Nature's calling: Time spruce up your yard, garden with bounty of ideas | Sally Scalera

Hopefully, you will have time to be outside a lot now because the weather is usually wonderful! It's a great time to get out in the yard to spruce things up and make a few changes.

Here are some ideas for things you can do this month.

* The Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ 8-week class series is set to begin on Tuesday, April 2, from 9 a.m to noon. The class will not be held on April 9 but will continue the next seven Tuesday mornings, ending on May 28. If you would like to learn how to be successful at growing plants, all while protecting water quality, consider joining the class.  Here are just some of the topics that will be covered: botany, our dirt needs life, attracting wildlife, hands-on gardening (learn how to start seeds and start plants from cuttings), introduction to landscape design, palms, lawns, trees, growing edible plants, container gardening, pests, diseases, etc.  This class is being offered both in-person and on Zoom! The classes will be taped and available on a private YouTube page for continued viewing. For more information, follow this link: https://2024FFLclasSseries.eventbrite.com.

* If you like to eat, you may be interested in this class! The Be Healthy: Grow Your Own Food four-week series is scheduled for Monday, June 17 through July 8. Two classes will be offered each Monday, a morning class from 10-noon and another from 6-8 p.m.. Learn how to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit corps in containers or in the ground, so you can grow nutritious food at home, even if you only have a balcony or patio. Each ticket includes handouts and some heirloom seeds for $70. Couples, friends, and families can learn together and share the notebook and seeds. The classes will be taped and available on a private YouTube page for continued viewing. For more information on what is covered in each class, go to https://BHGYOFMorningSeries.eventbrite.com or https://BHGYOFEveningSeries.eventbrite.com, or call Halley at 633-1702 and press 0 for help.

* Also scheduled for Saturday, April 27, is a fruit tree/plant sale organized and run by the Brevard Tropical Fruit Club. If you enjoy eating fruit and want to grow your own, be sure to show up early! The sale will begin at 8 a.m. (and no earlier) at the Melbourne Auditorium in the field to the southeast of the building.

* April is a good time to fertilize your lawn or consider following nature’s way and establishing the soil food web to take care of your lawn, ornamental plants, trees, and palms. If your yard isn’t suffering from any insect or disease problems, you can go directly to establishing the soil food web throughout your yard. To reduce the potentially harmful effect of fertilizer, consider using an organic fertilizer because it will contain the highest amount of slow-release nitrogen and other nutrients. The soil microbes must first consume the fertilizer before the nutrients are continually made available for the plants in small amounts, which helps to protect water quality. If you would like to learn how to get the biology around the roots of the plants, email the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County Master Gardeners at brevard-mg1@ifas.ufl.edu for information.

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* Mow your turf weekly (this also keeps the weeds from producing seeds) and set the mower blades on the highest setting. Let the grass clippings fall on the lawn (and put any that land on impervious surfaces back onto the grass) so the organic matter and nutrients return to the soil and stay out of the Indian River Lagoon or the St. Johns River.

*Don’t prune palms or trees this month; bats and other wildlife are raising their offspring now. It is best for the health of all palms not to remove any green fronds. The palms produce the green fronds to carry on photosynthesis, so the removal of those fronds will adversely affect the growth and possibly the health of the palm, depending upon how severely it is pruned.

* If your azalea or gardenia shrubs are getting too large, prune them after they have finished blooming.

* Vegetables that can be planted in April include beans (bush and pole), Chinese cabbage, okra, Southern peas, squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, calabaza, chayote, yard-long beans, jicama, Malabar spinach, and other tropical crops.

* Okra, southern peas, and Swiss chard can be started from seed in April and planted in the garden in May.

*If you’re interested in adding some flowers to your landscape, here are some plants that can handle full sun through the summer: floss flower (Ageratum), Amaranthus, asters, celosia, coleus, cosmos, dahlia, Dahlberg daisy, lisianthus, blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella), gazania, gerbera daisy, kalanchoe, sunflowers, gomphrena, Melampodium, lobelia, portulaca, blue salvia, red salvia, dusty miller, marigolds, zinnias, etc.

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* For shady areas, consider planting some of these flowers or colorful foliage plants: non-stop and tuberous begonias, caladium, coleus, firecracker flower (Crossandra spp.), impatiens, and geraniums.

* In the herb garden, you can plant basil, chives, garlic chives, dill, borage, pineapple sage, Mexican oregano, fennel, Mexican tarragon, oregano, mint, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, and thyme.

* If you haven’t checked out the Brevard County Farmers Market, it is held at the Wickham Park Pavilion on Thursday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. Here are just some of the delicious items that will be available this month. Vendors will be selling fresh herbs, microgreens, shoots, and wheatgrass. Vegetables that will be available are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and potatoes. In addition, there will be honey, beef jerky, fresh salsas, candied jalapenos, sweet relish, cupcakes & other sweets, homemade jams, apple butter, jellies, and a variety of homemade nut butter.  For pasta lovers, freshly made pasta, sauces, cheese, and other delicious Italian items will be available. On the second Thursday of every month, Deep Roots Meat comes with their Florida-grown, grass-fed Angus beef straight from their farm.

Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Science.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Spring brings bounty of tips good for thd yard, soul | Sally Scalera