March 11, 2025 • 35 mins
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One of my goals this year for the garden is to focus a little bit more on the aesthetics of the garden, rather than just the functionality of it. I really feel like I can get more enjoyment from the gardens if I enjoy how they look and enjoy spending time in them not for just planting and weeding and harvesting, but just for the sheer joy of it.
One of the ways I think I can do this is by adding flowers. I am pretty adept and growing annuals from seed but this year I’m adding bulbs to the list. Spring is also a really good time to be adding perennials to the edible areas of the garden, vegetables and fruits.
Today on Just Grow Something we’re talking about perennial fruit and vegetable plants best planted in spring and flowering bulbs planted in spring for summer blooms. We'll cover proper planting methods, timing, and first-year care to set you up for success. Let’s dig in!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Spring is almost here. I don't know about you, but I am
more than ready for warmer, sunny days and digging in the
dirt. One of my goals this year for
the garden is to focus a little bit more on the aesthetics of
the garden rather than just the functionality of it.
This was already on my radar forthis year, but even more so
after my conversation with Bailey Van Tassel last week.
(00:21):
I really feel like I can get even more enjoyment from the
gardens if maybe I enjoy how they look and enjoy spending
time in them. Not for just planting and
wedding and harvesting, but justfor the sheer joy and beauty of
it. One of the ways that I think I
can do this is by adding more flowers.
(00:41):
Now I'm pretty adept at growing annuals from seed, but this year
I'm adding bulbs to the list. Spring is also a really good
time to be adding perennials to the edible areas of the garden,
vegetables and fruits. So today on Just Grow Something,
we're talking about perennial vegetable and fruit plants that
are best planted in the spring and flowering bulbs that are
(01:04):
planted in the spring for summerblooms.
We'll cover proper planting methods, timing and 1st year
care to set us all up for success.
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen and what started
as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong
passion for growing food. Now as a market farmer and
horticulturist, I want to help you do the same.
(01:24):
On this podcast. I am your friend in the garden
teaching evidence based techniques to help you grow your
favorites and build confidence in your own garden space.
So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
just grow something. So before we talk spring
planting, I have to share a story with you, something that
(01:46):
just happened with my husband here recently.
And it's a good thing he doesn'tlisten to this podcast.
So if you know him, I'm looking at you.
My local gardening friends do not tell him I told this story.
OK so I had to be out of town for almost 3 weeks taking care
of my mom after she had open heart surgery.
I was literally out of state andof course on the farm.
(02:10):
This is the time of year, just like for everybody else, for all
of our indoor seed starting now.I, as you know am a planner and
all of my seed starting dates were all out on the calendar
already so I was confident in going ahead and leaving town and
allowing my husband to go ahead and take over those duties.
(02:30):
All he had to do was look at thecalendar and he would know what
day what needed to be started and I even had in parentheses
there how many of those seeds needed to be started.
So if you've not done a seed starting or transplanting
calendar or your garden calendarin general, this is your call to
do so because this literally saved my hide and made it a no
(02:51):
brainer for him. So he kept up on the schedule
and I came home and was checkingon all the seeds and stuff down
in our seed starting area. And I realized that our
germination rate wasn't what I'mnormally used to.
Like normally we're getting about 90% or higher germination
rates on all of our different sprouts.
(03:12):
This year it's more like 75%. And I noticed part of it was we
have been having problems with mice.
Now we live in the country, our seed starting area is on the
basement and yes, mice get in and we do our best to set traps
and make sure things were covered.
But I did notice that in some ofthe cells, it was obvious that
they had been dug up and so the,the seed had actually been
(03:35):
eaten. And then also as some of the
babies sprouts were coming up, you could see where they were
getting pinched off of the top. So something was very obviously
in there eating. And you know, my husband didn't
really recognize that for what it was.
Normally in previous years, or at least in recent years, seed
starting has been my jam. Like this is what I do.
(03:56):
I he's not used to having to look out for these, these signs
and symptoms. He would have recognized it.
So I chalked it up to, well, themouse and I'm going to have to
figure out a way to maybe plant some more seeds and make up the
difference. So we were working in the
seedling room side by side. I was working on some stuff and
he was sitting at the table behind me and he was starting
more seeds for me. And like I said, it's been a
(04:17):
long time since he's been involved in this portion of the
spring farm chores. And when he did used to help me
a lot with the seeds starting normally we would be side by
side when this was happening. He's never really been in charge
of like doing the seed starting on his own.
So I'm working with some of the seedlings and plants and he's
behind me, seed starting. And I happened to kind of just
(04:39):
kind of look over my shoulder tosee, you know, his process and
what he was doing. And I immediately noticed a
couple of things were right off the bat #1 he was planting the
seeds way too deep. Like I even have a little chart
at the front of our seed starting area that shows exactly
how deep you're supposed to plant certain seeds of certain
(05:00):
plant families. Quarter inch, half inch, 8th of
an inch, just barely cover. All of those things are noted,
right? And at the time, I think he was
planting maybe the last of the pepper seeds.
And I swear to you, I think these were in like an inch in
the soil, which is twice as deepas they need to be, if not more.
(05:20):
So I casually mentioned that to him.
You know, hey, maybe you want todo that this way in an effort,
you know, to not hurt his feelings, but also explain the
alternative method to this and how it would be more effective.
I also noticed that the seed starting mix was way too dry,
like really dry. So I mentioned that, you know,
we might want to soak those first before doing it.
(05:42):
And also, like, you know, the trays weren't being covered when
they were put under the lights or onto mats.
And so they were drying out really, really quickly.
And so there was all these different things.
And it was just, oh, it was, I was having such a hard time like
not coaching him and say, no, we, we probably ought to do it
this way or no. I was trying to be very gentle.
(06:04):
And finally, I just looked at him really jokingly and said,
babe, I think you need to take my seed starting course that
over very well. This man has been doing this
with me for 18 years. And for me to tell him that he
needed to take seed to sprout after all this time, yeah, he
(06:26):
was not happy. I think he gave me the silent
treatment for like the next three hours.
But in his defense, he has not done this in a really long time,
so I promise you, if you take myseed to sprout course, you are
going to apparently be more equipped than my husband to get
a better germination on your seedlings.
(06:46):
So that's my little story for this week.
I'm hoping that he doesn't hear this, but it was all in fun and
you know, I know he knows what he's doing, he just forgot a
little bit of it, that's all. Anyway, Speaking of promises, I
promise you that Seed to Sprout is going to work for you.
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(08:12):
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Something 20. The link, as always, is in the
show notes. So spring is a prime time for
(08:36):
planting a lot of our perennials.
The soil is warming up, water isusually pretty plentiful
depending on where you are in the spring and plants have
basically a full growing season to really get themselves
established. So the first one we're going to
talk about is asparagus. Generally speaking, asparagus
you are going to get dormant crowns in the the early spring
(08:58):
and those benefit from the cool soil to be able to allow them to
establish a strong root system before the summer heat sort of
kicks in. With asparagus, you want a very
sunny, very well draining location.
You need to dig a trench about 8to 12 inches deep and then amend
it really well with compost. Once you put those crowns in
(09:18):
there, you want to spread the roots out, just fan them out in
inside the trench, and then you want to cover it with a few
inches of soil. So as those shoots grow, you're
going to gradually sort of backfill that trench to allow
them to be planted that deeply, but still be able to reach out
and do what they do. We don't ever harvest asparagus
in the first year. Generally speaking, if you buy
(09:40):
one year crowns or first year crowns, you're going to want to
wait at least two more seasons before you actually harvest.
