Landscaping: Spring Checklist

The spring is an important, and fun, time for landscaping. After hiding from the cold all winter, you are eager to get out into your yard and enjoy the warmer weather. With a few tips, you can help your landscaping to get back into shape for the spring.

Repair
Cold weather can do a lot of damage to your landscaping but not just to the plants. With any winter snows gone, get out into your yard and assess the damage. Look carefully at any borders, walls, or walkways. If there are cracks or uneven spots, now is the time to repair them.

Also, you may notice damage to your landscaping from animals. Moles or gophers can dig tunnels under your lawn and cause it to be unleveled and unsightly. Raking, leveling, and seeding these spots should repair them.

Cut
If your landscaping includes perennials or ornamental grasses, now is the time to cut them. Cut perennials back to about ground level. Ornamental grasses need to be cut to six inches height. This stimulates the new spring growth.

Clean
Spring cleaning is not only good for inside your house, but your landscaping as well. Clean out the gutters thoroughly. With spring rains on the way, you don’t want your gutters clogged with fall and winter debris. Also, spring is a good time to clean your tools so that they are in tip-top shape for spring landscaping.

Landscape
There are many other tasks to be done for your landscaping.  Spring also brings the weeds back, so now is the time to start weeding again. Also, your mulch probably faded or thinned out through the winter. Rake it and measure it.  It needs to be between two and four inches so you may need to add more. As the leaves start to appear on the trees and shrubs, you may notice some deadwood that you did not notice when pruning in the fall. Go ahead and remove them now as a part of your spring landscaping.

One final note – just because the calendar says spring does not mean that the cold weather is over. There can still be cold temperatures as late as March or April, depending on where you live. Be sure that your landscaping does not include anything that cold weather can ruin.