APRIL GARDENING TIPS

April 1, 2025 Karen Logan

Dogwood illustration by karen blackerby logan

APRIL

GARDENING TIPS

Kickstart Your Garden for the Season!

Spring has arrived, and with it comes the excitement of a new gardening season! April is the perfect time to prep your yard, nourish your soil, and start planting for a lush and vibrant summer. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting, here are some essential tips to get your garden in top shape!

Viburnum burkwoodii photo by keith kurman

Chiondoxa photo by karen blackerby logan

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Garden Clean-Up

Before diving into planting, clear away the remnants of fall and winter—dead leaves, broken branches, and debris that can harbor pests and diseases. We have a variety of gardening tools at the nursery to make clean-up easier!

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Soil Care

Healthy soil = healthy plants! Give your soil a boost by adding nutrient-rich compost and manure. We carry Coast of Maine compost and manure as well as Fafard products. Not sure what your soil needs? Use a soil testing kit (available at our nursery) to check its composition and adjust accordingly.

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Spring Annuals

Brighten up your garden beds and containers with spring annuals! Pansies are now available, and Sweet Alyssum will be ready soon. Plus, we’re excited to introduce a new selection of fall-sown Hardy Annuals, grown from seed by Andrew Wiley. Look for poppies, bachelor buttons (Centaurea cyanus), Queen Anne’s Lace (Ammi majus Select White), and more! Want to learn how to extend your blooms? Check out our blog post on Hardy Annuals.

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Edibles: Time to Plant!

April is the season to plant cool-weather vegetables, small fruits, and fruit trees. Whether you’re dreaming of homegrown lettuce, berries, or apples, we have everything you need to get started. Learn more about Cool Weather Veggies.

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Trees & Shrubs

Now is an ideal time to plant trees and shrubs! Adding them to your landscape provides beauty, shade, and long-term benefits for the ecosystem.

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Pruning

Spring is the time to prune any diseased or dead wood from your trees and deciduous shrubs. This keeps them healthy and encourages strong new growth.

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Lawn Edging

A crisp lawn edge isn’t just for looks—it also keeps mulch, rocks, and soil neatly separated from your grass. We carry heavy-duty black plastic edging in 10-foot sections to help define your garden beds.

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Winter and early spring are great times to clean and sharpen tools.

Tool Maintenance: Sharpen & Clean

Before tackling your garden projects, take a moment to clean, sharpen, and oil your tools. This makes your work easier and extends the life of your equipment.

Tool Care Essentials:

A good pair of gloves, bypass pruner, lopper, disinfectant spray, and anti-bacterial wipes will make a big difference.
Need help sharpening your pruners, loppers, hedge shears, or pruning saws? Bring them to Vineyard Gardens, and Jeremiah Brown will sharpen them for you! (Fee applies.)
Don’t forget your spades and shovels—keeping them sharp ensures smoother digging.
Pro Tip: Store your tools in a 5-gallon bucket filled with sand and old motor oil to clean and prevent rust.

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Lawn Care: April is Prime Time!

April is the best month to fertilize and reseed your lawn. Grass thrives in cool weather, making spring the perfect time for new growth.

Fertilization Basics:

Grass needs a balance of macronutrients (N-P-K: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) and micronutrients.
We carry organic fertilizers that release nutrients slowly and inorganic options with higher N-P-K concentrations.
If you skipped liming your lawn in the fall, now is the time! Lime lowers soil acidity, but it takes months to take effect.

Weed Control & Seeding:

Apply pre-emergent weed control before Forsythia blooms.
Looking for an organic option? Try Corn Gluten, which prevents weed seeds from sprouting while adding nutrients.
For best results when seeding, add a layer of rich soil under the seed and keep it moist.

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Important Fertilization Law on Martha’s Vineyard

🚨 Reminder: Fertilizers cannot be applied until April 15. This law helps protect local water sources by ensuring nutrients go into the growing grass instead of leaching into the groundwater.

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April is a month full of gardening possibilities—clean up, plant, and prep for a beautiful season ahead. Stop by the nursery for all your gardening needs, and let’s grow something amazing together!

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[Plant Profile] Hellebores

Learn About : Hardy Annual Cut Flowers

VINEYARD GARDEN'S SEED PROJECT

March 4, 2025 Karen Logan

VINEYARD GARDENS

SEED PROJECT

Believe it or not, spring is just around the corner! At our in-house growing facility, seedlings are beginning to emerge, and a new season is taking shape. The anticipation is palpable as we prepare for another year of vibrant growth.