So we don't want to be harvesting until the third
season. So if you buy second year roots,
then you can go ahead and, and harvest lightly in that third
year without a problem. And then the fourth year, that
is when we really start to to get a full harvest.
(10:01):
For the first year, you want to make sure that you keep that
soil consistently moist but not water logged.
Again, you do not harvest them in the first year.
You want those plants to focus on root development.
We do, however, want to mulch. We really do want to keep the
competition from weeds down whenit comes to asparagus because
(10:21):
they don't compete well, especially if you have like
grasses or something that are growing in there.
So you really want to mulch to suppress those weeds and also to
retain the moisture. So the second one on my list is
rhubarb. Rhubarb establishes really nice
deep roots. In the spring, before the heat
of the summer kicks in, you wantto plant dormant crowns or
(10:42):
divisions, however you're getting them in a full sun
space. You also want to space those
plants about three to four feet apart because these plants will
get big. You want to plant them just so
the buds are just above the soilsurface.
And you do this in the early spring as soon as the ground is
workable. And that first year care is
(11:02):
going to involve keeping these plants well watered, especially
during dry periods. Don't harvest the stocks the
first year. You want to give them a chance
to settle in same way as the asparagus.
And then again apply mulch to control the weeds and retain the
moisture. The third one is Jerusalem
artichoke. This is Helianthus tuberosis.
The tuberous roots will benefit from an early spring planting to
(11:25):
get them to maximize their growth before the summer heat.
These tubers get planted about 3to 5 inches deep and they're
spaced about 12 inches apart. Once again, full sun here is
ideal for this plant for best tuber production.
Early to mid spring is fine for planting these.
You do want to water the consistwater consistently, but you do
(11:45):
want to avoid overly wet soil, so make sure you're planting it
someplace where it gets good drainage.
These plants will tend to crowd,so you might want to thin them
out if they start to get too crowded in that first year.
And then you will be able to harvest after the first frost in
the fall. Now, Jerusalem artichoke is not
(12:05):
a perennial in every area, and Ishould make that caveat.
Not all of these are perennials in every location, but the
majority of them are. Just make sure that you are
looking up what is perennial in your zone.
Some of them can just be as annuals #4 would be horseradish.
So you generally plant horseradish from root cuttings
and they grow best when they areplanted in cool season or in
(12:28):
cool soil and have an entire season to get established.
The thing that's kind of different about horseradish as
you plant the root cuttings at about a 45° angle and you drop
them in at about four inches deep and you want to leave at
least 18 inches in between the plants.
These again are being planted somewhere between early and mid
spring moist soil, but not soggy, and then you only harvest
(12:52):
in the late fall during that first year.
Next up is Egyptian walking onions.
These are planted in the early spring when the soil is
workable. You can actually plant these a
little bit later so long as you're able to get those
transplants to sort of maintain their moisture while waiting to
go in the ground. I've had was gifted some that I
(13:12):
actually ended up planting in the very, very late spring,
almost at the early, early part of summer and they did just
fine. You just want to make sure you
have a well drained location in full sun.
Plant those little bulbs or the divisions however you're getting
them, about two inches deep and about 6 inches apart.
Moist soil, not soggy. Mulching does help to suppress
(13:33):
those weeds, especially depending on where you're
planting them. The top sets or the little
bulblets that form on the stalksof Egyptian walking onions,
these are the ones that you allow to mature and they drop
for self propagation. So that's kind of like they'll
either, they'll either drop or the whole plant will bend over
and then you'll have a new one come up.
(13:53):
So This is why they say they're walking onions because they sort
of spread in that manner. They walk along in the bed,
which is why that if you don't want these to spread, you want
to kind of put them in a contained bed.
Otherwise, they might tend to get a little bit out of control.
So spring is also the ideal timeto plant a lot of perennial
(14:14):
small fruits and berries. Again, the cool weather is kind
of helping those roots get established before the summer
heat and the plants will get a full growing season to sort of
settle in before it's time to godormant for the winter.
The first one and probably one of the most popular ones is
strawberries. So when you're planting spring
planted strawberries, they generally are going to be bare
root. Again, dormant versions of this.
(14:37):
So you, you know, can do June bearing varieties, you can do
everbearing or day neutral varieties.
If you do, you know, plant in that first year, the common
wisdom is that you should pinch off the blooms and not allow any
fruit to bear in that first yearin order to allow those fruits
to really get there or those those plants to really get their
roots established and come back even stronger the second year.
(15:01):
I do see this being particularlyimportant for like June bearing
types because they do put on alltheir fruit pretty much all at
once. But for the everbearing or the
day neutral runs, I don't see this to be as necessary.
You can pinch off a lot of thoseearly blooms to allow the plant
to get more established. But then as you get towards the
(15:21):
Midsummer, if you go ahead and just let them do that, then
you'll actually get a little harvest, you know, in the late
summer and the early fall from those ever bearing or those day
neutral varieties. The big thing is just to make
sure you have a sunny location, well draining fairly fertile
soil. When you plant bare root crowns,
you want the crown slightly above the soil level and you
want to spread those roots out in the same way that we do with
(15:43):
the asparagus. You just kind of fan them out
before burying them. You want those plants about 12
to 18 inches apart in rows that are about two to three feet
apart. Or you can do them like in a big
mound and I've, you know, you could put like fifty of these
plants just sort of spaced abouta foot apart all around the
mound. Of course, if you're doing them
in, you know, raised planters orcontainers, then you can sort of
(16:06):
do what we do out in the field, which is a matted row system.
So we have raised beds where thestrawberries are planted
initially in those two to three foot rows apart from each other
and then they sort of fill in from there.
We let the runners go ahead and do their thing.
This especially works forever bearing and day neutral types
and you just kind of let it all fill in and and do its thing.
(16:28):
When to plant strawberries in the spring really is just as
soon as the soil is workable. So it's not super saturated, but
it's not, you know, still frozen.
Obviously you also don't want towait until it's bone dry and
water regularly, keeping the soil evenly most moist for that
first year. Again, for the June bearing
varieties, you definitely want to remove those flowers for the
(16:50):
first year to encourage that root growth on the ever bearing
or the the day neutral varieties.
Then I would say and do that up through about the Midsummer and
then go for it. Let yourself have a few
strawberries because it's worth the work.
You get a you get a little reward there.
Strawberries absolutely do appreciate mulch around the
plants to suppress the weeds andretain the moisture.
(17:11):
If you are allowing those runners to root in, this is when
you might want to pull the mulchto the side or be very specific
about where you allow those runners to land so that you can
sort of fill in your strawberry bed for the next season.
Next up is raspberries. If you have seen in like the
garden centers or even in your hardware store, you have these
(17:31):
dormant bare root plants that are in like a plastic bag with a
little box around them. This is this is what they call a
bare root. You can also buy potted
Raspberry plants and they all dovery well when they're planted
in the early spring. The key is to plant them before
bud break. So if you have them in a pot or
a container and you've gotten them from a nursery and they're
(17:53):
already starting to break their buds, you might want to just
keep them in the container for this season and allow them to
fruit and do what they're going to do.
