Spring time is here and your yard needs some love!
When we think spring cleaning, we often think of INSIDE our homes. We purge and clean after a long winter of being stuck inside. But what about spring yard clean up? Your yard deserves to start its new life with a freshly polished face as well! This time of the year is perfect for taking stock of your yard and conducting a throughout spring yard clean up session. So, wake up your garden tools from winter hibernation, get your family members into comfortable gardening clothes and take a weekend to make your yard spring-ready.
Follow this checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything needed to get your yard spic and span!
GET RID OF DEBRIS AND GARBAGE!
Yes, it’s a yucky job, but it’s an important job! Why is it that when the snow melts, trash seems to be left behind? Be kind to mother nature and pick it up! You should also remove yard debris that’s accumulated over winter, including dead grass, fallen leaves you didn’t manage to rake prior to snowfall, tree branches and sticks strong winds have broken off the trees or blown into your yard. Leaf raking is important, as it prevents numerous grass and plant diseases infused by fungus and bacteria developing in old leaf and dead grass covers. DO NOT remove leaves that cover the ground around the plants or that protect perennials before the threat of frosts passes. If your yard is quite spacious and requires a lot of spring-cleaning effort, reach out to yard clean up services Rossmere to help you out!
LAWN CLEAN UP
Even though we’ve already talked about raking a spring yard make sure you only do it when the grass is relatively dry. Wait till the melted snow disappears completely and let your yard dry up for a few days before raking the lawn. If you rake when wet, you’ll pull your grass roots out of the wet soil. It will be a lot easier to rake when dry as well. If any thin or bald spots formed on your lawn, get rid of dead turf to clean up the seeding areas.
PREPARE BALD LAWN SPOTS FOR SEEDING
If you’ve been following this spring yard maintenance checklist, you’ve already made the first step, which is raking the lawn and removing dead turf. Once that’s done, you need to spread a half an inch layer of compost over the bald spots and fertilize the areas you need to reseed to increase the grass’s germination rate and promote stronger, healthier growth. You may also introduce weed control mixtures around this time of the year, but make sure to do that well ahead of grass seeding time not to suppress its growth.
CHECK ON YOUR GARDEN BEDS
Garden beds have to be cleaned, annual flowers and plants – removed, perennials – trimmed to a height of four to five inches and divided wherever necessary, soil – aerated and fertilized for future planting. Getting the flower beds repaired after the winter damage is quite fitting to spring yard cleaning as well. Make sure you keep it green and compost the waste!
Note: A compost heap can be a great way to feed your garden beds! Collect debris (raked leaves, dead foliage, pulled out annuals and last season’s mulch right) and dump in right into a compost heap or bin. If you don’t have a compost heap/bin yet, you may purchase sections of wire fence at your nearest home/garden center and construct a wire compost box at the corner of your backyard. A couple of wooden posts and planks will do as well, but they won’t make a long-lasting compost heap. You can accelerate decomposition to use the substance for gardening and lawn care, by shredding organic debris or adding bagged compost starter to the heap.
DE WINTERIZE SPRINKLER SYSTEM AND SAY HELLO TO YOUR LAWN MOWER
If you winterized your sprinkler system last fall to prevent them from freezing and bursting in winter (which you totally should do every year!), now it’s time to start it for the new season. To do that, turn the main valve on and check individual valves on sprinklers to see if there are any leaks sprinkler repairing contractors need to fix. If you don’t notice any, turn individual valves on and test run the sprinklers. Then, find your lonely mower and see if you need to take for repairs. You may need to sharpen the blades, replace or clean spark plugs and air filter, or have any other required maintenance done for it to function properly.
CLEAN WALKWAYS AND PATIOS
Winter weather definitely causes some damage to walkways and patios. If yours don’t look their best in early spring, you need to rake the gravel or mulch that escaped its designated spots back in place, add more wherever appropriate, replace broken pavers and pressure wash your stone or concrete patios to remove the dirt and restore their original color.
WAKE UP YOUR WOODEN FENCE
Wooden fences don’t do that great with moisture and winter weather. Therefore, don’t forget to treat them to repairing and repainting during your spring yard clean up session. Replace broken or rotten boards, strip down chipped and flaked paint. Scrub the pickets clean using a water, bleach and liquid soap solution (2 gallons, 2 quarts, and 1 cup accordingly) and let them dry. After that, examine your fence for small rotten sections and patch them with wood epoxy. Sand the boards to smooth the surface and apply a fresh coat of paint. Your brand-new fence is ready!
OR JUST CALL US…
If any, or all of this sounds like too much just give us a call. Professional landscaping services aren’t as expensive as you think. You can head to the lake or sip a cocktail on the deck while we work. It would be our pleasure.
