Can you believe it’s March? With it being just a couple weeks away from spring, you may be thinking about your spring cleaning to-do lists. Here are some landscaping projects that we recommend tackling in the next couple months that will make maintenance much easier the rest of the year.
Trees and Shrubs
Pruning your trees and shrubs early in spring before they enter a fast growth period allows you to shape them the way you want them to be. If you wait too long you can actually stunt their growth and make them harder to control. The exception to this is spring flowering shrubs as these should be trimmed after their flowers fade in late spring.
The Lawn
If your lawnmower has been sitting unused all winter you may want to do some maintenance on it such as changing the oil, air filter, and spark plugs, as well as give it a good clean. Before mowing your lawn, remove any debris such as branches and twigs. Spread seed or put down sod over any sparse areas before the weeds grow in and make sure to water these areas regularly if you aren’t getting enough rainfall.
Flower Beds
If you added any mulch to protect perennials, remove these from your beds or, if well composted, work the mulch into the soil. Remove any other debris from the beds as well. If you want to fill up your flower beds a little bit more, early spring is a great time to split perennials up to encourage healthy new growth and add more flowers. You can read more about dividing perennials here.
Fertilizing
Since spring is the most active time of growth for plants, it’s important to provide them with enough nutrients during this time. Here in the Pacific Northwest we mostly have cool-season grasses which do well with light fertilizing in early spring. Spring is also a great time to do a soil test to see if you should add a special fertilizer to adjust pH level and add specific nutrient to improve soil health. For flowers, granular fertilizer is best for established plants but consider liquid fertilizers for anything that you just planted.
Get Planting!
Spring is a great season to plant herbs and cool weather vegetables like beets and carrots. For tips on exactly what to plant in March, this guide will help you out. You can also start planting bulbs such as crocus, daffodils, and tulips that will soon add pops of color to your garden. Be sure to add fresh mulch around any new plants now before weeds have a chance to sprout to avoid weeding all summer long.