If you happen to notice small circular black spots, your plant probably has what is known as the Black Spot. The spots have fringed edges, and are a sign of a disease. Artificial sprays may be used to treat the spots, but the affected leaves should be removed from the plant, as remaining leaves will allow the disease to spread to the rest of the plant.

If you notice that the canes of your roses seem stunted or malformed, they probably have a fungal disease known as powdery mildew. Evidence of this is seen on the plant in white powder spread by the wind, and the leaves will start to curl and turn purple. It is best to treat the plant with Funginex or Benomyl to treat this fungal disease.

If you start to see orange-red blisters begin to form on leaves that turn black during the fall, you should collect the leaves that come down in the fall, as they are signs of a disease called rust. Removal of the leaves is important as the disease can survive the winter and attack new sprouts in the spring. Spray with Benomyl or Funginex every 7-10 days.

If the leaves or the flowers of the plant appear to be stunted or malformed, you may have spider-mites living on the rose. They are easily found, yellow, red, or green spiders usually found on the undersides of the leaves, where they proceed to suck the juice from leaves. Use Orthene or Isotox to take care of the infestation.

If you notice mottled leaves, or if the leaves have small white webs under them, chances are it was caused by aphids. The brown, green, or red bugs have a soft body, and are often found clustered underneath the leaves and flower buds, and will also suck juices from tender buds. You can treat this with Malathion or Diazinon spray.

If your flowers don’t open, or are deformed when they open, Thrips could be the reason behind the problem. They are slender, brown-yellow bugs with fringed wings that also suck juices from flower buds. Cut and discard the infested flowers. Orthene and malathion may also treat this problem.

Occasionally plants introduced to gardens like their conditions so well they spread like bad weeds. One of these Campanula rapunculodis the creeping bellflower, is very troublesome in gardens in both Montana and Wyoming and probably elsewhere, although I have gathered no reports.

It has become such a problem that weed specialists in Montana want to put it on the list of noxious weeds.

The flower spikes will range from three to four feet high above a more or less basal growing plant. The nodding flowers are deep violet. The leaves are described as rough and egg shaped tapering to a point. The base leaves have long stems, while those growing along the base of the flower spikes clasp the stalk closely.

H. Clifford Cook in his book Campanulas indicates that although this plant is quite beautiful, it should be restricted to the “wildest of wild gardens.” L. H. Bailey in “The Garden of Bellflowers” described the plant as a biennial. In Eurasia and North Africa this plant is apparently occasionally grown as a fall or winter vegetable. Because of a pungent, biting taste, the somewhat thickened roots and base leaves are used in salads.

Because of the hardy, thickened, persistent root system and the ability of the plant to spread quickly by root cuttings, the plant has been difficult to control and kill. In Montana it has invaded flower and vegetable gardens and has even encroached on lawns, hedge rows and shrub borders.

Efforts to control it with many commonly known weed killers have not been too successful. The Horticultural Field Station at Cheyenne, Wyoming, was successful in controlling the plant with amino triazol. One spraying according to manufacturers directions applied during an active growing period of the plant has been successful under conditions at the Cheyenne station.

This weed killer has also been highly successful in controlling poison ivy. In using the roundup weed killer spray, it is necessary to confine the spraying just to the immediate area of the plant to be controlled. The use of a low pressure and volume will confine any spray drifts. If spraying is done on a lawn, the grasses in the sprayed area will be killed, but can be reseeded in a little while afterward.

Amino triazol kills by destroying chlorophyll in the leaves of plants. Without chlorophyll, plants. are unable to manufacture their own food and soon die.

Many northern lawns suffered a setback over the past year. Excessive heat and drought were followed by torrential rains that tore at the slim grass covering and washed out valuable soil. Heavy weed crops following the rains complicated the problem. Delayed fall seedlings were only partly successful and many lawns went into the winter in poor shape.

March is a great time for renovation of established lawns that must be done at the earliest possible moment. Grass seed sprouts better in cool weather. Grass makes its best growth during this time and to get the seeding done early insures later success. If the lawn was worked over last fall and the grass stand is thin, reseed the entire area, using 1/2 pound of seed per 100 square feet. It will not be necessary to dig or plow the area if this was done previously. Just running the teeth of an iron rake through the soil should suffice to provide enough loose soil for the seed.

