Spring Cleaning Your Yard

With winter here and spring on its way, it’s time to start planning for everyone’s favorite season, and one of the most dreaded days of the year: Spring Cleaning! Spring cleaning is the preparation for better weather ahead and the removal of yesteryear. Take a look at some of the steps you may have missed last year that will leave you with the perfect yard this summer.

Work Your Way In

If you have a larger yard often the biggest items on your to-do list are on the edge of your property. Start with making sure that dead or dying branches, twigs, or leaves have been removed. While winter is here you may start to notice what parts of your trees are doing well and which parts are not. It’s always best to remove areas of a tree that could harm the rest of the tree or are potentially dangerous to people around it. Large branches or entire trees might need the services of a professional to be safely removed.

You also may take this chance to prune and manage your trees and shrubs when looking for unhealthy parts. Often when we all get busy with the holidays and back to school our yard maintenance gets put at the bottom of the list. This causes extra growth to go unmanaged. Make sure to trim back where you can to keep everything tidy.

Retaining walls are also especially important to check on. Catching issues early can save you thousands in repair costs later in the year.

Plan Your Garden

Whether you had a garden last year and for the last 20 years or you are looking to plant your first garden it’s always best to plan AHEAD OF TIME. Gardens can be relatively maintenance-free and produce delicious food for you and your family if managed correctly.

• Start your seeds soon! Seeds are a cheap and effective way to start a great garden. Starting them ahead of time allows your plants to be ready to plant and maximize the growing year.
• Make sure your soil is healthy, if not completely remove or mix in new nutrient-rich soil to give your garden the best shot possible.
• Dig up any left behind plants that need to be replaced that won’t grow back this year.
• Fix up the planter boxes, no matter how you plant a garden you will always have some sort of border, whether a box, a raised bed, or pots. Make sure they are in good working condition and patch up the ones that can be.

Fertilizer and Pest Control

Fertilizing your yard, trees, and plants is critical to making sure your yard and trees stay healthy. Before you do this though you’ll need to remove any debris, dead grass, foliage, and general items that were left from last year. It’s always important to compost as much as you can as this can be used to fertilize naturally and help keep your soil in tip-top shape. If you do decide to use man-made fertilizer read the instructions on timing and quantity as fertilizers can vary, or call a professional for their advice or fertilizer services. Many have liquid fertilizers and can be sprayed in less than an afternoon. Leaving you free to focus on other areas of your yard!

Clearing A Path Top to Bottom

Start up top and make sure to clean out those rain gutters as soon as you get a nice day. Foliage falls all fall and into the winter causing a buildup in your gutters which can not only hamper the flow of water but can expedite leaking water into your home at the extreme. Make sure your gutters are clear and the path of flowing water at the exit is clear and doesn’t flow back towards the house.

Next, begin cleaning up elevated surfaces like the furniture on your patio or the furniture first if you don’t have a patio. While snow and rain feel like they clean a surface it can cause surface buildup and grim on your once pretty patio furniture. Often enough new furniture isn’t warranted, and you’ll have your furniture for years to come with proper care before and after winter.

Power washing your deck and resealing when needed is the difference between having the perfect deck that is frequently used and a deck that causes splinters and is only used on the Fourth of July. Clear debris from the deck, check for and make any minor repairs that are needed, and then power wash.

Lastly, give your pathways a hard edge, while grass tends to grow slower in the colder seasons it can still grow and when neglected due to the elements, start to creep onto your pathways. Setting a hard edge and pushing back nature keeps a lawn looking crisp and clean, as well as prevents people from tripping over overgrowth.

From tree health to pathways to gutters making sure your spring cleaning involves the outside of your home is just as important as making sure the inside is in tip-top shape! Contact Friendly Tree today for all your outside landscaping spring cleaning needs.