Like many people, you probably feel the urge to freshen up your home when spring rolls around again. Spring cleaning is well and good, but it shouldn’t be reserved strictly for inside the home. By taking a little time to prepare your landscape for the summer, you’ll have an easier time maintaining it throughout the long, hot season.
Have you ever noticed how some people’s yards seem to instantly look terrific after warm weather returns? They tend to be the ones who get out there right away to prepare their landscapes for the summer. Even if you’re conscientious about raking and otherwise getting your yard ready for the winter, there are things that should be done to help everything spring back to life more easily.
Clean Up the Yard
It’s amazing how much debris and litter can end up in a yard over the winter. This is the time to be fastidious about removing all of it. Gather dead limbs, sticks, pine cones and other debris to give your lawn and plant beds the best possible start. This work will have to be done on an ongoing basis, but clearing everything away now will make it easier to keep up later.
Do Some Deep Raking
If you think raking is reserved for the fall, think again. There are sure to be at least a few leaves on your lawn when spring returns, and raking them away is crucial. Besides, deep raking is a terrific way to eliminate thatch buildup from the lawn. You’ll probably still need a professional company to come out and de-thatch your lawn at some point, but doing this yourself is a useful stopgap measure.
Prepare Plant Beds
One of the most important parts of preparing plant and flower beds is to prevent problems before they arise. Work in some compost to naturally fertilize your beds, and remove weeds as soon as they appear. Keep perennials covered by mulch until the coast is clear in terms of winter temperatures.
Prepare the Lawn
You can keep issues like crabgrass at bay by using a pre-emergent fertilizer on your lawn early in the season. It’s crucial to do so before the soil reaches a temperature of 55 to 60 degrees, which is when crabgrass seeds germinate.
Prune Trees and Shrubs
There’s an art to pruning trees, but you can safely cut away dead limbs and branches now. As for shrubs, each plant is different. Check to see when and how to prune individual shrubs and other plants.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to preparing a yard for the long, hot Hill Country summer. For optimal results, hire a talented landscaping company to get the job done right. ABC Home & Commercial Services is the name to trust in the Austin area, so give us a call.