A friend asked me a gardening question yesterday, which got me to thinking that it’s about time I shake off the long winter’s nap and get to thinking more seriously about my yard. After all, it IS the first day of Spring. Unfortunately, with temps in the 20s today, the photo of my yard I snapped this winter is still pretty accurate. Nothing to be done quite yet. My organic corn gluten lawn fertilizer is in the garage. I have a few packets of decorative pole bean seeds in a drawer awaiting warmth. And I will have some mail-order grafted tomato and pepper plants arriving at my doorstep in May. But again, nothing to be done quite yet.
My friend asked me when it was okay to cut down all the leftover stalks and leaves from last year’s perennials. The simple answer is the first nice-enough day in Spring! But from experience, I know the best answer is to be cautious and to wait to do serious clean-up until you start to see green growth at the base of your plant. Ideally, you also wait until the worst danger of snow and freezing weather is past. Sometimes that dried stuff is the only thing protecting your delicate flowers from winter’s chill. Remove it too soon and you can have an unhappy plant that will die before its time. (Trust me on that…there is some lemon thyme that paid the price of my early pruning.)
Overall, though, I am glad to have a typical Chicago Spring, even though it’s colder than I’d like. Last year this time it was in the 80s and my whole garden was going crazy with growth. That lead to an unnaturally accelerated growing season that left me disappointed. So stick around, snow. Everything green will come in good time.
Cait's Garden 
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