Spring Maintenance

Spring Maintenance
Preparing Your Micro-Plots & Wildlife Gardens for the Growing Season
 
Mid-April always brings wildlife lovers, gardeners and outdoorspeople out by the masses.  After a winter of information gathering and reading about the latest products and associated techniques, our planting thoughts are about to get physical.  Temperatures are rising, the frost is lifting out and the snow is leaving.  Time to break the seasonal seal on the toolshed door and work the kinks out of your winter-soaked bones. 
 
Like most workouts, we begin our micro-plotting ventures with warm-up walks - pad and paper included.  We note the status of returning plots, locate sites for new plots and clean-up fallen debris (branches, etc.).  This is also a good time to spread some fertilizer or graft and trim any needy apple trees (if you didn't get a chance to remove any "shade branches" or trees now is the time to do so - before you plant, or before the returning greens grow).  This is the time to make a mental note of things to do and envision what you want your plot matrix to look like when autumn arrives.
 
Like we've recommended before, seasonal warm-up walks are excellent times to take soil samples.  A labeled ziplock bag in your pocket is perfect for holding a sample.  After gathering them, place the various soil samples from different sites into a seed tray (like starting seeds for your vegetable garden) and plant them with specific seed types/blends (and yes, it goes without saying that we'd recommend our  2-ounce flasks for  this).  This is an excellent way to determine a specific site's micro-plot potential.  Which seed sample germinated best and how long did it take?  Was the germination sparse or 100%?  Maybe white clover grew very well in a particular site's soil while alfalfa or broccoli did not.  How about peas/beans or something like buckwheat, vetch or birdsfoot trefoil?  Your goal as a wildlife steward and micro-plotter is to determine which seed grows best and plant them according to the wildlife you'll host in a particular plot(s).
 
If a site was planted with a perennial during a previous season and you are anxiously awaiting its return, give some thought to frost seeding and maybe some fertilizer or lime.  Quite often a light seeding with the same - or a similar - blend will thicken what is there and help to out-compete potential weeds later in the growing season.  Broadcast the seed while the frost is lifting out and the seed will fall into the "cracks" and germinate.  Preferably the snow will be gone (remember seed/soil contact!) as will the danger of a hard frost. 
 
A spring thaw offers a great time to apply a light amount of fertiizer and lime.  The soil should still have amendments present from the previous season, but your plants are sporting new growth and could benefit from a light broadcasting of a general fertilizer like 10-10-10.  This helps to "boost" a returning plot (use caution in softwood/evergreen areas though, you don't want to push the potassium concentration too high).  A light cover of 34-0-0 or 15.5-0-0 (both nitrogen) also works wonders for greening-up returning micro-plots.  This light application will allow your site's soil to maintain a comfortable "amendment threshold" until you apply more later on during the growing season.
 
For the sake of diversity, and of course for our whitetails' and wildlifes' utmost pleasure, consider annual plantings.  Do you have annual rows that need replanting or should you make some?  Sparse areas of a plot where perennials have a tough time returning offer excellent opportunities for annual plantings like peas, beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, turnips, beets and corn.  If you're lucky and you've planted Whitetail Micro-Plotter seed, you too will enjoy eating from your plot when the time comes.
 
Not to be forgotten, how about your native nibbles and browse items?  This is the time to consider what your browse items will be used for in the near future.  We routinely trim/cut our sumac, raspberries and blackberries at the end of March so they'll have lush, green shoots emerging when our local does drop their fawns.  The green shoots are perfect nibbles for being-weaned fawns and are growing at a foot-tall height (because they were cut that way) most convenient for them.  You too should consider what you have for native browse/forbes on your property and "manage" them accordingly if necessary.  Having native browse/forbes available at this time of year also helps to take grazing pressure off your returning and rejuvenating micro-plot greenery.
 
Here are a few other tips of special interest:
 
- Plant your annuals in rows on a "perennial base".  This allows you to maintain your perennials (mowing, fertilizing separately, etc.) with ease while not disturbing your maturing annuals.
 
- Consider rows in any plot scenario.  Rows serve to funnel wildlife (for cameras, wildlife watchers, hunters and the like).  They can also offer cover - like a western fence row - and act as a "travel corridor".  See Page 36 in Whitetail Gardening.
 
- Plant items like turnips in mini "hilled-rows", much like you would potatoes or a raised-bed garden.  This will strengthen their bases while the plants are young and guard against thunderstorm/wind damage.  Furthermore, as the growing season progresses rain and thunderstorms will wash away the mini-hills exposing the turnip "fruit", making it more accessible to wildlife (deer love this technique).
 
- Stagger your plantings of annuals so they'll mature over an extended period of time.  In doing this you won't flood your widlife with mature plants all at once, and the critters will make better use of your valuable time and efforts.
 
- Make a not of where the sun travels relative to your plot/garden.  Construct your plantings to maximize the number of hours they receive sun (be careful of too much direct sun during the hot times of year though!).  Also be sure not to block the sunlight to some plants with others.  Example: A row of tall sunflowers, corn or sorghum/sudangrass blocking light to clover or broccoli.
 
- Remember, everything is done to scale!  Regardless of whether you have 5 or 5,000 acres your goals should be the same with regard to your wildlife.  Your planting/maintenance goals should be the same as well!  If you're planting a 10 acre plot you are still better off taking many samples from around the site and testing each for a seeds ability to grow.  You'll find that this technique reveals a diverse number of soil regimes in one site... plant accordingly!  Do you want one inert-matter-filled seed type, or several larger micro-plot/gardens where your wildlife will enjoy maximized diversity through planting pure seed? 
 
- WMP's seed is PURE, no inert mater or filler; a little seed goes a long way.  If you're a micro-plotter everything you plant in your food plot has the potential to germinate.  Knowing that everything in there is seed also makes it convenient to skim a few seeds out of the bottle for your vegetable garden or for a friend. 
 
Certainly lots of Micro-Plotting and gardening details to digest here!  Call or write with any questions you might have.  Happy plantin'!
 
Wishing you the best of weather and maximized germination,
                  - The Staff at WMP's
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*** Check out our Annual and Perennial seed blend pages.  They are the ticket to producing sweet and diverse micro-plots!
 
*** Remember, Chapter 9 in Whitetail Gardening has SPECIFIC details that outline plot maintenance over time and through different seasons...