A Botanical Haven on Martha’s Vineyard

Vineyard Gardens Nursery, located in West Tisbury, is a five-acre botanical paradise featuring ten thriving greenhouses. Established over 30 years ago with just a single greenhouse, it has grown into an island staple—a flourishing nursery and landscaping hub.

Rooted in deep horticultural expertise, Chris and Chuck Wiley, along with their two sons Alan and Andrew, have nurtured what began as a modest landscaping company into a full-scale plant production center. Their passion for growing healthy, hardy plants has driven them to cultivate many plants from seed, ensuring the highest quality for their customers.

From Seed to Sprout: The Magic Behind the Scenes

To support this in-house production, the Wileys developed VG2, a dedicated five-acre growing site. Equipped with both indoor and outdoor growing spaces, it features four expansive 100-foot greenhouses. One of these is specially designed for seed germination, where temperature, humidity, and automated mist-watering systems create the perfect environment for new life to take root. This is where the majority of our vegetables, herbs, annuals, and perennials begin their journey.

“The range of plants we germinate at VG2 is extensive,” Chris explains. “We start a few hundred varieties, mostly annuals, but we always seed a dozen or more perennials, trees, and shrubs as well. The biggest challenge is timing—having crops ready at the right moment and in the right quantities. Sometimes we overproduce, but more often, we sell out quickly!” Thanks to this dedicated production site, Vineyard Gardens Nursery remains stocked with beautiful, healthy plants all season long.

A Passion for Growing, A Love for Edibles

Chris speaks about plant production with the enthusiasm of a proud parent. She can effortlessly discuss the diverse array of plants she cultivates in English, Latin, and Spanish, her excitement making you want to dig in and start growing yourself.

“But our proudest moment is in spring,” she beams, “when we see our amazing display of vegetable packs—seeded and grown right here. This year we have moved to deeper packs for our greens because we know it’s all about an extensive root system determining the vitality of what we get above ground. More and more customers are embracing edible gardening, and we love being part of that journey. We grow a wide variety of greens, including Asian greens like Chinese cabbage, bok choy, and tatsoi. We even seed a Brazilian vegetable called Jilót and sell over 500 of them! We also grow Couve or Brazilian Collards and this year we are growing four different Brazilian peppers including, Buiquino and Bishops Cap which did great last year.” She adds with a smile, “Right now, our cool-weather crops are thriving in the greenhouses.”

Ready to Grow? We’re Here to Help!

With decades of expertise and an ever-growing ambition to cultivate, Vineyard Gardens is ready to support you in your gardening journey. Whether you're looking for seasonal flowers, robust vegetables, or specialty greens, our team is here to help you plant, nurture, and grow with confidence.

Spring is coming—let’s get growing!

GREENS & COOL WEATHER CROPS

March 31, 2023 Karen Logan

St. Patrick's Day is traditionally when you plant your peas out in the garden. If you missed it we've got you covered. Peas like to do most of their growth in cool temperatures

GREENS & COOL WEATHER CROPS

“It's nearly springtime when a person’s thoughts should hopefully turn to ....... vegetables! That's right it's time to start our vegetable gardens. Even though our frost free date is technically May 1st, this is a great time of year to start our cool loving vegetables. There are many vegetables that can handle the light frosts we get this time of year. If a colder night were to be predicted, in the high 20s, you can cover your freshly planted vegetables with Reemay, plastic or an old sheet to protect them from the frost. At this point, most greens can be planted and some, like spinach, do much better in cooler weather than in the summer. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are known as cole crops, which sounds like cold crops, all do very well planted at this time a year too. While kids don't always like the spicy taste of radishes, they are a great vegetable for them to plant as they come up in a matter of days and are ready to pick in a few short weeks. “ - Chuck Wiley , owner & founder of Vineyard Gardens Landscaping

We always start a bountiful selection of leafy salad greens

Leafy greens like cooler temperatures to produce quick, tender leaves for your salads and cooking. the earlier you get them in the ground the better!

COMING SOON!

VEGGIE SIX PACKS ARE GROWING IN OUR GREENHOUSES NOW!

Our spring supply of vegetables in packs will be ready soon!

PEAS: Don’t forget to plant your peas. Soak before seeding, it speeds up germination. They imbibe and more easily split the seed coat so the radicle can anchor itself down to become the root system. The two cotyledons then emerge, sometimes the seed coat stays attached to one of the cotyledons. It’s so beautiful watching the birth of a plant. We have hundreds of plants being born every day at Vineyard Gardens.

BROCCOLIS: We will have a variety of broccolis in packs, such as Calabrese, Romanesco, Waltham and Cauliflower Snowball.