What fertilizer?

When and how much to apply are questions that bother both the beginner and the more advanced gardener. There are, however, certain fertilizers made chiefly for grass. These are to be preferred for the lawn. Of course any all-purpose fertilizer will do, but the former is safer for spring use. If one of the newer combinations is intended, it will pay to study the manufacturers directions and stick to his advice. The best time to apply is just as the grass is beginning to grow. A small handspreader will get an even covering. In a small area it is better to mix the right amount with several times its bulk of sand or sifted soil before spreading.

The Coldframe Asset

The coldframe is your greatest asset in March. See that the structure is tight and all the glass is in place. The site must be well drained and the frame should slope toward the south. A height of 18 inches at the rear and 12 inches in front gives the right slope to shed rain and catch the suns rays. A good soil mixture is important, a good general bagged soil mix from the local garden center should work just fine. It is necessary at times to juggle the proportions to get a friable mixture. After screening through a 1/4 inch wire screen, add a heaping cup of superphosphate and one of agricultural lime to every bushel of the mixture. Six inches of this is spread inside the coldframe, or if seeds are sown in flats the latter are filled and set on a base of sand or cinders until seedlings are ready for transplanting.

Most annuals and vegetables can be sown in the coldframe through March. The important things to remember are the amount of coldframe space available and the date at which it is possible to set out early plants in the garden or even as you renovate your lawn. The best way to sow cabbage and the like can be done in the outdoors in six weeks, but tomatoes sown at the same time cannot be set out until the end of May.

In a general way it is advisable to sow the cool-season crops at the beginning of March, the more tender in mid-March, so that later on the latter can be transplanted into the space vacated by the planting out of the cool crops. In any case it will be necessary for some time to cover the glass in the evening to conserve heat. The covering is removed in the morning as the temperature rises.

If you’ve been growing a vegetable garden for a while, you might be feeling slightly disappointed that it looks plain and not very colorful. I started my gardening career with a vegetable garden, but after a couple of years I felt ready for something a little more pleasing and interesting to look at. After complaining to a friend about my dull looking garden, he suggested that I try planting some perennials as it could be a great way to liven up my garden without adding a lot of extra work.

Perennials are wonderful because you plant them once, and they grow every year. You do not need to replant them like you do with annuals and vegetables. Once the season is over the flowers and stems dry up and go away. In the spring the new flowers shoot up, without you having to worry about replanting them.

Before you go out and buy a bunch of perennial seeds and start planting, do yourself a favor and check your soil for proper drainage. If the soil stays saturated with water for long periods of time your plants will not grow properly. To test your soil, dig a hole in the garden area and fill it with water. Wait a day, and then fill it with water again. The water should be gone in 10 to 12 hours. If the hole isn’t completely dry, you will need to build a raised bed or seek out another solution for the drainage problem.

With perennials it is possible to have blooms nearly year round. With careful planning and some research you will have an unending array of colorful blooms in your garden. Plan out your garden area so that when one plant starts to wither and die, another one pops up and blooms to take its place. If you plant your seeds just right this will happen year after year.

Knowing which perennials to plant for the best showing takes some planning and research. You can do this research in books or online, sometimes even local gardening shows. Or, you can visit a local nursery or greenhouse and ask for assistance. The staff at these places is very knowledgeable about what will grow the best in your local area. Sometimes you can even find seed mixtures specially blended for your geographic climate.

With careful planning and some help from an expert either a book or local gardening expert, you can have beautiful blooms nearly year round in your garden. You can plant your seeds in groups and place different seeds in the group that have different growing cycles. That way there is always at least one plant in bloom in that section of the garden at all times. When one plant dies, another is just starting to bloom and so on.

When planting the seeds, you should space them out in small separate clumps according to the directions. Perennials tend to spread out and if you have too many too close together then they will end up trying to share the water and nutrients in the soil and will choke each other out. As you plant them, throw in a little bit of weak fertilizer to help the seeds get started. With a little bit of care in the beginning you should start to see flowers blooming up that will return year after year.

