As soon as you start noticing the winter chill losing its tight grip, it means it’s time to start planning for summer projects for your lawn and garden. Getting your lawn back to its glorious shade of green takes proper planning, preparation, and care. And getting a head start on what you need to do is always helpful so you can be ready as soon as the last frost melts away.
To help you get prepared, here are some tips to keep in mind for your planning process.
Tackle the Clean Up
First and foremost, you’ll need to tackle the big clean up after the long and messy winter. Raking up the debris from the lawn, along with all of the dead foliage lingering in and around your plants and shrubs, should always be first up on your ‘to do’ list. And instead of raking and tossing the organic matter into the trash, you can compost it and create beautiful, rich soil that can eventually be used later on in your garden beds.
Treat Your Lawn
Next up, you should take a good look at your lawn to see what issues may have developed over the course of the winter. At this point, it is recommended to lime your lawn in order to condition the soil, which helps neutralize the pH level, while allowing fertilizer to be more absorbent when applied. If your lawn appears to be growing patches of moss, you should also consider applying a moss control agent. Aeration may also be necessary in order to allow water and nutrients to percolate through any densely compacted surfaces after the winter.
Just remember to always follow instructions carefully when applying treatments.
Fertilize Your Lawn
Feeding your lawn is important to maintain resiliency against weeds, insect, moss and other factors that can impede the health of your soil and grass. Your lawn should be fed in early spring once the last frost has passed. Apply the fertilizer only when the grass is dry and use a spreader to ensure it is applied evenly. To get the best results, talk to a lawn care professional to determine what the best fertilizer and ratio is for your grass.
Apply Top Soil and Lawn Seed
At this point, if your grass is looking sparse and patchy you might want to apply some topsoil and lawn seed to help fill in those gaps.
Prune Shrubs and Trees
After applying seed, you can then move on to cleaning up your trees and shrubs, pruning any dead ends to make room for new blossoms once the warm weather arrives.
Planning for summer projects requires a good dose of clean up and repair after the winter. And if you’d rather sit back and have your lawn and garden taken care of for you, give us a call! At Hansen Lawn & Gardens, we are experts when it comes to making your landscape look great. So reach out to us so you can have your property looking fabulous just in time for the summer.