This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you make a purchase using one of these links, Horses for Clean Water makes a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Welcome to Earth Day – Saturday, April 22, 2023! In most parts of the country, daffodils are poking their heads up and flowering trees are starting to bloom, which means now is the time to prepare your horse property for the warming weather and upcoming growing season. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
Get Your Nest Boxes Ready
In the Pacific Northwest, we love our violet-green swallows—not only are they beautiful and fun to watch, but they are voracious insect eaters, eating about 4,000 insects per day, per bird! Swallows are excellent natural allies in the horse owner’s fight against insect pests, and there’s a species native to just about every corner of North America. Mid-March is when these faithful insect controllers begin their journey back from Central America and start house shopping. Many are secondary cavity-dwellers, which means they nest in holes built by someone else.
If you don’t have any nest boxes yet, now is the time to do it. That way, violet-greens and their cousins will want to spend their spring and summer hunting insects on YOUR farm! Remember: you must use nest boxes designed for the specific birds native to your area. Horses for Clean Water has a tip sheet, The Swallows Are Coming, with directions and nest box plans. Another great resource is The Original Birdhouse Book by Don McNeil.
If you already have nest boxes, get them ready for this year’s tenants by opening the trap door and cleaning out debris left over from last year.
Add Compost to Gardens
The manure and stall waste you have been composting over the winter should be just about ready to rototill into your garden or share with your neighborhood gardening friends. If you haven’t checked on it recently, early spring is a good time to do so. Depending on how it looks, it may need to be turned or have aeration pipes inserted to help finish it off before you spread or move it to your garden. Compost is an excellent soil amendment that adds organic material, important microbial life, and micro-nutrients to gardens and pastures. Check out the Horses for Clean Water tip sheet How to Compost and Use Horse Manure for more tips.
Think of the Bees
As you are cleaning up your garden, remember to leave habitat for beneficial insects, including stem-dwelling bees. This helpful graphic, provided courtesy of Heather Holm at pollinatorsnativeplants.com, shows how to leave adequate habitat for these essential pollinators:
Tune-up Your Manure Spreader
Speaking from experience, it’s no fun to spend half the day fixing things before you’re ready to start the real work, so take a look at your manure/compost spreader to see if it needs a tune up. You may need to oil or grease a few parts before putting it into action, such as the drive mechanism, beater bar gears, bearings, or PTO shaft and couplings. Check the air pressure in the tires and add more air if needed.
Tune-up Your Tractor
Even if you have been using your tractor all winter, it is still a good idea to give it the once-over at the beginning of the growing, mowing, and spreading season. Even if your “tractor” is only a riding lawn mower, it will still need some annual maintenance. Change the oil, check fuel and air filters, grease all the fittings, and air up the tires. Be sure to also check your mower deck and any other implements you use on your property.
Do a Soil Test
Before you spread any fertilizer and/or lime this spring, do a soil test—especially if you haven’t done it in a while. A soil test will tell you exactly what nutrients your grass plants and soil actually need. It’s like checking the oil dipstick in a car. If you don’t check the level first, you could be doing more damage than good. If your soil doesn’t need the nutrients you add to it, they will simply wash away with the next rain, possibly contaminating ground or surface water. At only $25- $35, soil tests are a much cheaper alternative to wasting expensive fertilizer on soil that doesn’t need it. Contact your local conservation district or extension office for a soil test kit or information on how to get one.
Walk Fence Lines
If you’ve been keeping your animals off the pastures for the winter, chances are that you may not have taken a good look at your fencing for a while. Now is a great time to do a close inspection of your entire fence line to find breaks caused by downed trees or branches and wildlife (i.e. elk and deer) over the winter months. Also check to make sure your hot wire is still intact and working. Before you begin using pastures (when soils are no longer soggy and wet), take a walk along the fence lines to see what repairs or clean-up are needed. You’ll be glad you did it now instead of waiting for your neighbor to bring your horse back after it tore through his newly planted garden.
Check Pastures for Weeds and Bare Spots
While you’re out in your pastures, take a little time to look for weeds that may be creeping in. Weeds often green up before grass plants, so they should be easy to spot and remove before they get established. This is also a good time to look for bare spots and spread grass seed before weeds move in.
For questions or more help getting your horse property ready for the year, contact Horses for Clean Water, your local conservation district, or the nearest extension office.
