Spring Garden and Landscape Preparation

In order to keep your landscape looking its best year-round, now is the time to put your springtime prep work in. The experts at Hively Landscapes came up with the following list to help you focus your efforts and save time during your spring garden and landscape preparation, so you can spend more of it enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Apply Fertilizers & Pre-Emergents

A warm winter like the one we’ve had in south central PA presents a myriad of threats to your lawn and landscape. In warm climates (or during abnormally warm winters), weeds can germinate as early as February, and can quickly invade a landscape. The best way to combat them is to apply a pre-emergent herbicide in January or February, and then follow up with a post-emergent treatment as spring arrives.

Also, applying a slow-release fertilizer will provide the right amount of nutrients to your soil, allowing your lawn to thrive and push out weeds, as well as promote top growth.

Cut Back Overgrown Plants

If shrubs or trees have become a bit unruly, taking over your walks or windows, now is your last chance for hard cutbacks before everything is in bloom and they really look out of place. Trees are still dormant and will be less stressed by pruning, and a lack of foliage makes it easy to see what areas would need to be pruned.

It is now too late to perform hard cutbacks on flowering trees and shrubs and most other woody materials. Performing this work now will eliminate flowers and new foliage, and will delay leaf emergence in your spring garden for weeks. The time to act is not when the calendar says, but instead when Mother Nature says!

Edge & Mulch

EVEN THE BIRDS ENJOY FRESH MULCH!

Yes, you can edge and mulch this early! If the ground is not frozen, edging can be done at any time. Mulching this early makes it easy to apply, since there is less foliage to work around. If applied properly- not too heavily, just one to three inches depending on the existing mulch- fresh mulch will not inhibit bulb or perennial growth in your spring garden, and will help reduce early spring weeds.

Prune Winter Damage

Perform some spring cleaning on your trees and shrubs. We’ve had some heavy storms recently, and strong winds have left plenty of broken branches and dead limbs behind. Trim these to enable new growth the best opportunity to flourish, as well as to prevent damage later when these branches could fall on their own.

Of course if you need any assistance with any of these landscape maintenance tasks, be sure to call Hively Landscapes at 717-292-5696. We have nearly 40 years experience pruning, edging, mulching, and many other landscape maintenance services, and we’ll be happy to lend a hand.