Gardener and gardener calendar: spring work schedule

Recommendation points

• February
• March
• April
• May
• Folk signs

For gardeners, gardeners and summer residents, the calendar is not just a “schedule of weekends and holidays”, but a real guide to action. For owners of land plots, every month of the year brings its own worries and troubles, so there is no need to rest even in winter.

What is a calendar for the average city dweller? A convenient and familiar table, using which you can quickly find out what day of the week falls this year, for example, March 8, birthday and other holidays. This is, in fact, the main purpose of this invention of mankind. For the gardener, every day counts.

What kind of work in the garden and vegetable garden can you start already in February, when is it time to plant one or another variety of vegetables, build a greenhouse, and so on? Let’s try to draw up a short gardener’s calendar for the next four months. Of course, we will not point out that it is this particular date that you should start, for example, sowing carrots, after all, depending on the region, the dates for the start of field work vary greatly. However, an approximate work plan can be drawn up. It remains to choose the starting date and distribute the work already taking into account the characteristic climatic conditions in the area of ​​residence.

You can’t do without a calendar in your office or at home. For gardeners and summer residents, it is also important, but in a slightly different sense – from the point of view of the beginning of one or another stage of work on the site

February

It’s still winter outside, the garden is covered with snow and it’s far from the first warm days, but now it’s time to get ready for the start of field work. So, what a real farmer needs to do in the last month of winter:

1. The first thing that experts advise to do in February is to draw up a rough plan for spring work. Did you want to plant new varieties of tomatoes, plant asparagus or rhubarb for the first time, build a greenhouse? Sketch a plan of everything conceived, so that later in the heat of spring work you will not forget anything, especially with regard to the purchase of materials for sowing and construction.
2. If February is characterized by severe frosts, it is necessary to pay attention to the garden trees – to protect the trunks and roots from freezing, throw the snow that has fallen on the roots, paddle it to the trunk, and if there is too little snow this year, wrap the trunks with paper and throw straw around. However, you can only worry about apples and pears if the temperature dropped below minus 25, but thermophilic peaches need special attention..
3. At the end of the month, when it has already become a little warmer, it is recommended to prune fruit trees, remove excess branches growing inside the crown, weak shoots that did not yield a crop last year, branches that grow strictly up or down.
4. It is in February that it is time to start preparing seeds. All autumn blanks should be taken out and sorted out, the seeds should be left warm – very soon it will be possible to start planting seedlings.
5. To protect the garden from pests, it is in February that cracks in the trunks should be healed and feeders for birds that have already begun looking for places for future nesting sites should be prepared. The help of such “fighters” against harmful insects will not hurt you.
6. In the southern regions, as early as February, you can free up space on the site for planting such cold-resistant crops as parsley, dill, onions, radishes and peas. You can even remove snow from a piece of the garden intended for such plants – this way the earth will thaw and warm up faster..
7. In the last month of winter, you can already start building a greenhouse. But while it is too early to sow the seeds of tomatoes and peppers, it is worth sowing only early cabbage. The greenhouse must be ready in advance so that the ground under it warms.
8. In February, you can already plant seeds of leeks, asparagus lettuce, radicular celery, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in specially prepared boxes at home. The work with seedlings begins right now. Even if in your region it is possible to plant plants on the beds only in early and mid-May due to possible frosts, in the last month of winter it is already worth preparing the soil and containers for seedlings. Remember – it will take almost two months for tomato seedlings to be completely ready for planting in the soil..

Even if there are still drifts on the street, work on the preparation of seeds and seedlings may be in full swing.

March

So spring has come, and with it the “hot” time to work in the garden and vegetable garden. However, the beginning of field work can vary greatly from year to year – this year the snow can melt in early March, and next season it can lie almost until April. In addition, the ground should not only free itself from snow, but also dry out a little. Here is a short list of the main jobs for the first month of spring:

1. If in February you did not cut or heal the fruit trees, do not delay, carry out all these works in March. It’s time to cut off ornamental shrubs, including hedges.
2. Trees and shrubs can be fed with mineral fertilizers.
3. When the air temperature is firmly established at around plus five, you can spray the trees with agents against fungal diseases. The next spraying is carried out only after the fruit trees have faded.
4. As soon as the snow melts and warm days are established, it is time to sow cold-resistant plants: carrots, dill, parsley and onions. At the end of March, you can sow beets. There is no time to waste, especially if there is a steady warming outside the window..
5. In the first month of spring in the southern regions, radishes are already sown on the beds. However, such areas need to be covered with a dark film so that weak sprouts do not freeze, and the earth under the film warms up under the sun. Plant radishes not too densely – you will simply have no time to thin out the seedlings for spring worries.
6. March is the most suitable month for growing seedlings of almost all vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, medium and late cabbage, celery and others. If you sow tomatoes after March 8, just by the beginning of May, the plants will be completely ready for transplanting to the beds..
7. At the end of March, it’s time to get potato tubers from the basement for planting so that they have time to sprout in the warmth.
8. If a lawn grows on your site, after the snow melts, it must be cleaned of debris and fertilized. However, March is the time of “general cleaning” on the entire site – after winter there is a lot of excess garbage, branches, leaves, so you will have to work thoroughly with the rake.
9. Earthwork in March – preparation of beds, paths, and so on – may not start, it all depends on weather conditions.

