April 1st—April Fool's Day—is a good time to fool around with things on your checklist, says Ron.

April 1st is, of course, April Fool’s Day. It’s a good time to fool around with these tasks on your checklist:

* Carefully separate seedlings crowded in a single pot. Transplant these to individual pots or to a flat or crate, giving each plenty of room to develop further before they can be set out in the garden.

* Keep the shoots of onion, leek, and chive seedlings cut back to about 4 inches to create stocky plants. Use the snipped shoots in salad dressing and salads, or to flavor soups, stews and other cooked dishes.

* Sow seeds of endive, lettuce, onion, parsnip, and spinach as soon as garden soil is workable.  These seeds will germinate in all but frozen soil.  Seeds of peas, carrots, beets, radish, parsley, chard, and cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage) can be sown once soil temperatures are above 40 degrees F.  A soil thermometer can be a useful investment for those who want to get an early start to the vegetable garden.

* Apply horticultural oil to trees and shrubs to control over-wintering pests.  Not all woody plants require application of horticultural oil.  Those plants with a recent history of infestation by spider mites, aphids, mealy bugs, and scales should be prime targets for dormant applications of horticultural oil.  Fruit trees, especially apple and pear, are treated with dormant oil every year.  BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW LABEL DIRECTIONS WHEN USING HORTICULTURAL OIL.

* Rake lawns to remove dead grass and debris that collected on the lawn over the winter.

* If you cut the flower stems from lavender and have been drying them through the winter, preferably under your bed (the fragrance is dream inducing), now is a good time to strip the dried flower buds from the stems. The easiest way to do this is to simply run your fingers along the stems. Store the buds in air tight jars until ready to use. My wife’s favorite use is to fill small fabric bags with the lavender buds and tuck these in drawers, or hang them in the clothes closets, or, my favorite, under our pillows.

Have some fun!  Buy seeds of birdhouse gourd for planting later this year. As the name implies, these gourds may be hung outdoors and serve as home to birds such as wrens, bluebirds, chickadees, and swallows. After a winter of curing in our garden shed, our gourds are now being prepared as bird houses.

The first step is to cut a one-inch diameter hole in the wall of the gourd using a hole-saw drill bit.  The hole must be located on the wide part of the gourd so that it points straight out, i.e., not upward nor downward. Next, using a 5/16 inch drill bit, drill a couple of holes at the top of the gourd to accommodate a piece of wire that will be needed to hang the gourd. Then, drill about 5 or 6 holes in the bottom of the gourd for drainage and for ventilation. Finally, use a screw driver or a stick to remove the innards, mostly seeds, from the interior of the gourd.

Many folks go through the trouble of sanding, polishing, painting, or treating the gourd with a wood preservative before hanging it out. I don’t bother. The gourd will last for several years. In the meantime, I’ll grow birdhouse gourds each year so I can keep building new affordable housing for the local bird population.

An expanded collection of beautiful building lots for sale in the Berkshires, awaiting your vision.

I came to know the gardens of Federal Twist by getting glances and glimpses on Instagram throughout the seasons, a sort of naturalistic Brigadoon.

April 1st—April Fool's Day—is a good time to fool around with things on your checklist, says Ron.

Weekly real estate transactions for Berkshire County, Northern Litchfield County, and Columbia County

Originally part of Edith Wharton's estate at The Mount, the former barn and stables have been transformed by CLARK + GREEN INC into a gracious home which retains the history of the property and the character of the barn.

Yes, it is finally spring, and Ron is enjoying the arrival of a species of crocus called Tommies. And he has great suggestions for fragrant plans and where to locate them.

Close Encounters With Music Presents: SKYLARK A Cappella Vocalists: Hidden Symbols, Secret Codes

Receive daily updates in your inbox

Would you also like to receive our weekly Real Estate newsletter? Would you prefer to receive only the Real Estate newsletter?

Website by Web Publisher PRO © 2022 The Berkshire Edge, LLC. All rights reserved. Read our Terms of Use