It's Tempting, But Don't Do It!

Through most of the South East US the temperatures have started an upward trend from the lows of last week's winter blast.  Like most, our garden is not looking its best.  It's a bit of an emotional roller-coaster to have worked 11 or 12 months on getting it just the way you want and (seemingly) lose it all in one week.  But such is the life of a gardener.  Besides, watching the garden wake up in the spring is probably my favorite part of gardening!

With this warm up you're probably starting to see some of your plants struggling to put on new growth (something I'm personally trying to stop on my own waistline).  Or as one of subscribers put it, "The broad-leaf weeds are recovering fine".  It's very tempting to reach out and help this new growth by pruning all the frost damage, giving the new growth room and energy.  DON'T DO IT!!!  Even in Florida, it is very likely we're not done with freezes yet.  It may seem like spring out there right now, but it's not.  If the winter so far is any indication we'll have at least one more freeze before we can begin to clean up our garden.  If you've started to encourage new growth on your plants before that frost comes you'll be putting that new growth and the plants overall health at risk.  The dead parts of your plant act as an inhibitor to new growth preventing them from exposing themselves to further damage until spring truly begins.

Here is a list of things you can do while you wait for spring:

• Prune deciduous trees and shrubs - These plants went into hibernation before the cold got here and won't wake up until spring so pruning will actually help them when Spring does arrive.
• Refresh your mulch - Now that it's cooler outside it's a good time to do the labor intensive tasks before the swelter of summer arrives.  Refreshing your mulch has the added benefit of curtailing weed growth now and when Spring gets here.
• Apply pre-emergents - If you want to try and stop weeds in your lawn before they appear now is the time to apply some pre-emergent weed kill.

I hope this helps you resist the urge to prune just a little longer!

Last night, there came a frost, which has done great damage to my garden.... It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart.
Nathaniel Hawthorne