Friday, April 26, 2024
The cold winter months can seem to stretch on forever for those of us who love our lawns and gardens! Instead of staying shut indoors, why not make the most of your time and bundle up for some springtime lawn prep?
Some planning and work on the front end will help make your garden all the better and spring garden maintenance more manageable. Here is a short checklist of items to work on this winter.
Get Your Tools Ready
Winter is a great time to dust off your spring tools and arrange for any cleaning or repairs needed. It’s also the time to take stock of what might be missing from your shed that you’ll need come springtime.
Think about items like your mower, garden spreader, blower, rakes, shovels, etc. There is nothing more frustrating than going to do yard work on a beautiful spring day only to realize that the tools and equipment you need either aren’t there or don’t work.
Clean Up Beds
Get the not-so-fun task of cleaning up the beds in your yard out of the way during winter so that in the springtime, you’ll be able to enjoy planting and seeing the plants and flowers you cut back thrive with new growth.
Clip away anything that didn’t make it through the winter or needs pruning and think about making room for new plants and flowers. Think about adding fresh straw or mulch to beds if needed.
Create a Spring Planting Plan
If it’s just too cold and miserable to be outside but you still want to get a jump start on your spring garden, get your creative juices flowing and create a spring lawn and garden plan.
Think about what you’d like to grow, what grows best in shade vs. sun and begin to map out where things will go in relation to what you already have growing. Taking time to draw up a plan will prove beneficial in the end as opposed to figuring things out as you go… things like timing and placement are important!
Select a Spring Fertilizer
Temperatures are finally starting to warm up and the arrival of spring draws closer. As temperatures increase, soil temperatures also increase and this creates different conditions within the soil. Your garden will require certain nutrients at this time.
Pull Winter Weeds & Get Rid of Pests
Garden weed control is much easier to tackle on the front end, so now is the time to get rid of those weeds that will hamper spring growth. It might seem like everything is either dormant or dead in the winter, but not those pesky weeds! They seem to hang on no matter what.
Go ahead and rid your lawn and beds of weeds so that you will have healthy soil to plant your spring plants and flowers in the spring. Be sure to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent spring and summer weeds!
Pests are another issue that will quickly get out of control come springtime, so consider pre-treating your garden with a broad-spectrum insecticide to make sure that grub worms in your garden don’t move in.