In March, almost every gardener has thickets of seedlings instead of indoor flowers on windowsills, warm loggias and balconies

April

The snow has already melted almost everywhere, the earth has dried up – it’s time to get out of the cozy home and move on to direct work in the vegetable garden and garden. We present an approximate list of works for April:

1. It’s time to warm up and shovel the compost, which will soon be scattered around the garden.
2. It is necessary to treat currant and gooseberry bushes from pests, as well as raspberries. If necessary, put props under the bushes, and tie up the raspberries.
3. Although experts advise to whitewash the trunks of plants in the fall, you can do this in April. This is a good protection against pests, besides, white tree trunks look so beautiful in a spring garden..
4. When the earth has already dried up, it is harrowed with a rake and dug up – not as deep as in the fall, but simply – to loosen it before planting. Right now it is necessary to start planning a garden, of course, if you did not do it in advance, back in March or even in February, when you were choosing a place for a greenhouse and planting cold-loving plants.
5. During the digging of the garden, it is worth adding mineral fertilizers and wood ash. The rest of the additives depend on the type of soil you have, you may need to add sand or peat, as well as slaked lime.
6. We prepare the beds for planting, and if the site is uneven, then the rows of plants should be located across the slope. To make the beds perfectly even, you can use a string stretched on pegs, draw grooves with a special marker, and so on..
7. Already at the end of April, you can start planting mid-season varieties of white, Savoy, red and Brussels sprouts, extragon, onion seeds for sets and turnips. In April, anise, peas, common beans, mustard, parsnips, radishes, turnips, coriander, lettuce, chicory root, asparagus, spinach and savory are also planted..
8. Throughout April, work continues on the care of growing seedlings. While it is possible to plant tomatoes and cucumbers only in greenhouses and hotbeds, the danger of frost is still very high. If you did not plant cucumber seedlings in March, it is not too late to do so in April. In addition, at the beginning of the second month of spring, seeds of decorative pumpkin, squash, vegetable marrow and other thermophilic plants are planted in greenhouses and boxes placed on window sills..
9. Early potato tubers can be planted at the end of April.

In April and March, the bulk of the work is carried out related to cleaning the site, preparing seedlings and beds

May

The last month of spring is the time for the mass planting of the remaining seeds and seedlings. In the central regions, the last frosts are usually observed in the 20th of May, of course, there are exceptionally cold years when already flowering tomatoes can freeze even at the beginning of June. But no one is immune from such unforeseen natural disasters, and it is mainly in May that vegetable gardens are amicably covered with green sprouts. An approximate list of May gardening works:

1. If you managed to plant cold-loving plants back in March, then in May it’s time to harvest the first harvest of radish and please your family with your own herbs – onions, parsley and dill.
2. It’s time to plant cabbage seedlings on open ground, sow radishes for the second harvest, and also plant medium-late varieties of potatoes.
3. In the southern regions, ready-made tomato seedlings are planted in open ground in early May, but in central Russia it is better not to rush with this and leave the seedlings under a film or on a loggia until mid-month. Only then each seedling neatly takes its place in the prepared bed. Remember that tall varieties of tomatoes need support, so it is better to plant them near the fence or prepare special pegs and stretch the wire.
4. In May, you need to thin out the already amicably sprouted carrots and beets.
5. In the middle or at the end of the month (depending on the weather), seedlings of sweet peppers and eggplants are planted..
6. In the southern regions, drought may begin in May, and the planted plants will have to be watered regularly. Take care of the irrigation system, such as drip irrigation, in advance.
7. You should not get carried away with mineral fertilizers – in this case, it is better to “underfeed” the plants than to overfeed, so if you added fertilizers while digging the garden, there is no need for additional feeding when planting seedlings.

By mid-May, the beds are usually already fully formed in the garden, all the seedlings have been planted and even the first crop has been harvested

Folk signs

And finally, the folk signs that our great-great-grandfathers still used. True, due to climate change, some of these will no longer be as accurate as before, but they will still make it possible to predict both the harvest and the weather:

1. If the first of February is warm and sunny, then spring will be early.
2. The abundance of snow in February allows us to hope for an excellent grain harvest.
3. Meeting (February 15) – the day when winter and spring meet. If the weather is calm and clear on February 15, expect a good harvest of vegetables.
4. If the sky is clear on March 14 (to Evdokia), to a good wheat harvest.
5. If birches have a lot of sap in March, the summer will be rainy.
6. If the weather is clear on April 1, wait for a warm summer.
7. There is still snow on the Annunciation (April 7) – this promises a lean year. If it’s clear on this day, by the corn harvest.
8. If the weather is good on April 21, by a fine summer.
9. Rainy May promises the same “wet summer” and dry autumn.
10. If the apple trees have not yet bloomed by May 8, a bad, lean year is ahead..
11. Many May beetles – there will be an excellent harvest of buckwheat and millet.
12. At the end of May, it rains – to a poor harvest of fruits.

Believe the omens or not – everyone’s personal business. However, they did not arise from scratch, but on the experience of many generations of farmers.

The gardener’s calendar, of course, cannot serve as an exact guide to action, since the weather is a capricious lady and annually “throws” surprises on us. However, even such an approximate plan of work in the garden and vegetable garden will be a good help and will help not to miss the most important thing..