Spring garden maintenance prepares your garden for the spring and the summer growing seasons. Spring is the perfect time to complete gardening tasks such as cleaning your yard, preparing your lawn for summer, and planting your new flowers, vegetable plants, trees, and shrubs.
Here is a checklist to follow when you are preparing your garden for the spring and the summer growing seasons:
- Remove damaged annual and perennial flowers. Trim damaged branches and shrubs.
- Rake your lawn to remove leaves or turn leaves into mulch by using a mulching mower.
- Plan your garden to determine which shrubs, trees, and plants you'd like to add to your landscape.
- Pick a location for your garden that has at least five hours of direct sunlight per day to help grow your plants.
- Use the elements and the principles of landscape design when you are designing or planning your garden.
- Consult a landscape designer to help with your landscape design plan.
- Test the pH level of your soil. Most garden soils require a pH level between 5.0 and 7.0. Most lawns need a pH level between 6.0 and 7.0.
- Add lime to your garden if you need to raise the pH level of your soil.
- Aerate and fertilize your lawn and garden to prepare them for the spring and the summer growing seasons.
- Use an eco-friendly fertilizers to make sure your garden is healthy and environmentally friendly at the same time.
- Check and follow the spreading instructions for any fertilizer you decide to use.
- Protect the roots of your annual flowers and vegetable gardens by adding a pesticide-free grass trimmings mulch. Use longer lasting mulch (bark chips) for perennials plants and shrubs.
- Add mulch around early plants and flower bulbs if you live in areas where there is a risk of frost at night in early spring.
- Spread mulch in a two-inch layer in your garden; to prevent weeds from growing and to keep moisture in the soil. Apply mulch around not over the sprouting root of each plant.
- Divide perennials and transplant shrubs. Spring is a good time for transplanting your perennial flowers and shrubs.
- Add a rich soil enhanced with organic material such as peat moss, manure, or compost to your flower and vegetable garden beds. Plants growing in deep and rich soil are less likely to suffer from summer drought.
- Prune fruit trees in early spring before new growth develops.
- Prune summer blooming shrubs and trees such as butterfly bush, hydrangea, and roses in spring before they start to sprout.
- Prune spring blooming plants and trees such as magnolias, forsythias, dogwoods, lilacs, weigelas, and azaleas after they have finished blooming in late spring.
- Spread seeds of cool-season flowers like poppies and calendula, and vegetables such as sweet peas, lettuce, parsley, and spinach.
- Rotate the location of vegetable plants in your garden from the previous year to help maintain a balance of nutrients in your garden soil.
- Cover vegetable seedlings overnight if you still have frost in your area during the early spring.
- Add combinations of perennials, annuals, and shrubs in your backyard and in your front yard.
- Choose shrubs, plants, and flowers of varying colors and types. Color and form variation are a key element of any landscape design.
- Mix flower colors that complement each together.
- Use a color scheme that complements the color scheme of your home.
- Consider combining shrubs, plants, and flowers that bloom at different times from early spring to late fall. This will create visual interest and will add accent colors to your landscape design in all seasons.
- Select a variety of plants that have different shapes, form, and textures to create balanced natural patterns.
- Think when planting a flowerbed about plant height, time to bloom, and color.
- Make sure you leave enough space between plants for better air circulation and to prevent fungus growth.
- Make sure tall plants don’t hide short plants.
- Plant trees in your garden. Trees provide shade, protect your home from wind, and improve air quality.
- Create rhythm in your landscape design that is pleasing and relaxing by repeating forms, lines, and color schemes.
- Create transition layers in your planting beds buy designing your plant beds in rows of three.
- Use plants with different textures to create harmony in your landscape and garden design.
- Water deeply to promote strong and healthy roots. The best time to water is in the morning between 7 and 8 a.m. Avoid watering in the evening unless leaves have enough time to dry; to avoid the development fungal diseases.
- Watering your lawn and garden deeply once a week preserves water and promotes deep rooting and healthier plant growth.
- Add a compost bin to make your own nutrient rich compost from a mixture of grass clippings, vegetable peelings, paper, and garden trimmings.
- Turn your compost bin regularly to keep it aerated.
- Pick the right grass type for your lawn based on your location and climate. Landscape professionals in your area or garden home improvement stores can help you choose the right one.
- Reseed bare patches in your lawn before mowing. The best time of the year to over seed is in early spring.
- Try to vary your lawn mowing pattern each time you mow to allow the grass to grow upright. The best time to mow your lawn is in the morning or early evening when the weather is cooler.
- Don’t mow your grass shorter than two inches from its pre-mowing height.
- Remove weeds from your lawn when the soil is slightly wet and soft.
- Remove the entire weed plant including the root and reseed to prevent new weed growth.
- Consider installing an efficient irrigation system to reduce water consumption.
- Try eco-friendly gardening methods to manage plant diseases.
- Store your left over seeds in your freezer for planting next spring.
Following these lawn and gardening tips will help prepare your lawn and garden for a healthy growing season, will save you money, will add value to your home, and will create a landscape that is attractive, appealing, and aesthetically pleasing.
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