And then either plant them in the fall or put them in a
protected place over the winter and put them back out again.
Normally your your dormant bare root varieties aren't or
versions of this are not going to break bud that early, but
(18:16):
it's just something to watch forraspberries like full sun again,
well, joining soil, you've got alot of different versions of
raspberries now you have red andyellow raspberries.
Generally speaking, you want these to be about two feet
apart, but you want, if you're doing them in rows, you want
those rows to be about 8 to 10 feet apart.
If you're doing black or purple raspberries, these should be
(18:37):
spaced about 3 feet apart, but their rows can be closer
together about 6 to 8 feet. If you're mixing, then generally
speaking, just do them three feet apart in whatever way you
can and let them go from there. The big thing about this is when
you're planting them, you want to dig a hole that is deep
enough for those for those rootsto spread out and plant them so
that the crown is level with thesoil surface.
(18:59):
So generally speaking, wherever the soil level is in the
container that they're in, then keep that soil level even with
the with the the ground when youput them in the in the in the
soil. If it's a bare root plant, then
just look for that crown and make sure that you keep it level
with the soil surface early to mid spring.
(19:20):
Again, essentially when the soilis workable is good for these
for the first year you want to water them.
You know our our standard less frequently, more thoroughly.
So once a week watering really, really deeply to help those
roots dig down into the soil is a really good idea.
(19:41):
You might need to trellis or stake some varieties of
raspberries, usually specifically the red or the
yellow types, unless you want tohave this sort of wild Bramble
look, which is perfectly fine. That's up to you.
Once again, mulch is going to beyour friend here.
You want to control those weeds and retain the moisture,
especially for that first year while they're getting
(20:01):
established. When it comes to pruning with
raspberries, you do not want to prune the first year canes.
But after fruiting you can prunethe ones like if you have a
summer bearing type of Raspberry, you can prune the
spent floricanes. Those are the ones that actually
did produce some fruit. Those can be clipped to the
(20:23):
ground and cleared off, very similar to raspberries.
Is blackberries OK? These are a little bit more
vigorous than raspberries usually, especially depending on
the area that you are in. But again, they are best with a
spring planting. Blackberries, in my experience,
tend to be a little bit more forgiving in terms of when they
get transplanted. So if you don't get them in
right away or if you have a bunch of stuff that has to
(20:44):
happen all at once in the springand you need to wait on
something, blackberries would beone that I would say, yeah, you
can go ahead and wait on them again.
They like a full sun sight. Well, draining soil.
Generally with blackberries, you're going to space them about
three to five feet apart, and you want them in rows that are 8
to 10 feet apart. This is going to depend on the
type of BlackBerry that you're growing.
(21:05):
But in most instances, they're going to take up a lot of room
or you're going to have to put up a trellis of some sort and
train them to that trellis to make them, you know, kind of
stay in their own area. Whatever you do when you're
planting them, just make sure that you're setting the plant at
the same depth as they are in the nursery container.
(21:28):
Or if you're planting from bare root crowns, just make sure they
are just above the soil level. Does the care for them in the
first year is going to be about the same as raspberries?
You want to water them deeply once a week.
Again, we want those roots to search downward for the water.
So we want really deep waterings, add a trellis if
you're going to need it, mulch really heavily to suppress those
(21:49):
weeds and conserve that moisture.
With with most fruits, again, especially the cane fruits, you
may not want to allow those plants to bear fruit in the
first year in order to be able to focus energy on root
development. But if you were in an area
where, you know, blackberries tend to be very vigorous, like
here in West Central Missouri, we have wild blackberries like
(22:09):
everywhere. I know Oregon, same thing.
So if that's the case, then you may be able to just go ahead and
let them bear fruit and it's notgoing to harm them at all.
Just understand what works best for your area now #4 would be
blueberries. And technically speaking, you
can plant blueberries both in the spring and in the fall.
But if you really want to give them a chance to get really good
(22:32):
root establishment, then blueberries are going to prefer
that cooler moist conditions in the spring.
This is one where, yes, you're going to choose a sunny spot,
but you also are going to want to make sure that you are
testing the soil pH because blueberries really do prefer
that more acidic soil. We're talking aph of between 4.5
and 5.5. If your pH is too high in the
(22:54):
area where you are intending to plant those blueberries and you
want to amend that soil with some sulfur or with some peat
Moss to bring that soil pH down,depending on the variety is
going to depend on how far apartyou space your plants, So three
to five feet apart is the general consensus on most
(23:15):
varieties. You can also do these in
containers. I have had blueberries do very
very well in large pots and theycome back with no problem.
The one thing about blueberries is when you go to plant them,
you want to dig a hole that is twice as wide as the root ball.
So mix in some organic matter like some compost or something
and then plant it at the same depth as it was in the nursery
(23:36):
container for that first year. Water consistently, keeping the
soil moist but not soggy. This is the different with
blueberry difference with blueberries, rather than like
arcane berries, they really do like to have that consistent
soil moisture. They don't like to be dried out
in between mulch, especially if you have like pine needles or
pine bark. If you can mulch with that, that
(23:57):
is going to help to maintain that soil acidity a little bit,
make it easier to manage. Once again, if you really want
to encourage that root growth, you want to remove the blossoms
the first year to prevent that fruiting.
And if you are growing multiple plants, make sure that you are
mixing cultivars so you get cross pollination and better
fruiting #5 On our list of perennial fruits would be
gooseberries and currants. They are both in the same
(24:19):
family. These are very cold Hardy
fruits. They establish really, really
well when they are planted in the early spring, you want full
sun to partial shade. So if you are somebody who wants
to grow fruit and and you don't really have a whole lot of full
sun spaces, gooseberries and currants are actually a good
option for you. You want the plants to be spaced
about three to five feet apart in rows that are about 6 feet
(24:42):
apart. So if you are doing a lot of
these, make sure that you're giving them plenty of space and
you just want to plant them at about the same depth as they are
in the nursery pot. This is another one that likes
to be planted in the early spring before the buds break on
the plant. This is your best timing.
Make sure during that first yearthat you are watering
consistently, especially in dry spells.
(25:04):
Mulch, mulch, mulch. I'm going to keep saying it
over. You might want to lightly prune
these guys after planting just to encourage that branching to
happen. And then once again, better long
term fruiting if you go ahead and remove the flowers during
the first year. Another one that's really
popular and easy to grow here inWest Central Missouri is
(25:25):
elderberries. These can establish really nice
deep roots if you plant them in the spring before the summer
growth. They love full sun.
They will do OK in some part shade as well.
They won't be as big and they won't produce as much.
So if you can put them in full sun, great.
I tell you, I have some that arein full sun that reach the top
(25:47):
of my barn and I think that's like 10 foot tall to the to the
roof line. So they will take up some space.
So make sure that you're spacingthem about 6 to 10 feet apart
depending on the variety. This is another one where you
dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball, or you can get
cuttings from somebody else and just allow those little cuttings
to start to root and then you can go ahead and pop those in
(26:09):
the ground. Elderberries aren't really,
really fussy, so there's a lot of kind of leeway for you to
kind of mess up when you're planting them.
