Finally, the cold weather is slowly leaving us and the days are lighter and warmer. This is an exciting time of the year to get outdoors and do a good cleanup of your garden beds and patio. There are so many areas in the garden that will benefit from a good prune and rake but being prepared ahead of time is vital. The first job to tackle is to call us at Green Solutions and More and we will give you our expert opinion on the type and size dumpster you will need. The dumpster will be delivered to your property and collected from your property. We have put together a list of tasks you can tackle in your yard:
- Prune shrubs and trees
- Remove winter mulch and covering
- Rake up leaves on top of plants
- Pull dead and straggly annuals
- Remove dead growth from perennials
- Clean up the vegetable garden
- Pull weeds and old roots
- Edge garden beds and grass
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Prune shrubs – Early spring is a great time for pruning. Spring pruning triggers new growth, and helps to prevent disease issues
Spring Blooming Trees (e.g.: linden, cherry, apple, crabapple) – Cut off any dead or sick looking branches for sure. You can also prune trees to keep them from getting too thick and allow for better airflow (this is important for fruit trees).
Flowering Shrubs – (e.g.: lilacs, wagelia, hydrangea, roses, russian sage, lavender) – Prune back the dead growth in the spring down to the first new growth on that stem (or all the way to the ground if there’s no new growth on that stem). Lilac and weigela bushes can be pruned back a bit shorter every few years to help keep them from thinning out in the middle.
Remove winter mulch and other protection – Once the temperature starts to warm up in the spring, you can remove any winter mulch you may have added over your sensitive plants last fall. You should also remove burlap wraps, wind screens, rose cones or any other types of winter protection you added to your gardens last fall.
Brush back thick leaves – You don’t have to clean up every leaf from your beds as a few leaves will help to aerate the soil and break down into compost for the soil. Leaves act as a layer of mulch to help keep the weeds down, and also feed the soil as they break down. Just be sure to brush back any thick layers of leaves that are sitting on top of your plants. If you want to add mulch to your garden, you can just lay it right over top of the leaves.
Pull dead annuals – It’s important to clear flower beds, dig them up, rake out all the dead matter, old roots and leaves and then compost them. Annual flowers, like impatiens, petunias, begonias, marigolds, geraniums and snap dragons only live for one year and won’t grow back strongly after winter. So you should pull them out of the ground, roots and all, and toss them into the dumpster. This process will aerate the soil and make it healthy for the new crop of seedlings.
Remove dead growth from perennials – Prune or pull the dead leaves from perennials and trim off damaged leaves like hostas, day lilies, ornamental grasses, coneflowers and sedums. Remove the thick clumps of dead leaves around the base so it won’t suppress and slow new growth.
Take care when pruning around the base of plants during spring garden clean up so you don’t accidentally cut off new growth. Also, don’t try too hard to pull dead leaves and stems from the ground. If you force it too much, you could end up pulling out new roots or plant growth in the process. If there’s resistance when you try to pull, then prune it out instead.
Clean up the vegetable garden – Pull out any dead vegetable plants that you didn’t get around to removing last fall. Try to remove as much of the plant debris and roots of the plants from your vegetable beds. It’s also a good idea to consider rotating the crops each year. If you planted tomatoes in one bed, try planting lettuce in that bed this year.
Pull weeds – Spring is a great time to get a jump on garden weeds, and pull them before they have time to become established and seed. Weeds are easy to see in the spring before all the perennial plants start growing in. Since the ground is wet in the spring, it’s a little easier to pull them from the soil. Once you’re done weeding, cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch to help keep new weeds from growing.
Edge garden beds to remove grass – Grass roots can travel under the soil surface and pop up in your flower beds and can easily go unnoticed through the busy summer months. Spring is the perfect time to edge your garden beds to clean them up to remove the stray grass. Be quite ruthless in trimming back the grass edge from your flower beds before you start your new planting of seedlings.
Once you have tackled this big garden task and filled up your dumpster with garden refuse, it may be a good time to take a look at your patio for any broken wooden chairs or furniture. Dump broken umbrellas and chairs, old mouldy cushions and kids broken toys.
All in all you will feel a lot better when this job is taken care of and your dumpster rolls out of your garden. With all the dead matter gone your garden will be ready for the new growth and new energy for summer. Call us to order your cheap dumpster and schedule a time for us at Green Solutions and More, to deliver your dumpster. Happy Clean Up!
Green Solutions and More Inc.
Call us at: 916 409-9700
We’re fast, reliable and always ready to assist.