Now that we have some warmer days and longer daylight hours, it is time to get started on yard and garden clean up. Here are nine ways to get a head start on a healthy lawn and garden.
- Pick up twigs and branches that have broken off of shrubs and trees over the winter. Early spring is also a good time to prune shrubs. Remove burlap wrap and cut back the dead wood to encourage new growth. If the shrub is a spring bloomer, like forsythia, wait until after it flowers before pruning it.
- Clean up dead foliage from last year’s perennials. Some of you may have done this in the fall already – I prefer to leave the dead foliage over the winter to help insulate roots from winter damage. That said, it’s important to clean up the dead foliage (and any fallen leaves you missed last autumn) promptly in early spring to avoid damaging new growth. Shear back perennials to 4 or 5 inches. Thin out climbers by cutting out thick woody stems and leaving the thinner greener stems to grow.
- Carefully rake around plants in the garden to tease away the dead foliage. Rake the lawn to remove twigs, pinecones and dead leaves.
- Think about whether to divide and transplant summer flowering perennials like hostas and daylilies. Once the ground thaws, dig up and divide the root ball into clumps making sure to leave at least three solid stems in each clump. Move the clumps to bare spots in the garden and plant them there.
- Early spring is a good time to fertilize. Following the package directions for the correct amounts, spread a pelletized fertilizer around plants on the soil surface so the April showers can water it down to the roots. Wait to fertilize bulbs until after they flower.
- Because my dogs run all over the frozen garden beds in winter, I have to take steps to protect newly emerging plants from getting trampled. I use a series of sturdy stakes and rope to mark off sections of the garden as out of bounds to romping dogs. Although the dogs could easily go over or under the rope if they wanted to, this method is enough to dissuade them. Once the perennials are of sufficient size to be seen by the dogs, I pull out the stakes and take down the rope and the dogs know to take the proper path through the garden beds.
- Time to look at the lawn and see what it needs. An application of fertilizer would be a good idea so that the spring rain can water it in. Do you need to seed some bare spots? Its safe to seed once the forsythia starts to bloom. I swear by a good spring top dressing to increase lawn health. The top dressing I use is a combination of peat moss, vermiculite and grass seed to lighten up my heavy soil. After I rake the lawn clean, I spread the top dressing evenly with the rake and then nature does the rest. Within a couple of weeks, the grass has grown and the top dressing has disappeared.
- Before the garden really starts to take off, deal with maintenance of landscaping. Edge garden beds. Tidy up paths. Level out any pavers that have heaved up over the winter. Touch up wooden surfaces with paint and clean the deck. Pretty soon we’ll feel the warmth of the sun, smell the fresh earth and see the welcome sight of plants pushing up through the ground. I can’t wait!