Early to mid spring is the best time to get these planted, but
you can also plant these later in the season and they will get
established just fine if you're in an area where elderberries
thrive. So in my area, you can pretty
(26:29):
much pop elderberries in the ground almost any time of the
year and they're going to go ahead and survive.
They just do really well naturally here that first year.
Water really deeply, mulch to conserve moisture.
Prune lightly in the first year if you want to shape it, but
don't do any really really heavypruning.
And for best fruiting it's usually recommended to say that
(26:50):
you need two different cultivarsfor cross pollination of
elderberries. I've not found this to be the
case. And I don't know if it's because
the elderberries that I grow arethe ones like the birds
naturally spread. And I had one that just, you
know, showed up in my by my barnone day.
And for the years we actually cut it down because we thought
(27:11):
it was a weed of some sort or aninvasive of some sort.
And then at one point I let it go and I said, wait, wait, wait.
Don't cut that anymore. It's an elderberry.
I want to keep that. And it was just one plant.
There aren't any other plants anywhere nearby.
The next one is like, I don't know, but it's got to be at
least 100 yards away, if not more.
And it's it's going to be the same cultivar, right?
(27:31):
Because they're all the wild ones.
So I don't necessarily agree with like you have to have two
different cultivars for cross pollination, but if somebody
knows better than me, let me know because like I said, I'm
just kind of growing the wild ones.
And then finally, Hask cap berries.
These are also known as honey berries.
They are another cold, hearty plant that benefits from spring
planting. Again, another one that likes
(27:53):
full sun with well draining soil.
You want to plant these about three to five feet apart,
keeping them at the same depth as the nursery pot.
Another one that you want to plant in the early spring before
the buds break. This is another one that likes
really moist soil during the first year.
You can prune it lightly after the first year.
And another one where it's recommended to plant at least
(28:15):
two cultivars for better pollination.
OK, so that's fruits and vegetables or vegetables 1st and
then fruits. Whatever it is, it doesn't cover
all of them, but those are some of the most popular.
Now, what about bringing some more beauty and color into the
garden with spring planted flowering bulbs?
(28:36):
So unlike fall planted bulbs like tulips and and daffodils, a
lot of the bulbs that we plant in the spring are actually
summer flowering ones. So it seems to me that the ones
that you plant in the fall are the ones that sprout in the
spring and the ones that you would plant in the spring are
the ones that flower in the summer.
(28:58):
I think that's a about right. If I have any more, you know,
knowledgeable flower people out there when it comes to to bulbs,
let me know if I'm wrong, but this is my understanding.
So the summer flowering bulbs kind of need that warm soil in
order to be able to thrive. So the first one is dahlias.
And again, a lot of these are not going to be perennials or
they might be perennial in your area, but maybe not.
(29:20):
I know a lot of them are not in my area, which is why they're
sort of, some of them are planted, you know, in the
spring. They flower all summer and then
people will dig them up in the fall to store them away in their
basements and then plant them again in the spring.
That seems like a whole lot of effort for me.
So I'm going to try to find somethat are planted in the spring
specifically that that will be perennials.
(29:42):
And then also, of course, I'm going to work on maybe doing
some for the fall. So for the spring planted ones,
dahlias, dahlia tubers are not frost Hardy and so they need to
be planted once the soil has already warm.
So we want like after our first or our last frost state.
So dahlias need a full sun location.
They like rich, really well draining soil.
(30:02):
The tubers should be planted about four to six inches deep.
You want the eye facing upward and space them about to 12 to 18
inches apart. Again, we want to wait until
after the last frost and we actually a little bit longer
than that because they want the soil consistently above 60°F.
So make sure that you're using your soil thermometer to check
on these. Once they're planted, you want
(30:23):
to water them lightly until the shoots appear and then you want
to increase watering at that point.
If you plant the really, really tall varieties of dahlias, you
might need to provide a stake. And then if you deadhead these,
cut off the spent blooms that isgoing to encourage continuous
blooming. The second one would be
Gladiolus. So Gladiolus are planted by
corms, and so those corms, CORMS, corms need warm soil to
(30:48):
sprout. These you're going to plant
about four inches deep, about four to six inches apart.
Again, these ones like full sun.You want to do this after the
last frost has passed. This is one that likes the soil
to be moist but not waterlogged.And this is also one where you
might consider doing like a succession planting.
So we always talk about succession plantings in terms of
(31:10):
like our veggies, like lettuces and radishes and that sort of
thing. You can also do this with
certain flowers, and Gladiolus is one of them.
If you plant the quorums or you stagger those plantings about
every two weeks or so, you'll have more of a continuous
blooming period. The third one on this list is
lilies. So if you have some Lily
varieties like the Asiatic and Oriental lilies, absolutely do
(31:32):
very well with the spring planting.
The rule with these Lily bulbs that you want to plant them
three times their height deep, if that makes sense.
So whatever size the bulb is, then three times that is how
deep you want it planted and youwant them planted with the tips
up spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart.
(31:53):
Early to mid spring is fine withthese.
Water them consistently and thenmulch them to retain that
moisture. And then again, if there are
really tall varieties, you mightneed to stake them #4 Begonias.
Begonia tubers require warm temperatures.
They cannot take a frost. So make sure that you are
waiting until well after the last frost before you plant
(32:14):
begonia tubers in the spring. You can start these tubers
indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before you plant them outside.
You want to make sure that you are planting with the concave
side up just below the soil surface.
Keep that soil moist but well drained.
We don't want it waterlogged. And you can provide filtered
light or part shade for begoniasuntil they get going and then
(32:39):
you can put them out wherever. Begonias are infamous from
planking everything from full sun to full shade and everything
in between, which is why they'realmost foolproof in a lot of
gardens. So they absolutely will take
that partial shade and be very, very happy with it #5 is calla
lilies. And number six is cana lilies.
So calla lilies, they thrive in warm soil.
(33:00):
They do not tolerate frost. You want to plant these rhizomes
about three to four inches deep in well drained soil.
Water consistently avoid those soggy conditions.
Basically the same thing goes for the cana lilies.
Often times you are going to have to provide staking for the
canas once they start to go, especially for those taller
varieties. And then #7 is elephant ear.
(33:25):
The thing about elephant ear is the soil needs to be warmed to a
minimum of 65°F in order for these guys to do very well.
And you want to plant the tubersabout two to four inches deep in
a very rich well draining soil and space them about two to
three feet apart. Water them frequently.
If you are in a really, really hot climate, you are going to
(33:47):
want to provide them with some shade.
And then if you want these guys to keep going and you are in a
colder region, you can actually lift those bulbs in the fall and
store them over the winter time if you want to plant them again
the next year. So I am going to be playing
around with these spring plantedbulbs this year and probably
some fall planted ones too. So I will attempt to take you
(34:08):
along on the ride. I will do some videos on this
and post them to Instagram reelsand also over to Facebook on
Shorts so you can kind of see what's going on.
I might do some longer videos toSpring is the perfect time to
set up not just your summer flowering bulb display, but also
your perennial, you know, fruitsand vegetables in your garden.
(34:28):
So whether you're growing asparagus for years of harvest
or you just want dahlias for a beautiful, stunning summer
display, just make sure that youare planting them properly and
you're waiting to the proper time to plant them and that is
going to set you up for success.So check your local last frost
states, check your soil temperatures, check with your
(34:50):
local Extension Service. They always have really good
information about your area and what is going to do best for
your garden. Until next time, my gardening
friends keep on cultivating thatdream garden and we'll talk
again soon. You want the plants about 12 to
inch? Buy potted Raspberry
raspberries. Not snozberries.
