Springtime with Ciscoe Morris: Soundside

Monday is the official start of spring, but if you woke up to a nice layer of frost on your windshield this morning, it may not feel like it.

That said, we’re expecting sunshine & a high of 63 degrees on Saturday, so a lot of us are planning to grab the gloves, dust the cobwebs off of the gardening tools, and GET OUTSIDE!

If you have questions about what to do this spring, Ciscoe Morris has you covered!

Here are some tips straight from Ciscoe to you

First up, if you're going outside this weekend, it's a great time to start the veggie garden!

"Well, this is a great time to start growing your veggie garden now! And you could sow your seeds for lettuce right now, your peas, salad greens, mustards and spinach — they're all ready to go in!"

"And if you don't want to start them from seed, you want to take a little shortcut, most of the nurseries have veggie starters ready to sell right now. I admit I'm cheating on my sugar snap peas that way."

Next up: Roses

"And if you haven't pruned your roses yet, right now is the time to do it."

Ciscoe says he's a pretty tough rose pruner.

"I've kind of done about six inches from the ground. I find they come back nicer and better and stronger and more flowers if you do that. I'll fertilize them this time of year, too."

He says to try and cut to an outward facing bud.

"That's the way the new branch is gonna grow. You don't want it to grow back into the middle and crowd the plant. If you can't find a good bud around six inches, then cut at 12 inches but find that bud that'll grow outward. You'll be glad you did."

And finally, Chilean Fire Trees

"First of all, I gotta tell you, everybody in the world should get themselves an 'Embothrium coccineum,' the Chilean Fire Tree. They start blooming in April, all the way through May and and often halfway through June with these red flaming red flowers are about an inch and a half long trumpets. And let me tell you, every hummingbird for 572 miles sees that tree."

As for where to plant them: "Here's the trick, plant the roots in the shade, but plant that tree so it'll grow up into sunshine."

You can check out the entire conversation with Ciscoe Morris in the audio above, including plenty of tips for springtime care of hydrangea bushes.