Spring Cleanup

 

Are you feeling the gardening itch yet? I know I am. I’ve enjoyed the winter garden break, dreamed and planned, and now I’m ready to go. Let’s do some digging and spring cleanup! Um…but sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, does it?

No matter what your weather, sometime in March, April, or May is prime time for a spring garden cleanup – and starting as early as you can means less work later on. Taking care of dead branches before trees leaf out, pulling small perennial spring weeds, and covering all the small new annual weeds before they get big (best thing ever!) means more time to enjoy what you love about gardening later on: planting and harvesting your flowers and vegetables, and soaking in the view.

Prune:

• Dead and damaged branches from trees and shrubs.
• Overgrown evergreens. Cut back to the branch whose direction you want to encourage; use hedge trimmers on plants like boxwood, arborvitae, and yews.
• Fruit trees you didn’t get to in winter. TIP: prune before buds begin to break into bloom or you’ll stress the tree.
• Established summer-flowering shrubs like butterfly bushes, spireas, caryopteris, forsythias and crape myrtles. Leave any spring-flowering shrubs until early summer when they’re finished flowering for the season. I love using Fiskars PowerGear2 loppershttps://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-PowerGear2-Lopper-25-Inch
• Roses – the earlier the better. Cut back winter-damaged or diseased rose canes to 1 inch below the blackened area. On climbers, keep younger green canes and remove older woody ones.
• Dig and divide perennials before the plants have started their spring growth.
• 3 year and older daylilies and hostas especially benefit from dividing.

MID-SPRING Garden Tasks

• Pull dead plants and remove fallen leaves and dead foliage which can smother plants and foster disease.
• Loosen the mulch and other dried plant matter covering the ground around your plants to allow water and air to the roots.
• Dig out all the perennial weeds you can see with a trowel (or shovel for larger infested areas), like tap-rooted dandelion.

Your ready for mulch. If you are in need of spring cleaning or mulch please contact us and we would love to help.http://valleyviewlandscapedesign.com/contact-us/