Raspberries. Probably do some videos and
(35:12):
stuff on that that I'll paste topaste.
Having all kinds of problems today.
Spring is almost here. I don't know about you, but I am
more than ready for warmer, sunny days and digging in the
dirt. One of my goals this year for
the garden is to focus a little bit more on the aesthetics of
the garden rather than just the functionality of it.
This was already on my radar forthis year, but even more so
after my conversation with Bailey Van Tassel last week.
(00:21):
I really feel like I can get even more enjoyment from the
gardens if maybe I enjoy how they look and enjoy spending
time in them. Not for just planting and
wedding and harvesting, but justfor the sheer joy and beauty of
it. One of the ways that I think I
can do this is by adding more flowers.
(00:41):
Now I'm pretty adept at growing annuals from seed, but this year
I'm adding bulbs to the list. Spring is also a really good
time to be adding perennials to the edible areas of the garden,
vegetables and fruits. So today on Just Grow Something,
we're talking about perennial vegetable and fruit plants that
are best planted in the spring and flowering bulbs that are
(01:04):
planted in the spring for summerblooms.
We'll cover proper planting methods, timing and 1st year
care to set us all up for success.
Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen and what started
as a small backyard garden 20 years ago turned into a lifelong
passion for growing food. Now as a market farmer and
horticulturist, I want to help you do the same.
(01:24):
On this podcast. I am your friend in the garden
teaching evidence based techniques to help you grow your
favorites and build confidence in your own garden space.
So grab your garden journal and a cup of coffee and get ready to
just grow something. So before we talk spring
planting, I have to share a story with you, something that
(01:46):
just happened with my husband here recently.
And it's a good thing he doesn'tlisten to this podcast.
So if you know him, I'm looking at you.
My local gardening friends do not tell him I told this story.
OK so I had to be out of town for almost 3 weeks taking care
of my mom after she had open heart surgery.
I was literally out of state andof course on the farm.
(02:10):
This is the time of year, just like for everybody else, for all
of our indoor seed starting now.I, as you know am a planner and
all of my seed starting dates were all out on the calendar
already so I was confident in going ahead and leaving town and
allowing my husband to go ahead and take over those duties.
(02:30):
All he had to do was look at thecalendar and he would know what
day what needed to be started and I even had in parentheses
there how many of those seeds needed to be started.
So if you've not done a seed starting or transplanting
calendar or your garden calendarin general, this is your call to
do so because this literally saved my hide and made it a no
(02:51):
brainer for him. So he kept up on the schedule
and I came home and was checkingon all the seeds and stuff down
in our seed starting area. And I realized that our
germination rate wasn't what I'mnormally used to.
Like normally we're getting about 90% or higher germination
rates on all of our different sprouts.
(03:12):
This year it's more like 75%. And I noticed part of it was we
have been having problems with mice.
Now we live in the country, our seed starting area is on the
basement and yes, mice get in and we do our best to set traps
and make sure things were covered.
But I did notice that in some ofthe cells, it was obvious that
they had been dug up and so the,the seed had actually been
(03:35):
eaten. And then also as some of the
babies sprouts were coming up, you could see where they were
getting pinched off of the top. So something was very obviously
in there eating. And you know, my husband didn't
really recognize that for what it was.
Normally in previous years, or at least in recent years, seed
starting has been my jam. Like this is what I do.
(03:56):
I he's not used to having to look out for these, these signs
and symptoms. He would have recognized it.
So I chalked it up to, well, themouse and I'm going to have to
figure out a way to maybe plant some more seeds and make up the
difference. So we were working in the
seedling room side by side. I was working on some stuff and
he was sitting at the table behind me and he was starting
more seeds for me. And like I said, it's been a
(04:17):
long time since he's been involved in this portion of the
spring farm chores. And when he did used to help me
a lot with the seeds starting normally we would be side by
side when this was happening. He's never really been in charge
of like doing the seed starting on his own.
So I'm working with some of the seedlings and plants and he's
behind me, seed starting. And I happened to kind of just
(04:39):
kind of look over my shoulder tosee, you know, his process and
what he was doing. And I immediately noticed a
couple of things were right off the bat #1 he was planting the
seeds way too deep. Like I even have a little chart
at the front of our seed starting area that shows exactly
how deep you're supposed to plant certain seeds of certain
(05:00):
plant families. Quarter inch, half inch, 8th of
an inch, just barely cover. All of those things are noted,
right? And at the time, I think he was
planting maybe the last of the pepper seeds.
And I swear to you, I think these were in like an inch in
the soil, which is twice as deepas they need to be, if not more.
(05:20):
So I casually mentioned that to him.
You know, hey, maybe you want todo that this way in an effort,
you know, to not hurt his feelings, but also explain the
alternative method to this and how it would be more effective.
I also noticed that the seed starting mix was way too dry,
like really dry. So I mentioned that, you know,
we might want to soak those first before doing it.
(05:42):
And also, like, you know, the trays weren't being covered when
they were put under the lights or onto mats.
And so they were drying out really, really quickly.
And so there was all these different things.
And it was just, oh, it was, I was having such a hard time like
not coaching him and say, no, we, we probably ought to do it
this way or no. I was trying to be very gentle.
(06:04):
And finally, I just looked at him really jokingly and said,
babe, I think you need to take my seed starting course that
over very well. This man has been doing this
with me for 18 years. And for me to tell him that he
needed to take seed to sprout after all this time, yeah, he
(06:26):
was not happy. I think he gave me the silent
treatment for like the next three hours.
But in his defense, he has not done this in a really long time,
so I promise you, if you take myseed to sprout course, you are
going to apparently be more equipped than my husband to get
a better germination on your seedlings.
(06:46):
So that's my little story for this week.
I'm hoping that he doesn't hear this, but it was all in fun and
you know, I know he knows what he's doing, he just forgot a
little bit of it, that's all. Anyway, Speaking of promises, I
promise you that Seed to Sprout is going to work for you.
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(07:07):
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Something 20. The link, as always, is in the
show notes. So spring is a prime time for
(08:36):
planting a lot of our perennials.
The soil is warming up, water isusually pretty plentiful
depending on where you are in the spring and plants have
basically a full growing season to really get themselves
established. So the first one we're going to
talk about is asparagus. Generally speaking, asparagus
you are going to get dormant crowns in the the early spring
(08:58):
and those benefit from the cool soil to be able to allow them to
establish a strong root system before the summer heat sort of
kicks in. With asparagus, you want a very
sunny, very well draining location.
You need to dig a trench about 8to 12 inches deep and then amend
it really well with compost. Once you put those crowns in
(09:18):
there, you want to spread the roots out, just fan them out in
inside the trench, and then you want to cover it with a few
inches of soil. So as those shoots grow, you're
going to gradually sort of backfill that trench to allow
them to be planted that deeply, but still be able to reach out
and do what they do. We don't ever harvest asparagus
in the first year. Generally speaking, if you buy
(09:40):
one year crowns or first year crowns, you're going to want to
wait at least two more seasons before you actually harvest.
