"April is the cruelest month," the poets used to say, and every Rocky Mountain gardener knows exactly what they meant. One day it's so warm and sunny you think for sure it's time to set out those tomatoes, peppers, and bedding annuals. Then temperatures plunge down to below freezing at night and the next morning your precious plantings are black and mushy.

If you've just moved to the Santa Fe area from a warmer climate, you might have a hard time believing we nursery folk who warn, "Don't put out frost tender plants until May 15th. That's our last official frost date in the Santa Fe area." But it's true.

You may think, "If I don't buy my plants now, all the best stuff in your nursery will already be gone May 15."

Never fear! For more than 55 years Payne’s Nurseries  has worked hard to make sure we have plenty to offer our customers throughout the spring and summer season. We have a continuous supply of annuals, herbs, vegetables, perennials, shrubs, vines, and trees because we sow flats of vegetables in stages. So whether you want to plant right at May 15 or later in the season, we will have plenty for you to choose from. We guarantee that we will offer more variety over a longer period of time than you'll find at retail outlets such as home improvement “big box” stores.

Click here for a complete descriptive list of our forty 2009 tomato varieties
Click here for a complete list of our 2009 hot and sweet pepper varieties

If you want to take a chance and plant before mid-May, be sure to cover your new plantings at night — with inverted flower pots, or several thicknesses of double-mil plastic, or blankets elevated above your garden bed by stakes — to protect them from the low nighttime dips in temperature. It doesn't always work, but it often does, so it's worth a try. Obviously, take the flower pots and the blankets off in the morning.

Another thing you can do is build a cold frame outdoors and put your baby plants into it. A cold frame is a box with a transparent top to let in the spring sunshine. Sometimes the sides are transparent, too. You open or close the top of the cold frame according to changes in daytime and night time temperatures. Cold frames are temporary outdoor houses for young plants, protecting them from frost while getting them used to the cold, until the plants are ready to go into the ground.

You can make your own cold frame or raised bed planter with new Pecky Cedar landscape timbers at Payne’s. These  4-inch x 8-inch x 8-foot timbers are weather proof, yet light weight and easy to assemble. Come in and see for yourself how these new timbers will make gardening projects easier.

WHAT TO PLANT OUTDOORS IN APRIL

Hardy Trees Click here for trees recommended for Northern New Mexico

Hardy Shrubs Click here for shrubs recommended for Northern New Mexico

Hardy Perennials & Perennial Grasses Click here for perennials recommended for Northern New Mexico (OK to plant out now as long as they've been “hardened off” —  that is, introduced to outdoor cold by having been gradually exposed to unprotected outdoor conditions over a period of weeks)

Hardy Berry Bushes Click here for information on berry growing in Northern New Mexico (OK to plant out now as long as they're dormant — that is, as long as they haven't started sprouting yet)

Hardy Grape Vines Click here for information on grape growing in Northern New Mexico (OK to plant out now as long as they're dormant — that is, as long as they haven't started sprouting yet)

Hardy Vegetables
From Seed:
•    beets (try 'Chioggia' for a super-sweet taste treat!)
•    lettuce
•    parsnips
•    scallions (green onions)
•    carrots
•    spinach
•    peas — shelling, snow, or snap

Hint: Dwarf snap peas, such as 'Sugar Ann', get only about 18-24" tall, and so can produce lots of sweet, edible pods when planted in large hanging baskets.

From Seed or “Starts” (baby plants):
•    broccoli
•    cabbage
•    cauliflower
•    kale
•    shallots

From Seed or “Sets” (baby bulbs or tubers):
•    bulbing onions
•    potatoes

Hint: Don't plant potatoes in the same soil where you grew peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, or tomatoes last year — all of these are in the same family and get similar diseases. Also, if you have been considering planting a grocery store-bought potato that has sprouted to start your crop, you may be disappointed. Most store-bought potatoes have been treated with sprouting inhibitors so they will have a longer shelf life.

Hardy Annuals
From Seeds or Starts:
•    linarias (also called "baby snapdragons")
•    pansies
•    violas

Be sure to cover annuals every night for a week or so until they are hardened off. Don’t be alarmed if extra-low dips in night temps frost-blast the edges of their leaves. They will usually recover.


