WINFIELD, W.Va. – With temperatures reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the Kanawha Valley Friday, some plants are taking life and coming out of their dormancy.
The weather has some considering what to do in the yard, but Putnam County Extension Agent Scott Byars is warning people to not get too ambitious with their outdoor projects yet.
“It’s real early. The best thing for anyone to do is get out and enjoy and soil up that sunshine and do some cleaning,” Byars told 580-WCHS. “Clean up the garden of debris or the lawn. Getting things prepared and ready.”
Byars says it’s too early to fertilize laws, since any gains made by that will probably be knocked down by an almost certain frost in the weeks ahead. He suggested instead of starting to mow, get the lawnmower ready for the year with an oil change, blade sharpening, and be ready when spring does finally arrive.
He said seeding the law, however, might be a good move.
“This is the second best time of the year to be putting down grass seed,” Byars said. “You could go in and do some top seeding with grass seed if you have some bare spots in the lawn.”
As for flower beds, he suggested planning and preparation.
“Make some plans of where you might need to divide some of the perennials in the bed,” he said. “If you can see some of them budding up now, it might be a good time to divide them.”
Byars said working in the vegetable garden might be premature at this point except in the most extreme cases.
“You could be putting out onion sets or maybe pre-sprouting on seed potatoes,” he said. “When you’re in February, we’re still looking at really significant frost and if you get anything out too early, you’re probably going to be looking at a great deal of covering and that may be more than most gardeners are prepared to do.”