Garden Maintenance Tips for Spring

Spring is one season that excites most gardeners. This is because a garden awakens from hibernation in the spring and gardeners make preparation to bring out beauty and bounty. As exciting as it may sound, spring presents its own set of challenges. An experienced gardener would advise that to grow a beautiful garden, you need to prioritize and plan your gardening chores.

The following is a list of gardening tasks that need to be completed in the spring season:

Pruning

Shrubs such as viburnum and forsythia, like to bloom early. You need to be on top of pruning them as soon as they have lost their blooms. The early spring season is the best time to prune rose bushes.

Deadheading

Remove any flowers that have passed their bloom period from the bulbs. Leave the remaining plant intact for the moment.

Weeding

This is an important step because failure to do so will result in your lawn being overtaken by weeds. Simply pull them from the borders and beds.

Composting

The compost tends to be neglected in the winter. You may need to add more soil if necessary. If you don’t have compost, the spring season is the best time to get one.

Tools

This is the best time to invest in basic gardening tools such as weeders, scissors, pruning shears, water hose, shovels, rakes and gloves. These tools will carry you through the summer.

Plant

Seeds are best planted in the early spring, but be absolutely sure that frost is not an imminent threat. Trees, annuals, shrubs and blooming buds are great things to plant.

Mulch & Fertilize

Mulch and fertilize borders and beds. You can also fertilize fruiting trees. If you had applied winter mulch on your lawn to protect it from the cold weather, then you need to clear it off.

To have a healthy lawn, it is important to apply fertilizer at least four times each year. This is especially true when the lawn is awakening from it winter sleep. Be careful not to feed the same fertilizer to all vegetation in your yard. Learn about the different fertilizer types. For example, camellias and gardenias require a special fertilizer that differs greatly from your lawn’s requirements.

Staking

This is necessary to protect your plants from unpredictable spring weather such as rain and wind.

Lawn Care

Starting a new lawn from seedlings is best done in the Spring. If you have an established lawn, you can start mowing. To start, do not cut the grass too short, at least for the first two mowings.

Repair hard scape areas

Examine your walkways, planters, pavers, patios, rocks, arbours, gates and gazebos. It is likely that winter conditions may have weathered the grout in some areas or chipped off paint. You may need to touch up those areas.

The spring season brings with the beauty of nature. While there may be a lot of work that needs to be done, the rewards far outweigh the penalties.