OTHER PROJECTS FOR APRIL

Build A Compost Heap: Once the weather warms, it's time to build that compost heap (or heaps — many gardeners prefer 3 right next to one another). For a great cheap heap, buy four straw bales from Payne's and, in a sunny or partially sunny spot, arrange them in a square so that all four are touching. Inside the sraw "box," put a 4" layer dry plant materials (straw, dead weeds, dry leaves) followed by a 4" to 6” layer of green plant materials (such as vegetable scraps and, as season progresses, fresh leaf and grass clippings) and (bagged or fresh) horse, cow, sheep, burro, duck, worm, or chicken manure. Water thoroughly (the contents of the heap should be moist, not soggy). When  your straw bale box gets full, mix the contents with a garden fork, then add another four straw bales on top of the old ones and continue the layering process.

To speed up the composting process, some gardeners dust each layer with a fine coating of compost starter, or a high nitrogen fertilizer such as blood meal. Some people also add worms to their piles to help digest the green matter and add nutritious worm castings (worm poop) to the piles. If you do this, be sure to give the worms plenty of vegetable scraps to eat, and keep the pile just moist, or the worms will croak.

If your compost heap stinks, it's either too wet or you haven't been turning it and aerating it enough. If your compost refuses to rot down, it doesn't have enough green matter in it (add manure and compost starter) or it has dried out. You'll know your compost is ready for use in your garden when it has turned into a dark, crumbly substance that smells earthy and slightly sweet when you sniff it.

Get Your Soil Tested: Rather than fling expensive soil amendments and fertilizers randomly at your yard, it makes sense to get your soil professionally tested to see what nutrients it lacks. You can do this with a Payne's soil test kit. Or, for a really in-depth analysis, order a professional soil test through the County Agricultural Extension Service.

Is It Time To Dig Your Garden Beds? Here's a good rule of thumb: Dig up a spade of soil and pick up a clump of it in your hand. If the soil is sticky and clumps together, tilling it now may cause it to compact, which will starve your plants of oxygen later in the season. Spread Payne’s Organic Soil Conditioner and soil amendments such as Yum Yum Mix™ or one of many the many varieties of Soil Secrets™ over the top of the plot and wait a couple of weeks before digging them in. If your soil is crumbly, and falls apart in your hand, then it's ready to be amended and dug.

Start Some Seeds: Payne's sells a wide variety of vegetable, herb, flower, and grass seeds for home gardeners and landscapers. Each of our stores offers slightly different selections, so call or come in to either store to choose the varieties best for you.

Now's a good time to sow seeds indoors, including those for:
•    tomatoes
•    hot and sweet peppers
•    eggplants
•    salad greens
•    cilantro
•    sweet basil
•    sweet marjoram

FYI About Tarragon Seeds: true French tarragon — Artemisia dranunculus 'Sativus' — does not set seed, so it is grown from cuttings or root divisions, not seeds. Seed-grown tarragon you sometimes find on seed racks is Russian tarragon — Artemisia dranunculus — which has virtually no flavor and hence is useless in cooking.

If you plan to start seeds indoors, Payne's sells a range of indoor seed starting supplies, including seedling mixes, peat pots, Jiffy-Pots™, plastic seed trays with covers, and electric micro-mini greenhouses.

Remember that indoor seed-starting requires warmth — 70ºF is optimal to stimulate quickest germination — and strong light. If you’re a serious grower, consider an electric heating mat that provides seed flats with 70ºF bottom heat.

If you don't have a lot of sunny windowsill space, try 48" fluorescent indoor plant lights, installed in a draft-free corner. When the seeds sprout, move the trays onto the light frame, place bricks under the trays so that the tops of the seedlings stay 4" under the lights at all times. Remove the layers of bricks as the seedlings grow.

Another suggestion: hang reflective Mylar™ sheets around the light-frame to intensify the light around the seedlings to help prevent them from getting leggy. When the seedling roots begin to peek out of the bottom of their pots, up-pot them into slightly bigger individual containers. When outdoor temperatures are consistently 60ºF during the day, move the seedlings to a wind-protected, warm, sunny spot outside during the day and bring them indoors as temperatures drop toward evening.

Treat Your Easter Lilies Right!
Easter lily blooms last longest indoors if given bright, indirect light and cool (40-50ºF) temperatures at night, days below 70ºF. Keep the soil consistently moist but never soggy, and never let the pots stand in saucers of water.

Want to try planting the lilies outdoors? After the flowers fade, keep watering the plants regularly and feeding them with any standard house plant fertilizer (we have several in stock for you to choose from). The leaves will eventually turn yellow, and die. Cut off the stem at soil level. After May 15, plant the potted bulb outdoors in a protected area in deep, rich, well-drained, composted soil in partial shade (half-barrels work great!) and mark the spot with a stake. Feed twice during the summer and mulch in late fall. The plant should put up new growth eventually, and will bloom next summer.