So we don't want to be harvesting until the third
season. So if you buy second year roots,
then you can go ahead and, and harvest lightly in that third
year without a problem. And then the fourth year, that
is when we really start to to get a full harvest.
(10:01):
For the first year, you want to make sure that you keep that
soil consistently moist but not water logged.
Again, you do not harvest them in the first year.
You want those plants to focus on root development.
We do, however, want to mulch. We really do want to keep the
competition from weeds down whenit comes to asparagus because
(10:21):
they don't compete well, especially if you have like
grasses or something that are growing in there.
So you really want to mulch to suppress those weeds and also to
retain the moisture. So the second one on my list is
rhubarb. Rhubarb establishes really nice
deep roots. In the spring, before the heat
of the summer kicks in, you wantto plant dormant crowns or
(10:42):
divisions, however you're getting them in a full sun
space. You also want to space those
plants about three to four feet apart because these plants will
get big. You want to plant them just so
the buds are just above the soilsurface.
And you do this in the early spring as soon as the ground is
workable. And that first year care is
(11:02):
going to involve keeping these plants well watered, especially
during dry periods. Don't harvest the stocks the
first year. You want to give them a chance
to settle in same way as the asparagus.
And then again apply mulch to control the weeds and retain the
moisture. The third one is Jerusalem
artichoke. This is Helianthus tuberosis.
The tuberous roots will benefit from an early spring planting to
(11:25):
get them to maximize their growth before the summer heat.
These tubers get planted about 3to 5 inches deep and they're
spaced about 12 inches apart. Once again, full sun here is
ideal for this plant for best tuber production.
Early to mid spring is fine for planting these.
You do want to water the consistwater consistently, but you do
(11:45):
want to avoid overly wet soil, so make sure you're planting it
someplace where it gets good drainage.
These plants will tend to crowd,so you might want to thin them
out if they start to get too crowded in that first year.
And then you will be able to harvest after the first frost in
the fall. Now, Jerusalem artichoke is not
(12:05):
a perennial in every area, and Ishould make that caveat.
Not all of these are perennials in every location, but the
majority of them are. Just make sure that you are
looking up what is perennial in your zone.
Some of them can just be as annuals #4 would be horseradish.
So you generally plant horseradish from root cuttings
and they grow best when they areplanted in cool season or in
(12:28):
cool soil and have an entire season to get established.
The thing that's kind of different about horseradish as
you plant the root cuttings at about a 45° angle and you drop
them in at about four inches deep and you want to leave at
least 18 inches in between the plants.
These again are being planted somewhere between early and mid
spring moist soil, but not soggy, and then you only harvest
(12:52):
in the late fall during that first year.
Next up is Egyptian walking onions.
These are planted in the early spring when the soil is
workable. You can actually plant these a
little bit later so long as you're able to get those
transplants to sort of maintain their moisture while waiting to
go in the ground. I've had was gifted some that I
(13:12):
actually ended up planting in the very, very late spring,
almost at the early, early part of summer and they did just
fine. You just want to make sure you
have a well drained location in full sun.
Plant those little bulbs or the divisions however you're getting
them, about two inches deep and about 6 inches apart.
Moist soil, not soggy. Mulching does help to suppress
(13:33):
those weeds, especially depending on where you're
planting them. The top sets or the little
bulblets that form on the stalksof Egyptian walking onions,
these are the ones that you allow to mature and they drop
for self propagation. So that's kind of like they'll
either, they'll either drop or the whole plant will bend over
and then you'll have a new one come up.
(13:53):
So This is why they say they're walking onions because they sort
of spread in that manner. They walk along in the bed,
which is why that if you don't want these to spread, you want
to kind of put them in a contained bed.
Otherwise, they might tend to get a little bit out of control.
So spring is also the ideal timeto plant a lot of perennial
(14:14):
small fruits and berries. Again, the cool weather is kind
of helping those roots get established before the summer
heat and the plants will get a full growing season to sort of
settle in before it's time to godormant for the winter.
The first one and probably one of the most popular ones is
strawberries. So when you're planting spring
planted strawberries, they generally are going to be bare
root. Again, dormant versions of this.
(14:37):
So you, you know, can do June bearing varieties, you can do
everbearing or day neutral varieties.
If you do, you know, plant in that first year, the common
wisdom is that you should pinch off the blooms and not allow any
fruit to bear in that first yearin order to allow those fruits
to really get there or those those plants to really get their
roots established and come back even stronger the second year.
(15:01):
I do see this being particularlyimportant for like June bearing
types because they do put on alltheir fruit pretty much all at
once. But for the everbearing or the
day neutral runs, I don't see this to be as necessary.
You can pinch off a lot of thoseearly blooms to allow the plant
to get more established. But then as you get towards the
(15:21):
Midsummer, if you go ahead and just let them do that, then
you'll actually get a little harvest, you know, in the late
summer and the early fall from those ever bearing or those day
neutral varieties. The big thing is just to make
sure you have a sunny location, well draining fairly fertile
soil. When you plant bare root crowns,
you want the crown slightly above the soil level and you
want to spread those roots out in the same way that we do with
(15:43):
the asparagus. You just kind of fan them out
before burying them. You want those plants about 12
to 18 inches apart in rows that are about two to three feet
apart. Or you can do them like in a big
mound and I've, you know, you could put like fifty of these
plants just sort of spaced abouta foot apart all around the
mound. Of course, if you're doing them
in, you know, raised planters orcontainers, then you can sort of
(16:06):
do what we do out in the field, which is a matted row system.
So we have raised beds where thestrawberries are planted
initially in those two to three foot rows apart from each other
and then they sort of fill in from there.
We let the runners go ahead and do their thing.
This especially works forever bearing and day neutral types
and you just kind of let it all fill in and and do its thing.
(16:28):
When to plant strawberries in the spring really is just as
soon as the soil is workable. So it's not super saturated, but
it's not, you know, still frozen.
Obviously you also don't want towait until it's bone dry and
water regularly, keeping the soil evenly most moist for that
first year. Again, for the June bearing
varieties, you definitely want to remove those flowers for the
(16:50):
first year to encourage that root growth on the ever bearing
or the the day neutral varieties.
Then I would say and do that up through about the Midsummer and
then go for it. Let yourself have a few
strawberries because it's worth the work.
You get a you get a little reward there.
Strawberries absolutely do appreciate mulch around the
plants to suppress the weeds andretain the moisture.
(17:11):
If you are allowing those runners to root in, this is when
you might want to pull the mulchto the side or be very specific
about where you allow those runners to land so that you can
sort of fill in your strawberry bed for the next season.
Next up is raspberries. If you have seen in like the
garden centers or even in your hardware store, you have these
(17:31):
dormant bare root plants that are in like a plastic bag with a
little box around them. This is this is what they call a
bare root. You can also buy potted
Raspberry plants and they all dovery well when they're planted
in the early spring. The key is to plant them before
bud break. So if you have them in a pot or
a container and you've gotten them from a nursery and they're
(17:53):
already starting to break their buds, you might want to just
keep them in the container for this season and allow them to
fruit and do what they're going to do.
And then either plant them in the fall or put them in a
protected place over the winter and put them back out again.
Normally your your dormant bare root varieties aren't or
versions of this are not going to break bud that early, but
(18:16):
it's just something to watch forraspberries like full sun again,
well, joining soil, you've got alot of different versions of
raspberries now you have red andyellow raspberries.
