Spring Gardening Tips
You may follow below spring gardening tips in order to have beautiful garden at home:
Spring Gardening Tips #1: Survey the Yard
Just look at your front yard and back yard of your house and find out what you should do to improve your yard. Below are the examples in first spring gardening tips:
- Make note of tree limbs that should be removed especially the limbs that overhang structures. You may ask an arborist help to maintain large trees.
- Cut down last perennial foliage and toss it into the compost pile.
- Rake mulch from beds planted with bulbs before foliage appears.
- Refresh mulch in other planting areas after soil warms.
- Check pathways, steps and fences for disrepair caused by freezing and thawing.
Just find out what tool is missing and if necessary you may order tools from garden supply. Also you need to choose new plants whether vegetables, flowers or herbs, you may also order trees, shrubs and perennials for spring planting.
Spring Gardening Tips #3: Get Ready to Mow
- If you have right tools and capability, you may prepare your leaf blower and mower by yourself such as sharpen the mower blades by yourself and also refill the oil, lubricate moving parts and install fresh spark plugs if necessary. But if not, you may send the tools for servicing.
- Clear winter debris from your lawn and look for areas that need reseeding before mowing.
- Remove dead and damaged branches from woody plants.
- Thin and trim summer-blooming shrubs such as hydrangea, most roses, and butterfly bush except for old-fashioned once bloomers.
- Prune cold-damaged woods after plants resume spring growth and prune spring-blooming shrubs and trees after plants flowering.
For an accurate result, you have to takes several soil samples from different planting areas to check soil pH with a home soil- test kit. Based on the result you may add elemental sulfur to lower the pH and dolomitic lime to raise the pH of soil in order to prepare your soil for spring planting.
Spring Gardening Tips #6: Prepare New Beds for Spring Planting
- Clear the planting area as soon as possible.
- Removing debris and weeds or sod.
- Spread a 4-inch layer of compost or vermicompost or well-rotted manure and any amendments over soil.
- Cultivate the soil with a spading fork to a depth of 10 - 12 inches.
You may plant shrubs, bare-root trees, and perennials such as hostas and daylilies for early spring planting. If possible, plant them in a cool and cloudy day. You can transplant container plants anytime during the growing season except midsummer and be sure to water them thoroughly. Don’t forget to sow seeds of vegetables such as parsley, spinach and lettuce and “cool-season flowers” such as poppies, sweet peas and calendula which are goods for spring planting.
Spring Gardening Tips #8: Fertilization for Spring Planting
- Apply balanced fertilizer (6-6-6 or 8-8-8) around shrubs and trees when new growth appears. Or you may use fish emulsion or other soil amendments recommended by soil-test results.
- For acid-loving shrubs such as camellias and azaleas, you may spread high-acid fertilizer and pine-needle mulch around the plants.
- Just begin fertilizing perennials when active growth resumes.
You may start a compost pile or if you don't have one already you may use a compost bin:
- Collect leaves and plant debris raked up from the garden. To speed up decomposition, you need to chop them first.
- Add equal amounts "green" (nitrogen-rich) materials like weeds and grass clippings and "brown" (carbon-rich) materials like straw and dried leaves in even layers with water and a compost bio-activator.
- Turn them regularly.
- Continue adding materials to the pile throughout the season for rich, homemade compost next spring planting.
You need to clean bird feeders and baths regularly throughout the season.
- Disinfect the feeders by scrubbing with weak bleach solution (mixture of 1/4 cup bleach and 2 gallons warm water).
- Rinse and dry the bird feeders before refilling them.
- Scrub birdbaths with bleach solution, rinse and refill. You need to change water weekly.