap -filled. Then if we get extreme cold immediately, the fluid may freeze causing the outer bark to split or be damaged. The damage may not be evident for awhile. Depending on the amount of damage the plant may heal itself.
There's debate about 'wrapping' these damaged areas with cloth or paper. The plant should really by able to heal the edges of this injury itself if not too severe. But it does create a vulnerability for insect/disease damages.

This is life as a plant-loving person!

It's Spring! Get Busy!

 Spring Events to keep on your calendar:

Fermentation Classes and Foodshops in April at  Double N Farms in east Nashville
    doublenurbanhomestead.com
Herb  Society Plant Sale, April 12 at the Fairgrounds  http://www.herbsocietynashville.org/public-events.html
Urban Gardening Festival presented by the Master Gardeners, May 17 at Ellington Agricultural Center,  www.mgofdc.org
Home Gardening Basics classes at Grassmere at the Zoo, presented by Master Gardeners, www.mgofdc.org

On to the many choices of fun to have in your garden and yards...........

Vegetables 
We are not quite past the risk of hard freezes but get ready to plant warm season vegetables around April 15- May 15. Start plants from seed or buy as plants (and you can buy them at the Urban Gardening Festival, see above!)   If your garden plot is new or the soil seems hard to work and you're not going to till it, add handfuls of composted manure with each plant. Mulching will help keep the roots cool and delay the weeds. I like to use wheat straw. You can also underplant taller plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) with a 'green mulch' of lettuce, radishes, herbs, marigolds, borage etc.
Most of the summer vegetables need a lot of sun...6 or more continuous hours of full sun exposure. Water regularly, in the morning, if we don't receive an inch of rain each week.


Pruning
Prune any shrubs that have finished flowering. For example, forsythia can be pruned. Or not. If you want to control the size of the forsythia, prune by removing a quarter of the main stems, randomly selected from the interior, or cutting the larger, older stems; cut them all the way to the bottom. If you're wanting to take the power hedge shears to them...it may be the wrong plant for that location.Or maybe you just like the boxy shape and that's alright too

Young dogwood trees can be pruned for deadwood or structure.
Remember the rule of pruning: think twice, cut once; think once, curse twice.

Weeding and pre-emergents
For all the trouble weeds give us, they should be simpler to control. But we have to identifythe weeds and their life cycles to control them effectively, and to not waste money or over-medicate the environment.

Weeds can be annual or perennials.
Annual weeds can be winter or summer annuals. The big crop you're seeing now are probably winter annuals like chickweed, henbit, purple deadnettle which germinated in late fall and are coming to maturity. Summer annuals (spurges, bedstraw,knotweed, Japanesestiltgrass etc.) are just little seeds germinating now and you likely cant see them, yet. You can help to prevent annual weeds by distributing a pre-emergent herbicide in fall and spring. Always read the labels and don't over-apply.
Perennial weeds include: ground ivy, dandelion, sedges, plantains, clover. Controlling perennials weeds takes a little more effort, including hand weeding and selective use of post-emergent herbicides.

Here are some links about weeds that might be helpful:
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB956part1.pdf?what=pb956part1
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm