Spring Cleanup Guide for Your Landscape

Sunday, March 2, 2022 was the vernal equinox. Spring has finally arrived! Just about everyone in the northeast loves the spring, with its promise of warmer weather and emerging flowers and foliage.

For homeowners and businesses alike, the arrival of spring also means it’s time to spruce up your property. Here’s a helpful spring cleanup guide for your landscaping.

Start by Removing Dead Grass and Lawn Debris

It’s surprising how much debris gathers on lawns during the winter months.

Even if you raked your lawn as part of your fall cleanup, it always collects lots of accumulated leaves, sticks and other litter.

Dead grass, thatch, tree branches and sticks, leaves, pinecones, and litter—including animal waste—all need to be removed from your lawn.

It’s also time to plan your lawn care for the spring, summer and fall seasons.

Lawn Aeration, Overseeding, and More!

In New Jersey, springtime is when you should aerate and overseed your established lawn.

You can plant new grass in the late spring, but the best time to plant seed is in the late summer or early fall. However, if you didn’t overseed last fall, and your lawn is looking sparse, the spring is a good time for overseeding.

Aeration keeps your lawn healthy. It eliminates lawn problems that occur from soil compaction or excess thatch. Aeration makes it easy for the needed oxygen, nutrients, and water to reach the lawn’s roots.

In the spring, you can also apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent crabgrass from taking over your lawn. Do this before the warmer summer weather arrives. But, then don’t overseed your lawn until the fall.

And don’t forget to create your lawn’s finishing touch. It’s easy. Use a garden spade to give your lawn a neat and crisp edge. This edging will make your garden look even more important, attractive, and well maintained.

Finally, every few years, test your soil. This way, you will know it has the proper pH balance and nutrients to support your lawn and plantings.

Prepare Existing Plant & Flower Beds

Your cherished flower beds may look a bit of a mess right now. They too need some springtime TLC.

First, you need to clean out all loose leaves, sticks and other accumulated litter. Also, remove any weeds that you missed in the fall. They too are now waking up after the long winter.

Remove dead leaves and stalks from perennials to accommodate fresh growth. Now is a good time to edge the plant beds, walkways, and driveways.

You can also apply compost or fertilizer, if appropriate. Apply fertilizer to plants once soil temperatures reach about 55 degrees. When using a fertilizer, follow the directions to keep your plants safe.

Compost works as a slow-release fertilizer, so it won’t burn your plants.

Pay Attention to Mulch

Remove thick layers of old mulch from the garden. Otherwise, it will eventually buildup and smother underlying plants and flowers.

Make sure perennials emerge before you remove their surrounding mulch. Monitor your flower beds to know when the appropriate time has arrived.

Once it is safe for your plants, remove the mulch. And be sure to do it carefully, so you don’t damage perennials underneath the surface.

Finally, a new layer of fresh mulch will make your garden more beautiful and help keep weeds away. It will also help conserve water.

Create New Flower Beds During Cleanup

The spring is a good time to create new planting beds on your property. You can build a raised bed, or you can remove grass as part of your cleanup and break new ground to create space for new plantings.

If you’re making a new flower bed, place landscape fabric over the ground. Then cover it with a thin layer of mulch. This will help keep your flower beds weed free—or at least keep weeds under control.

You can plant hardy perennials in the early spring. Plant annuals, or tender perennials, after the last frost date has passed for your region.

Time for a Light Pruning

Early spring is the time to remove the protective coverings you placed over your bushes. Now inspect your shrubs and trees for dead or damaged branches.

Pruning is not only important to keep plants healthy—it’s also a way to keep plants from overgrowing and competing with other plants for space, light and nutrients.

Prune off any dead, diseased, or damaged limbs before new leaves appear. Removing dead branches will not do any harm and will help keep the shrub or tree healthy.

Some trees will release sap after pruning. But the flow of sap will stop, and the tree will remain healthy.

Pruning trees and shrubs, when done properly, can create a more pleasing shape or fullness.

Be Careful When Pruning Flowering Shrubs

If you have a shrub or tree that blooms in the spring, it will already have flower buds in place. If you prune its branches now, there won’t be any flowers this year.

To avoid this problem, prune the shrub after it has finished blooming. Forsythia and lilacs are two common New Jersey plants that fall into this category.

If a shrub blooms later this year from growth created this growing season, it can be safely pruned now. You won’t lose the flower blooms this year. This is true for the popular Rose-of-Sharon.

Don’t Forget the Power Washing

When you do a spring cleanup, you don’t want to just revitalize your lawn and gardens. You should also clean and renew the hardscaped and exterior surfaces of your home or business.

Power washing is the best way to spring clean hardscaping and exteriors.

Power washing is great for:

Patios and terraces
Driveways
Decks
Fencing
Pool surrounds

Power washing is safe for pavers, stone, brick, and concrete.

Patio Cleaning and Sealing

Pavers, stone, and brick surfaces will look new again with Landscape Solutions’ cleaning and sealing service.

Do you miss the way your patio or pool deck looked when it was first built? There is an easy way to restore its original beauty.

Our cleaning and sealing service removes the dirt, moss, stains, bird droppings, and other unwanted buildup from your outdoor space. The space is then sealed. The area’s natural beauty is restored and even protected from future staining!