As winter slowly melts away, it’s time to take your spring cleaning efforts to the great outdoors. Use this cleanup checklist to help you tackle the spring tasks for your garden and yard. This checklist can help you stay on top of this year’s gardening season and get you on the path to your best yard yet!
What is Included in a Spring Cleanup?
When preparing your yard for a spring cleanup, you should be thinking ahead throughout the entire growing season. Take into consideration all elements of your outdoor space:
- Inventory and tools
- Hardscaping
- Soil health
- Grass care
- Plants
- Weeding
- Pruning
- Maintenance
We suggest always keeping a written record of the work you do and what you notice year-to-year in your gardening journeys. Your future self will thank you!
Inventory and Tools
Spring is the ideal time to stock up on supplies and make sure your gardening and yard care tools are in working order. Stock up on your gardening essentials like gloves, spades, rakes, and yard waste bags. When it comes to your existing inventory of spring cleanup tools, take some time to perform some routine maintenance on them. Oil the handles and metal parts of your wooden-handled tools, sharpen the blades of your pruning equipment, and check on your lawnmower to make sure it has oil, a sharp blade, and a functioning spark plug.
Hardscaping
Hardscaping is any permanent or semi-permanent feature in your yard. This might include fencing, garden borders, and birdbaths or feeders. During your spring yard cleanup, you should take the opportunity to inspect these fixtures in your yard to make sure there is no damage. You may need to add a few nails or boards, secure anything that became loose over winter, or remove and replace anything damaged. Thoroughly clean your birdbaths, birdfeeders, and any other wildlife accessories. If you want to attract wildlife to your yard this spring, make sure they have a safe, clean, and comfortable place to visit!
Soil Health
Once the snow melts away and you begin to prepare your garden for planting, take some time to check on your soil quality. You can test the soil yourself to check pH levels as well as nutrient content. If needed, this is also a good time to purchase soil amendments. While you’re digging around in the soil, pull up anything dead or invasive, and consider soil additives to help boost your garden’s growth this year.
Grass and Yard Care
To have a lush, green yard this year, you’ll want to put in a little elbow grease to get things growing well. Rake up and remove any leftover leaves, dead grass, and debris. Check for any signs of poor grass health caused by snow mold. During your spring yard cleanup, you might notice some missing patches of grass in your yard. This may just be a matter of patience, but consider overseeding your yard in order to fill in the gaps. Adding additional grass seed to your yard can help give grass a fighting chance. Be sure not to mow your lawn too early; give your grass time to grow a few inches before cutting it, and keep in mind not to cut it too short!
Plants
As you make preparations for your garden this spring, start considering what plants will thrive best in your space. Recall what worked well in past years and what was a flop. Take time to start preparing some of your seedlings. Knowing your gardening zone and each plant’s needs will help guide you on the timing.
Weeding
When it comes to your spring garden cleanup checklist, put weeding near the top. It’s wise to dedicate some time to pulling up as many weeds as possible early on. Weeds are small at this stage of the growing season, but we all know how big they can get. They can choke out your garden and prevent your grass from growing to its full potential.
Pruning
While not everything needs to be pruned in spring, this is a good time to cut off anything dead, damaged, or diseased to prevent more work in the future. Before you get too scissor-happy, check to make sure what you are pruning actually needs it, and ensure you are pruning in a way that won’t cause any damage.
Maintenance
Now that you’ve tackled some of the hardest tasks, you can sit back and relax… for a while! Continued yard maintenance is always a good plan, so you don’t get overwhelmed. We suggest creating a continued yard care schedule. Include tasks like weeding, watering (the frequency depending on the plant and weather), pruning, fertilizing, etc.
If you need help with your spring yard cleanup checklist in Bismarck, contact us! We’re always here to help you tackle tough tasks so you can have a glorious gardening season.