Generally speaking, you want these to be about two feet
apart, but you want, if you're doing them in rows, you want
those rows to be about 8 to 10 feet apart.
If you're doing black or purple raspberries, these should be
(18:37):
spaced about 3 feet apart, but their rows can be closer
together about 6 to 8 feet. If you're mixing, then generally
speaking, just do them three feet apart in whatever way you
can and let them go from there. The big thing about this is when
you're planting them, you want to dig a hole that is deep
enough for those for those rootsto spread out and plant them so
that the crown is level with thesoil surface.
(18:59):
So generally speaking, wherever the soil level is in the
container that they're in, then keep that soil level even with
the with the the ground when youput them in the in the in the
soil. If it's a bare root plant, then
just look for that crown and make sure that you keep it level
with the soil surface early to mid spring.
(19:20):
Again, essentially when the soilis workable is good for these
for the first year you want to water them.
You know our our standard less frequently, more thoroughly.
So once a week watering really, really deeply to help those
roots dig down into the soil is a really good idea.
(19:41):
You might need to trellis or stake some varieties of
raspberries, usually specifically the red or the
yellow types, unless you want tohave this sort of wild Bramble
look, which is perfectly fine. That's up to you.
Once again, mulch is going to beyour friend here.
You want to control those weeds and retain the moisture,
especially for that first year while they're getting
(20:01):
established. When it comes to pruning with
raspberries, you do not want to prune the first year canes.
But after fruiting you can prunethe ones like if you have a
summer bearing type of Raspberry, you can prune the
spent floricanes. Those are the ones that actually
did produce some fruit. Those can be clipped to the
(20:23):
ground and cleared off, very similar to raspberries.
Is blackberries OK? These are a little bit more
vigorous than raspberries usually, especially depending on
the area that you are in. But again, they are best with a
spring planting. Blackberries, in my experience,
tend to be a little bit more forgiving in terms of when they
get transplanted. So if you don't get them in
right away or if you have a bunch of stuff that has to
(20:44):
happen all at once in the springand you need to wait on
something, blackberries would beone that I would say, yeah, you
can go ahead and wait on them again.
They like a full sun sight. Well, draining soil.
Generally with blackberries, you're going to space them about
three to five feet apart, and you want them in rows that are 8
to 10 feet apart. This is going to depend on the
type of BlackBerry that you're growing.
(21:05):
But in most instances, they're going to take up a lot of room
or you're going to have to put up a trellis of some sort and
train them to that trellis to make them, you know, kind of
stay in their own area. Whatever you do when you're
planting them, just make sure that you're setting the plant at
the same depth as they are in the nursery container.
(21:28):
Or if you're planting from bare root crowns, just make sure they
are just above the soil level. Does the care for them in the
first year is going to be about the same as raspberries?
You want to water them deeply once a week.
Again, we want those roots to search downward for the water.
So we want really deep waterings, add a trellis if
you're going to need it, mulch really heavily to suppress those
(21:49):
weeds and conserve that moisture.
With with most fruits, again, especially the cane fruits, you
may not want to allow those plants to bear fruit in the
first year in order to be able to focus energy on root
development. But if you were in an area
where, you know, blackberries tend to be very vigorous, like
here in West Central Missouri, we have wild blackberries like
(22:09):
everywhere. I know Oregon, same thing.
So if that's the case, then you may be able to just go ahead and
let them bear fruit and it's notgoing to harm them at all.
Just understand what works best for your area now #4 would be
blueberries. And technically speaking, you
can plant blueberries both in the spring and in the fall.
But if you really want to give them a chance to get really good
(22:32):
root establishment, then blueberries are going to prefer
that cooler moist conditions in the spring.
This is one where, yes, you're going to choose a sunny spot,
but you also are going to want to make sure that you are
testing the soil pH because blueberries really do prefer
that more acidic soil. We're talking aph of between 4.5
and 5.5. If your pH is too high in the
(22:54):
area where you are intending to plant those blueberries and you
want to amend that soil with some sulfur or with some peat
Moss to bring that soil pH down,depending on the variety is
going to depend on how far apartyou space your plants, So three
to five feet apart is the general consensus on most
(23:15):
varieties. You can also do these in
containers. I have had blueberries do very
very well in large pots and theycome back with no problem.
The one thing about blueberries is when you go to plant them,
you want to dig a hole that is twice as wide as the root ball.
So mix in some organic matter like some compost or something
and then plant it at the same depth as it was in the nursery
(23:36):
container for that first year. Water consistently, keeping the
soil moist but not soggy. This is the different with
blueberry difference with blueberries, rather than like
arcane berries, they really do like to have that consistent
soil moisture. They don't like to be dried out
in between mulch, especially if you have like pine needles or
pine bark. If you can mulch with that, that
(23:57):
is going to help to maintain that soil acidity a little bit,
make it easier to manage. Once again, if you really want
to encourage that root growth, you want to remove the blossoms
the first year to prevent that fruiting.
And if you are growing multiple plants, make sure that you are
mixing cultivars so you get cross pollination and better
fruiting #5 On our list of perennial fruits would be
gooseberries and currants. They are both in the same
(24:19):
family. These are very cold Hardy
fruits. They establish really, really
well when they are planted in the early spring, you want full
sun to partial shade. So if you are somebody who wants
to grow fruit and and you don't really have a whole lot of full
sun spaces, gooseberries and currants are actually a good
option for you. You want the plants to be spaced
about three to five feet apart in rows that are about 6 feet
(24:42):
apart. So if you are doing a lot of
these, make sure that you're giving them plenty of space and
you just want to plant them at about the same depth as they are
in the nursery pot. This is another one that likes
to be planted in the early spring before the buds break on
the plant. This is your best timing.
Make sure during that first yearthat you are watering
consistently, especially in dry spells.
(25:04):
Mulch, mulch, mulch. I'm going to keep saying it
over. You might want to lightly prune
these guys after planting just to encourage that branching to
happen. And then once again, better long
term fruiting if you go ahead and remove the flowers during
the first year. Another one that's really
popular and easy to grow here inWest Central Missouri is
(25:25):
elderberries. These can establish really nice
deep roots if you plant them in the spring before the summer
growth. They love full sun.
They will do OK in some part shade as well.
They won't be as big and they won't produce as much.
So if you can put them in full sun, great.
I tell you, I have some that arein full sun that reach the top
(25:47):
of my barn and I think that's like 10 foot tall to the to the
roof line. So they will take up some space.
So make sure that you're spacingthem about 6 to 10 feet apart
depending on the variety. This is another one where you
dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball, or you can get
cuttings from somebody else and just allow those little cuttings
to start to root and then you can go ahead and pop those in
(26:09):
the ground. Elderberries aren't really,
really fussy, so there's a lot of kind of leeway for you to
kind of mess up when you're planting them.
Early to mid spring is the best time to get these planted, but
you can also plant these later in the season and they will get
established just fine if you're in an area where elderberries
thrive. So in my area, you can pretty
(26:29):
much pop elderberries in the ground almost any time of the
year and they're going to go ahead and survive.
They just do really well naturally here that first year.
Water really deeply, mulch to conserve moisture.
Prune lightly in the first year if you want to shape it, but
don't do any really really heavypruning.
