Gardening by the Moon Weekend To-Do
An idea as old as agriculture, based both folklore and superstition but there are scientific ideas to back it up.
Lunar Phase: Sunday April 16, Easter; 4th Quarter begins on Wednesday, April 19- Saturday-Sunday: Moon in the sign of Sagittarius - Cultivate, plant fruit trees, and tubers
- Enjoy family and friends
- The danger of frost has past so it’s an excellent time to prune off any of the winter damage and then encourage the new growth with a balance fertilizer.
Later in the Week
Monday/Tuesday: Moon in the sign of Capricorn - Plant for root growth- It is another favorable opportunity to plant in the open ground or planters, radishes, beets, carrots, and turnips.
- Aphids cause leaves on flowering and fruiting plum trees to curl. You should pick off the curled leaves, then spray the tree(s) with Insecticidal Soap and make a follow-up application in seven days. Once the leaves curl, they’ll never uncurl instead they shrivel up and turn brown, so it's important to identify the problem early on.
Other Things To-do
- Earwigs feed at night and hide in cool, damp, dark locations during the day. Around edibles, I like to set out Earwig traps made from newspaper. The traps are made from several sheets of newspaper, lightly moistened and then rolled into a tube. They are set out throughout the vegetable garden as the sun is setting. Earwigs will use the tubes as a hiding place when daylight returns. In the morning, empty the contents of the tubes into a pail of soapy water and set out new tubes that evening.
- ...Weed and Feed turf products are best applied with a drop type spreader. Hand held spreaders do not do an adequate job of distributing the granules over the grass. You should moisten the grass first, and overlap the spreader wheels so there are no gaps in the coverage.
- And finally, now is the time to switch from the 0-10-10 fertilizer to Azalea, Camellia, and Rhododendron Food on Azaleas, Camellias, and Rhododendrons even if they are not finished blooming.