Use the same technique with other potted Easter bulbs, such as hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils.

Clean Your Bird Feeders & Bird Baths: Empty feeders of all old seed and scrub them with a solution of 1 tablespoon household bleach and 1 tablespoon dish soap per 1 gallon of hot water. Rinse thoroughly with hot water and allow to airdry completely before refilling with seed and rehanging outdoors. Use the same solution to wash out your bird baths and hummingbird feeders.

Hummingbird Alert: A hummer was just sighted (April 21) in Pecos, NM, going after insects. It was also attracted to Rand's linaria (baby snapdragons, see "Annuals" above). Get those hummingbird feeders ready now!

Clean & Sharpen Your Tools: Gardeners are notorious for letting their trowels, spades, pruning shears, and other tools get dull, which can make digging and cultivating much harder and — in the case of pruning tools — damage plants by making irregular tears in their bark, leaving ragged wounds through which pests and diseases can enter. You can purchase sharpening kits for sharpening your tools at home, or take your tools to a professional knife sharpener.

Don't Prune:
Don't prune forsythias or lilacs until they've finished blooming. That's because they blossom on one-year old wood. If you prune these bushes before their spring show, you won't get any blossoms this year.

Don't prune your roses until you see new buds forming on their stems. Stems that look dead may actually be sleeping.

Don’t prune fruit trees unless you’re sure you’re not pruning out fruiting branches.

Do Prune:
If you didn't do it last fall, cut back last year's dead growth from perennials.  It's also time to cut butterfly bushes (Buddleja) way back, to within a few inches of the ground. Don't worry, they'll easily regain 6 to 8 feet of growth in a season, and the hard pruning will make the plants less leggy and much more floriferous.

Unmulch Your Perennials & Roses:
Pull the mulch away from these plants so they can start acclimatizing themselves to the spring weather, and to prevent the development of fungus diseases as the weather warms. Be gentle — it's easy to break off emerging shoots, particularly on peonies. Bear in mind you may have to recover some plants quickly if there is a late freeze warning. Heavy mil plastic sheeting works great for this purpose.

Divide & Conquer:
You may start dividing your hardy summer-blooming perennials now, such as yarrows (Achillea), daylilies (Hemerocallis), and tickseeds (Coreopsis). Before dividing, prepare the ground. Dig as deeply as you can, then add a mixture of well-rotted manure, compost, and some good slow release organic fertilizers and soil amendments, such as Yum Yum Mix™ or Soil Secrets™.

Using a very sharp spade, divide the old clumps in two, then dig deeply around and beneath them, keeping as many of their roots intact as possible. Transfer the divisions to their new homes and water them in thoroughly with a solution of water and a transplant-shock preventative such as SuperThrive™ or any of the root stimulators we have in stock. Then mulch around the transplants to give them a bit of protection from drying out.

Check on them every couple of days, and keep the soil around them evenly moist. If the transplants dry out, they may die.

Divide your rhubarb, now, too: dig up the whole crown; break off the young side shoots (again, try to keep as many of the roots intact as possible), replant the new plants in full sun, and put the original it’s hole with a heaping handful or two of well-rotted manure.  Water in as directed above.

Houseplants — Repot, Refertilize, & Step Up the Watering:
As days lengthen, your houseplants will start putting on new growth, signaling the start of the growing season. This means you might want to
•    repot them into the next larger size container
•    resume fertilizing them
•    begin increasing slowly the amount of water you give them

Remember: Never let potted plants sit in water-filled saucers. The water saturating the drainage holes of their pots will prevent oxygen from reaching their roots, increasing the danger of root suffocation and root rot. Always dump out collected water from beneath your pots as soon as you notice it.

Bug Alert: New growth on houseplants attracts insect pests. Insecticidal soaps applied regularly to the stems and leaf surfaces (upside and underside) will take care of most of the bugs. If your houseplants have nooks and crannies formed by the leaves and stems, be sure to get the spray into those handy little hiding places, too.

Thank You Berry Much:
It's a good time to apply dormant oil spray to outdoor berry bushes, such as raspberries, currants, and gooseberries. The oil will suffocate any pest eggs and hatchlings before they can become a worry. And check your strawberry bed. If young leaves have begun to peek out from the straw, pull the mulch away from the tops of the plants so the new leaves don't yellow from lack of sunshine.