Expert Spring Cleanup and more

Vacuuming leaves during spring cleanup

As the name implies, cleaning up the yard in spring. Depending on how long winter snow takes to melt and ground temperature warming up to allow leaves not be frozen to the ground can change from year to year. Your yard may have stayed clean during the winter and a few details are needed to get your yard looking fresh and ready for warm spring weather. Or your yard has leaves that blow in from everywhere and fallen branches to clear away.

A “Normal” or “Basic” Spring Cleanup is blowing out garden beds to clear out any leaves and other debris that blew in during the winter, pick out the other debris (sticks, trash, etc.). With the leaves out on the lawn I use vacuum bagging systems on my mowers, to not only pick up the leaves, but also lift leaves and other lose debris out of the lawn.  Bagging mower blades (High lift style) or a lawn/Leave vacuum will do the just about the same.

Now doing more than just “Normal or Basic”, I recommend raking the lawn in the spring and here are a few reasons this is a good idea. One, get the debris out of the lawn “Light Thatching”, when debris works its way into the blades of grass it creates a small bare spot which then leaves a spot for weeds to start growing, you step on it while walking or trip, or if it’s a small stick, stone, rock or wood chip the “One in a Million” situation your mower hits one of these and shoots it out of under the deck at anything or anyone around you. If you have an area of grass that gets snow piled on “the lawn at the edge of the road or sidewalk”, the pile of snow flattens the blades of grass, raking will fluff and stand the grass backup to get growing again. Scratch the soil’s surface, making little grooves for spring rain and fertilizer to work through and not just run off the lawn. Get the blades of grass to stand up and not grow horizontally blocking fertilizer, water and air from getting to the soil surface. I use front mounted tine rakes on my mowers and you stripe the lawn for a nice look while you’re getting the yard cleaned up.

Other landscape tasks that can be done or added to a Spring Cleanup.

-Trimming any trees, shrubs or hedges that received damage during the winter, either from an ice storm, heavy snow, or high winds. A fresh trim, cable and brace back into shape, on the other hand just a fresh trimming to start the season.   

-Cleaning out garden beds, besides getting the leaves out of the garden beds, cutting back last year’s growth from perennials, remove annuals, or cut down ornamental grasses. Some people have garden beds cleaned out in the fall, and some wait until spring or during the winter (if there is no snow on the ground of course).

-Garden bed edging, trimming the lawn edges against sidewalks or driveways for a crisp clean look to start the outdoor season, plus the debris from edging can be picked up along with the other yard debris.

Fresh red mulch garden bed

-Another garden bed task is dealing with the mulch. If the mulch is still in good condition or you had fresh mulch applied in the fall, “fluffing” the mulch. “Fluffing” the mulch is using a rake, small cultivator (garden weasel) or a push broom to stir up the mulch to bring back the color it was when you first spread it and loosen it up to look like fresh mulch. If the color has faded in the mulch but the wood fibers haven’t decomposed, a mulch color spray can be used to bring back the color of fresh-looking mulch. On the other hand, you may need to spread a new layer of mulch, or remove the old layer of mulch and then spread a new layer of mulch. Early spring is a good time to spread mulch before your perennials or spring bulbs start growing, that way you can quickly spread the mulch and the plants will grow through the mulch layer.

-Lawn aeration can be done with a spring cleanup, if you don’t have irrigation spring aeration will allow spring rain water and any fertilizer to reach the roots of the lawn to have a healthy lawn before the hot summer. You can follow the aeration with topdressing or overseed the lawn. If you do overseed the lawn in the spring be sure to use a fertilizer that allows the grass seed to germinate, most early spring fertilizers have weed control that works towards preventing crabgrass, dandelions and other common weeds but will prevent grass seed from germinating. So, check and read the labels to find a fertilizer that will control weeds but let grass seeds germinate, if you use a traditional spring fertilizer most say on their labels to not plant grass seed for thirty (30) or forty-five (45) days after applying.

-Brush mowing/control with the leaves off of the brush to see what your cutting, on the other hand avoid rocks or forgotten metal objects hidden by the leaves. Poison Ivy still has oil in the stems, but in colder weather wearing long sleeves and pants reduces the chance of getting the itchy rash. Stinging pests like hornets and wasps are less likely to be active in the cold weather. A nice benefit is you can use your lawnmower to keep brush from growing back if you mow it down when you cut your grass to slow or prevent regrowth.

-Stump grinding is always in season, but since you are already cleaning up the yard have stumps removed, either from old shrubs in the garden or tree stumps in the lawn. The chips from grinding the stumps can be either covered by mulch in the garden beds or the stumps in the lawn can be cleaned out, filled with dirt and spread grass seed or sod.

These are tasks that customers have asked for over the years to have completed when performing a Spring Cleanup. Depending on the area, climate and environment you live in, other task may or may not be offered or done for many reasons, but if you do your own cleanup or hire a contractor to do a cleanup, you can plan about having these other tasks done at that same time. Before you know it summer weather will arrive and wouldn’t you rather enjoy the warm weather and not be sweating working on the yard?