INDIANAPOLIS, Iowa — You may be itching to get outside and start yard and garden projects, but Pat Sullivan from Sullivan Hardware and Garden said on 13Sunrise on Easter Sunday that it's still too cold and too early in Indiana for a full list of outdoor tasks.
"This is the time of year when we get a lot of questions...'Can I do this? Can I do that?' So I thought I'd go through some of the basics," Sullivan said.
Starting with lawn care, Sullivan said people are seeing dandelions and reacting by shopping for fertilizer with a broadleaf weed killer included.
"It's too early," Sullivan said, for applying that product. Instead, he said to apply fertilizer with crabgrass control and spot treat the dandelions with a liquid spray when they pop up.
The ground is still too cold for grass seed to germinate, Sullivan said. You need to wait until the soil warms up to at least 55 degrees.
Another question: "Can I plant this?" The answer depends on the ornamental plant variety, Sullivan said. Evergreens are hardy shrubs and can be planted now. But more delicate varieties, like rose bushes and hydrangeas, will not do well in freezing temperatures like Indiana experienced Easter morning.
Sullivan explained that plants and shrubs imported to Indiana garden centers from southern climates appear fully formed and showing blooms, but those stores will move those plants indoors every night to protect them from freezing. Once planted in your landscape, they would be exposed to the elements and may not thrive, or worse, could be killed off by a late-season hard freeze.
One thing you can do now is prune existing bushes and add fertilizer once a month through August.
Watch Pat's full Sunrise segment in the video player.