And for best fruiting it's usually recommended to say that
(26:50):
you need two different cultivarsfor cross pollination of
elderberries. I've not found this to be the
case. And I don't know if it's because
the elderberries that I grow arethe ones like the birds
naturally spread. And I had one that just, you
know, showed up in my by my barnone day.
And for the years we actually cut it down because we thought
(27:11):
it was a weed of some sort or aninvasive of some sort.
And then at one point I let it go and I said, wait, wait, wait.
Don't cut that anymore. It's an elderberry.
I want to keep that. And it was just one plant.
There aren't any other plants anywhere nearby.
The next one is like, I don't know, but it's got to be at
least 100 yards away, if not more.
And it's it's going to be the same cultivar, right?
(27:31):
Because they're all the wild ones.
So I don't necessarily agree with like you have to have two
different cultivars for cross pollination, but if somebody
knows better than me, let me know because like I said, I'm
just kind of growing the wild ones.
And then finally, Hask cap berries.
These are also known as honey berries.
They are another cold, hearty plant that benefits from spring
planting. Again, another one that likes
(27:53):
full sun with well draining soil.
You want to plant these about three to five feet apart,
keeping them at the same depth as the nursery pot.
Another one that you want to plant in the early spring before
the buds break. This is another one that likes
really moist soil during the first year.
You can prune it lightly after the first year.
And another one where it's recommended to plant at least
(28:15):
two cultivars for better pollination.
OK, so that's fruits and vegetables or vegetables 1st and
then fruits. Whatever it is, it doesn't cover
all of them, but those are some of the most popular.
Now, what about bringing some more beauty and color into the
garden with spring planted flowering bulbs?
(28:36):
So unlike fall planted bulbs like tulips and and daffodils, a
lot of the bulbs that we plant in the spring are actually
summer flowering ones. So it seems to me that the ones
that you plant in the fall are the ones that sprout in the
spring and the ones that you would plant in the spring are
the ones that flower in the summer.
(28:58):
I think that's a about right. If I have any more, you know,
knowledgeable flower people out there when it comes to to bulbs,
let me know if I'm wrong, but this is my understanding.
So the summer flowering bulbs kind of need that warm soil in
order to be able to thrive. So the first one is dahlias.
And again, a lot of these are not going to be perennials or
they might be perennial in your area, but maybe not.
(29:20):
I know a lot of them are not in my area, which is why they're
sort of, some of them are planted, you know, in the
spring. They flower all summer and then
people will dig them up in the fall to store them away in their
basements and then plant them again in the spring.
That seems like a whole lot of effort for me.
So I'm going to try to find somethat are planted in the spring
specifically that that will be perennials.
(29:42):
And then also, of course, I'm going to work on maybe doing
some for the fall. So for the spring planted ones,
dahlias, dahlia tubers are not frost Hardy and so they need to
be planted once the soil has already warm.
So we want like after our first or our last frost state.
So dahlias need a full sun location.
They like rich, really well draining soil.
(30:02):
The tubers should be planted about four to six inches deep.
You want the eye facing upward and space them about to 12 to 18
inches apart. Again, we want to wait until
after the last frost and we actually a little bit longer
than that because they want the soil consistently above 60°F.
So make sure that you're using your soil thermometer to check
on these. Once they're planted, you want
(30:23):
to water them lightly until the shoots appear and then you want
to increase watering at that point.
If you plant the really, really tall varieties of dahlias, you
might need to provide a stake. And then if you deadhead these,
cut off the spent blooms that isgoing to encourage continuous
blooming. The second one would be
Gladiolus. So Gladiolus are planted by
corms, and so those corms, CORMS, corms need warm soil to
(30:48):
sprout. These you're going to plant
about four inches deep, about four to six inches apart.
Again, these ones like full sun.You want to do this after the
last frost has passed. This is one that likes the soil
to be moist but not waterlogged.And this is also one where you
might consider doing like a succession planting.
So we always talk about succession plantings in terms of
(31:10):
like our veggies, like lettuces and radishes and that sort of
thing. You can also do this with
certain flowers, and Gladiolus is one of them.
If you plant the quorums or you stagger those plantings about
every two weeks or so, you'll have more of a continuous
blooming period. The third one on this list is
lilies. So if you have some Lily
varieties like the Asiatic and Oriental lilies, absolutely do
(31:32):
very well with the spring planting.
The rule with these Lily bulbs that you want to plant them
three times their height deep, if that makes sense.
So whatever size the bulb is, then three times that is how
deep you want it planted and youwant them planted with the tips
up spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart.
(31:53):
Early to mid spring is fine withthese.
Water them consistently and thenmulch them to retain that
moisture. And then again, if there are
really tall varieties, you mightneed to stake them #4 Begonias.
Begonia tubers require warm temperatures.
They cannot take a frost. So make sure that you are
waiting until well after the last frost before you plant
(32:14):
begonia tubers in the spring. You can start these tubers
indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before you plant them outside.
You want to make sure that you are planting with the concave
side up just below the soil surface.
Keep that soil moist but well drained.
We don't want it waterlogged. And you can provide filtered
light or part shade for begoniasuntil they get going and then
(32:39):
you can put them out wherever. Begonias are infamous from
planking everything from full sun to full shade and everything
in between, which is why they'realmost foolproof in a lot of
gardens. So they absolutely will take
that partial shade and be very, very happy with it #5 is calla
lilies. And number six is cana lilies.
So calla lilies, they thrive in warm soil.
(33:00):
They do not tolerate frost. You want to plant these rhizomes
about three to four inches deep in well drained soil.
Water consistently avoid those soggy conditions.
Basically the same thing goes for the cana lilies.
Often times you are going to have to provide staking for the
canas once they start to go, especially for those taller
varieties. And then #7 is elephant ear.
(33:25):
The thing about elephant ear is the soil needs to be warmed to a
minimum of 65°F in order for these guys to do very well.
And you want to plant the tubersabout two to four inches deep in
a very rich well draining soil and space them about two to
three feet apart. Water them frequently.
If you are in a really, really hot climate, you are going to
(33:47):
want to provide them with some shade.
And then if you want these guys to keep going and you are in a
colder region, you can actually lift those bulbs in the fall and
store them over the winter time if you want to plant them again
the next year. So I am going to be playing
around with these spring plantedbulbs this year and probably
some fall planted ones too. So I will attempt to take you
(34:08):
along on the ride. I will do some videos on this
and post them to Instagram reelsand also over to Facebook on
Shorts so you can kind of see what's going on.
I might do some longer videos toSpring is the perfect time to
set up not just your summer flowering bulb display, but also
your perennial, you know, fruitsand vegetables in your garden.
(34:28):
So whether you're growing asparagus for years of harvest
or you just want dahlias for a beautiful, stunning summer
display, just make sure that youare planting them properly and
you're waiting to the proper time to plant them and that is
going to set you up for success.So check your local last frost
states, check your soil temperatures, check with your
(34:50):
local Extension Service. They always have really good
information about your area and what is going to do best for
your garden. Until next time, my gardening
friends keep on cultivating thatdream garden and we'll talk
again soon. You want the plants about 12 to
inch? Buy potted Raspberry
raspberries. Not snozberries.
Raspberries. Probably do some videos and
(35:12):
stuff on that that I'll paste topaste.
Having all kinds of problems today.
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