Daylight savings time has started, the weather’s getting warmer, and most of the snow and ice from the last storm has melted. It’s only seven days until the official start of spring, but it’s starting to feel like it’s here already. Now’s a perfect time to get ahead of your spring cleaning so you can enjoy your garden longer and work on it less. To help, Lehnhoff’s Landscaping has created a landscaping spring cleaning checklist, so that you can make sure your home’s landscaping appeal is at its best.
Lawn Care
The first item on our landscaping spring cleaning checklist is your lawn.Marylandis far enough south that you can start seeding and lightly fertilizing your lawn in March.
- Check to see if the soil’s thawed.
- Check the soil’s pH it should be between 6.0 and 7.0. If the pH is low you can raise it with limestone. A pH up to 7.5 is acceptable, but if it’s higher you may consider using aluminum sulfate to lower your soils pH.
- Check the soil’s nutrient levels for phosphorous (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and Magnesium (Mg).
- Remove any damaged turf
- Seed patchy areas with tall fescue and mix in a ½ inch layer of fresh planting soil or compost
- Apply a light fertilizer and aerate
- After the grass has started to grow, apply a pre-emergent crabgrass and weed treatment.
Flowerbeds
The next item on our landscaping spring cleaning checklist is your flowerbeds. Your flowerbeds are where a lot of your spring color will come from, so you want to make sure they look their best.
- Rake out fallen leaves
- Pull out any dead annuals and push back or replant any perennials that have been lifted by frost heaving
- Remove old mulch layer
- Renew your edging
- Do your Spring Planting
- Cut your flowering perennials to a height of four to five inches above the ground.
- Trim your ornamental grasses down to 2 to 3 inches to let them grow fresh shoots.
- If your lilies are over crowded dig them up divide them, with at least three stems per division, and transplant the new divisions in sparser areas.
- Add pelletized fertilizer specific to your plants needs
- Apply a new layer of mulch now that plantings done
Shrubs and Trees
The third set of items on our landscaping spring cleaning checklist are shrubs and trees. March is the perfect time of year to repair the damages to trees and shrubs from winter weather.
- Use hand pruners or, for limbs larger then ½ an inch in diameter, a handsaw to remove weather damaged limbs.
- Use hand pruners to shape hedges, it takes longer but gets you the best results
- Prune summer-flowering shrubs but wait to prune spring flowering shrubs until after they flower.
Hardscaping and Waterscaping
Our Final list of items for your landscaping spring cleaning checklist is hardscaping and Waterscaping maintenance. The winter can loosen gravel, heave pavers out of place, and cause cracks.
- First deal with heaved pavers, remove them, add base material (sand or gravel) as needed, and then return them before tamping them back down.
- Next brush any errant gravel back into its proper place, and add new gravel as necessary, tamp down when finished.
- If joint need to be refilled get new polymer sand and brush it into the joints before tamping the paver with a rubber mallet to settle the sand.
- If hardscaping is cracked it can be repaired or replaced
- Clean off hardscaping and Waterscaping surfaces
- If your waterscaping has fish put them in large containers with original pond water
- Clean your waterscaping’s filters
- Clean your pumps and plumbing
- Clean out your waterscaping feature itself
- Refill the waterscaping adding chemicals to dechlorinate if necessary
- Gradually reintroduce your fish.
Lehnhoff’s Landscaping Can Help You With Your Landscaping Spring Cleaning Checklist
If you need help with your landscaping spring cleaning checklist call Lehnhoff’s Landscaping. Our landscaping professionals have years of experience and access to the latest landscaping tools and styles. Lehnhoff’s Landscaping’s team of landscaping management professionals can manage all different elements of your property. Our maintenance plans and planting services will ensure that no matter what time of year it is, your property will be stunning.
If you have any more questions about landscaping spring cleaning checklist, contact Lehnhoff’s Landscaping by Calling 443.921.5789 or visit LehnoffsLandscaping.com today!
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