We’re only ten days away from the official start of spring, and in Maryland we’ve gone from freezing temperatures and 6 inches of snow to rain and mild temperatures. The snow’s melted for the most part, robins are out and about and starting to sing, and it’s time for you to start considering spring cleanup for your landscaping. Pruning, fertilizing, mulching, and deadheading are all important for keeping your lawn looking happy and healthy. Remember, a well manicured lawn adds to your home’s curb appeal and can boost your home’s value.
Pruning
In our recent blog on pruning, we discussed the benefits of winter pruning. If you haven’t pruned your trees and shrubs, because they are species that shouldn’t be pruned during the winter, then now’s the time to do it for spring cleanup. Pruning helps keep the tree healthy, revitalizes the tree when spring comes, and makes your property a safer place from the risk of falling branches. Pruning shrubs keeps them from becoming overlarge, and revitalizes them for beautiful blooming and foliage in the spring.
Fertilizing
Applying fertilizer as part of spring cleanup is important for the health of your lawn. If you fertilized in fall with “winterizing fertilizer” you should wait until late spring to fertilize your lawn again. If you did not apply winterizing fertilizer you can fertilize in early spring. On top of fertilizing you apply pre-emergent herbicides in the spring. These stop seeds from germinating and prevent weeds like crab grass from growing in your lawn. Be careful though as pre-emergent herbicides will stop all plants from germinating from seeds, so if you have annuals or perennial seeds you want to germinate don’t use the herbicide near them.
Mulching
Mulching is another important part of spring cleanup that provides moisture control for your plants and prevents weeds in your flower bed. If you already have mulch from last fall you should remove it for spring cleanup, to allow perennials or annuals to star to rise. Once you see where they’re growing and they’re big enough you can apply new mulch leaving the new plant stems exposed to grow. If you don’t do this your mulch will prevent anything from growing beneath it.
Deadheading
Once you stat to get flowers from your perennials and annuals and they start to get spent deadheading is important to revitalize the appearance of your garden. Deadheading is the process of cutting off already spent blooms, doing this causes the plant to produce more. Judicious dead heading can keep your garden blooming as long as the plants are in season.
Need Help? Rhine Landscaping Offers a Seasonal Maintenance Plan
Call Rhine Landscaping. We have a seasonal maintenance plan that includes fall and spring cleanup. We’re an experienced landscaping company that’s served Maryland for years. We know the ins and outs of landscaping including seasonal maintenance and spring cleanup. We have the techniques and expertise at our disposal to make sure it’s done right and done affordably. If you’re interested in a having an effortlessly beautiful lawn, call us at (410)-442-2445 or fill out our online contact form today!