Hello Homeowners, Gardeners & Do-It-Yourself-ers!
If you’re like me, I think everyone is suffering from cabin fever and ready to be outside, ready to help make things green again.
We will try to give basic information and help you with a few tips regarding what makes our Midwest lawns and gardens thrive. This is the very condensed version as we could fill an entire library on “gardening and greening”.
First thing, do a spring clean up and evaluate what you have.
Look the lawn over carefully checking for bare and thin spots.The opposite would be a buildup of thatch. Thatch is the build up old grass clippings and organic materials. How much is too much you ask?
Here at David’s Lawn Service, we think that more than a ½” of thatch is too much. You should consider power raking (or de-thatching); this allows the moisture and fertilizer that you’ll be applying to get down into the soil where it will do its job.
You paid for the fertilizer, now let it work.
Rake up and remove all fallen leaves, dead grass and last seasons’ growth from old plants. We leave ornamental grasses standing throughout winter for a little added wintertime landscaping.
Very early spring is a good time to trim back any perennials (plants that come back every year) including ornamental grasses. These grasses should be trimmed to a height of approximately 3 to 4 inches tall. When the time is right, they will send up new shoots from around the existing stems that remain after the trim.
Springtime is generally not a good time to trim back or prune plants or trees that are trying to put on new leaves, or trying to put on blooms or flowers.
Spring is an excellent time to apply new mulch around existing plants.
The mulch will help hold moisture in the soil of the beds allowing the plants to better utilize what is there – along with adding some accent color to your beds.
Pre-emergent fertilizer should be applied in the spring when the ground temperature begins to warm up.
Many companies apply their pre-emergent too early and the active ingredients are wasted because they are ineffective while ground temps are too low.
We apply ours according to weather and ground temperature. Always read and follow label instructions carefully.
If you plan to overseed or spot seed for the thin patches in the spring, PLEASE read the label to determine if your brand of pre-emergent fertilizer is compatible with the seeding process.
Come back to this page to read about next season’s tips … so until then,
Happy Gardening!
David