Pruning Roses

Prune roses in the early spring when the buds begin to swell. This will usually occur in late February or March. Look for pointed red or pink buds along the stems. Prune out any dead, damaged or diseased canes all the way to the ground or back to healthy growth. Remove any crossing or rubbing branches. Long canes may be reduced by about half. Hybrid Tea roses do best when pruned to an open vase shape where the center of the plant is opened up and the branches are directed outward from the middle. Make pruning cuts just above an outward facing bud. Whichever way the bud is pointing will determine the direction the new branch will grow. Do not prune roses all the way to the ground every year, it is not necessary and stresses the plant. Fall pruning should consist of shortening overly long branches to prevent whipping in the wind. Major pruning should be left until spring. Heavy pruning in the fall may result in excessive frost damage to vulnerable cut branches.

To learn more: Planting and Caring for Roses

How Do I Prepare Myself for General Conference?

General Conference is intended to be a revelatory experience as participants learn from living prophets and apostles through the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. Proper preparation will help ensure that you get the most out of your conference experience.

To learn more: Prepare for General Conference and General Conference Ideas for Children

Got Crabgrass?

Crabgrass, sometimes confused with quack grass, is an undesirable, troublesome weed grass with a coarse texture and unsightly color. It can turn thick, lush, green lawn into thin, weak, patchy one if left untreated.

Fast-moving crabgrass infests lawns across the country and since there are many different weed grasses, it is critical that the undesirable grass be correctly identified. For example, if the coarse, ugly grass infesting your lawn is green as soon as the snow melts in early spring, the weed grass is not crabgrass.

Early and correct identification is important since the quicker you take action against crabgrass, the sooner you will be see favorable results and the greater your chances of preventing its spread.

The following are some helpful facts homeowners should know about crabgrass, the conditions which cause it, and what they can do to help stem the tide if they have it in their lawn. It should be noted that control measures for annual and perennial weed grasses differ, and controlling crabgrass can take several seasons of work so have patience.

• Crabgrass is very difficult to identify early in spring since only plant skeletons are present at this time.
• Crabgrass is best identified in summer or fall for control in fall or the following spring.
• Crabgrass cannot be controlled with broadleaf weed control products.
• Crabgrass favors sandy, sunny locations in a weakened condition. Areas damaged by insects or along sidewalks and driveways are prime targets for crabgrass attack.
• A strong, healthy, properly fertilized, mowed and watered lawn provides the strongest defense against crabgrass. Thick, lush, insect and weed-free lawns allow few open sites for crabgrass to establish.

Crabgrass control combines reducing numbers of crabgrass with strengthening the overall health of your lawn. Application of crabgrass control material in fall or very early in the spring before the crabgrass seeds germinate is important. It will form a barrier to stop crabgrass seed roots as they germinate and remember, following application, this barrier must not be broken by raking or digging.

Ongoing proper maintenance is also an important step to help rid your lawn of crabgrass. One of the easiest maintenance steps is to remember not to mow your lawn too low. Taller grass will shade the soil and make it less hospitable for many weed seeds, like crabgrass, to develop. Most grasses do well at a mowing height of 2 inches to 3 inches, and some varieties even higher.

The fight against crabgrass requires patience and a commitment to creating and maintaining a healthy lawn. It will take some hard work but a thick, dark green, crabgrass-free lawn is well worth the patience and special care.

To learn more: Weed Man

2014 Best Spring Planting Dates for Seeds for Sandy, Utah

Are you wondering what to plant when? Wonder no more! Check out The Old Farmer's Almanac to answer all your questions.

"When determining the best planting dates in the spring for seeds, the date of the last spring frost is important to your success. NOTE: Our chart calculates U.S. frost dates only, based on historical data. Other factors can also influence planting dates, including soil temperature, altitude and slope of land, nearby waters, and day length. Keep records of your garden's conditions each year to plan more accurately."

To learn more: The Old Farmer's Almanac and The Garden Planting Calendar

Soil Preparation

'Dig a $100.00 hole for your $10.00 plant'. It is a dirty job, but every gardener needs to do it if they want the best results they can get. Soil preparation is the most important part of gardening. Without the proper preparation, gardening can be a chore for you, and your plants will just not respond and grow the way you want them to.

To learn more: Garden Soil Information

Growing Relationships - Part #1

Gardens create places of natural beauty and offer opportunities for strengthening friendships and teaching our children the law of the harvest. Growing a garden can help us become more self-reliant. But in the following account, members describe blessings they have received from gardening that go beyond food—blessings that have enriched their relationships with family, Church members, and friends.

Growing Children
M. Robert Mock, Utah, USA

As a young father, I felt the importance of teaching my children how to work—to enjoy working when they could and to endure it when they must. Gardening provided an excellent way to teach our children about meaningful work.

Our sizeable garden offered considerable work for the family, and we kept a variety of tools—hoes, rakes, and shovels—so that all the children could help. My wife and I often worked shoulder to shoulder with our children so they learned a consistent work ethic by our example and through their efforts. We were all companions as we learned to work together.

A productive and beautiful garden was good, but my wife and I were more concerned about the development of our children. At times we could have accomplished more work in our garden without our children pulling up the seedlings they mistook for weeds, but it was important for our children to have the chance to learn. Both children and garden grew as we all marveled at God’s creations.

Gardening also helped us teach the principle of choice and accountability to our children. The Lord taught, “Fear not to do good, … for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap” (D&C 6:33). Our garden helped clarify this metaphor for our children. They looked forward to each harvest when they could enjoy the fruits of their labors, especially the fresh strawberries.

The joy of gardening continues in our family. All our children—one daughter and four sons—still garden. Some of them have families of their own, and I’m happy to see them carry on the gardening tradition with their children.

Growing Relationships

Preparing and Improving Garden Soil

The Utah State University Cooperative Extension Service has many resources to help gardeners prepare their soil for planting. To find answers to your specific questions see their website:

Soils - Yard and Garden

March Gardening Tips

• Start warm-season plants indoors for transplanting in May.
• Clean up the yard on days when the weather is nice.
• Work organic material into annual beds as soon as they are dry enough to be worked.
• Plant hardy vegetables (artichoke, asparagus, cabbage, kohlrabi, peas, onions, radishes, spinach, broccoli, turnips, rhubarb).
• Sow cauliflower, tomato, pepper and lettuce seeds indoors. Plant bare-root plants (strawberries, raspberries, fruit trees, roses).
• Bare-root fruit trees and shrubs become available at local nurseries.
• Fertilize spring bulbs with nitrogen.
• Review the proper way to plant new trees. 
• Purchase an herbicide to prevent crabgrass and spurge to apply the first of April.
• Consider applying a lawn pre-emergent earlier to areas next to sidewalks and driveways where it warms and breaks dormancy sooner.
• Attend pruning classes for roses, fruit trees, trees and shrubs at the Ogden Botanical Gardens, or USU Botanical Center in Kaysville.  
• Prune fruit trees, raspberries, grapes and ornamentals that need it.
• Apply dormant oil to all fruit trees as soon as the buds swell and the first tip of color appears.  Include an insecticide with the oil, if desired.
• Prune roses after the buds break and there is 1 to 2 inches of growth.
• Clean up perennials by removing last years’ dead material, and transplant or divide those that are overgrown.
• Plant pansies and primrose for color in the garden, if you didn’t plant them last fall.

To learn more: March Gardening Tips