It’s March and this means that lawns in the Midwest are in need prompt attention. No other element in the development of the home grounds adds so much to their beauty and attractiveness as a good lawn. It is the lawn which carpets the open spaces and gives a proper setting for the house and garden. A good turf prevents erosion in rainy weather and keeps down dust in times of drought. Surely the well-kept lawn is a source of pride and joy to the owner.

A lawn means grass. So far there is no substitute. It may vary from poor to excellent and still be a lawn. Most folks have learned that nature will provide a green cover for the lawn area and are content with that arrangement. About all this kind of lawn needs is an occasional good, close mowing.

Some folks are not so easily pleased. They consider the lawn as a thing of beauty, a green, uniform, well-kept carpet, which plays an important part in the landscape picture. Such a lawn is not possible unless certain definite rules are followed.

Thus far, Kentucky bluegrass is our best lawn grass, because of its fine texture, good color, freedom from disease and insects, manner of growth and extreme hardiness. A good bluegrass turf cannot be established in one season, but two or three years are required even under proper management.

Early fall is usually a better time to sow bluegrass seed, but with most lawns brown at that season or taken over by crabgrass, people easily put off the job until spring. If the lawn is above the average now and has a fairly good stand of bluegrass, sow only lawn bluegrass seed; but if the lawn is just average, use a mixture of five parts bluegrass, three parts redtop and two parts domestic rye grass. For spring seeding, five pounds of white clover may be added to 95 pounds of grass mixture if you want to cut expenses on lawn seed fertilizer.

White clover, redtop and rye grass germinate quickly and will soon cover the bare spots and serve as a nurse crop for the slower germinating bluegrass. The present high price of bluegrass should be an incentive for folks to use less seeds than the customary two or four pounds per 1000 square feet and to do the job more thoroughly and more effectively. Four pounds of good bluegrass seed would have around 8,000,000 seeds. At the rate of four pounds per 1000 square feet, we would be seeding around 8000 seeds per square foot or 55 seeds per square inch. If all these seeds germinated and grew, certainly the stand would be so thick that weak, spindly plants would result.

By this time of the year when the cold weather starts to peep in, I seem to be a little slower and lazier than normal. I would rather just curl up inside the house and wait for spring to come. I constantly comfort myself of the fact that soon enough, the snow and ice will leave us again and before we even know it, it’s time to get outside and work on the lawn and landscape! With that in mind, why don’t we make a plan?

As early as now, we can decide as to which outdoor chores can be possibly done once the sun comes out again. We can also start thinking or eyeing professionals whom we can ask to take care of our homes.

I have listed down below some of the typical outdoor tasks which you might want to consider:

Lawn Cutting

If you’re just like me, then I am sure that you enjoy cutting gras on your own and enjoying the very moment of “just being outside.” True enough, there is nothing like the smell of fresh cut grass on a weekend morning. And so as early as now, you better get your mower and have it tuned up. Check the oil, the spark plug and sharpen the blade.

If you; however, wish to outsource lawn mowing services, you better call potential companies now to have you included on their list.

Lawn Treatments

Apart from wanting a freshly mowed lawn every week, you also want to keep them weed-free and green. To make this possible, you simply need to thicken the turf, knock out weeds and green your lawn up. For DIY treatments, start thinking and deciding on which products to use as early as now.

Make sure that you get yourself signed up now if you have plans of calling a pro lawn spraying service. We do not want crab grass or weeds taking over our lawns just because of laziness and procastination. Our lawn service will help us develop a program designed to the needs of our lawn.

Pest Control

Pest contol may be one of the activities which I will never want to try on my own. Mice are always a constant problem in my area and so calling an exterminator always becomes very necessary. I have always liked Terminix because they have always been very successful in handling anything that crops up.

I also subscribe for their service to treat the inside of my house once a year to scare spiders and other insects away. So far, I have always gotten positive results which is why I sign my contract early for every season.

These activities are only some considerations for the spring. It’s never too early to get started so make your calls now and make your plans ahead of time.