EVERYBODY CLEAN UP!

they aren’t buried in mulch. If your mulch is more than 2 inches or so around your plants and garden, remove it or redistribute it so it’s back to the 2 to 3-inch maximum. Heavy layers of thick, matted mulch are not good for plants. Plus it wastes the budget that you could be spending on live plants vs. dead shredded up plants!

q And for gosh sakes: DO NOT VOLCANO MULCH YOUR TREES. Yes, I’m yelling that as loud as I can so you all can hear it! If you can’t see the root flair (look this up if you need to see an example), then it’s bad for the tree. If you want your trees to last well into their elderly years, then no mulch should ever touch the trunk of the tree. Ever. Rake it away from the trunk (you may need to do that each season or after heavy rains) and expose the root flair. Mulch should not be more than 2 to 3 inches on top of tree roots. q Fertilize all plants with a slow release, organic fertilizer such as Plant Tone. Easy to spread, mistake proof, and your plants will thank you for it!

Now get out there and poke around and take advantage of the warming spring weather. Pretty soon it will be too hot, and we’ll want to be sitting in the shade enjoying our gardens!

Meagan is the Senior Landscape Designer at Wasco Nursery in St. Charles. She can be reached at 630-584-4424 or design@wasconursery.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

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