Yes, you heard right, it’s time to start talking about spring! While official spring doesn’t start until March 20, there’s a lot to do before then to make sure that your property is looking its best. Here’s some things you can do now so that you’re ready when it’s time to get outside.
How to Ready Your Property for Spring:
To start prepping your property, take a look at your beds and their edging. Neat edges on your beds will make mulching tasks easier and give the property an instant aesthetic boost. You should make a fresh cut around the edge of your bed and scoop out whatever has accumulated over the winter, such as leaves, unruly grass, soil, or mulch. You’ll want to do this early in the season because it’s not dependent on plant growth and can sometimes be time-consuming. Once growth starts, this task can become more difficult.
Hate edging? Consider raised garden beds, which don’t need edging!
Another task you can do at any time of the year is weeding. As soon as the weather warms even a little, weeds will wake up, and with our relatively warm winter, they’re especially ready to go. Spring rains can make weeding easier as the ground is softer and weeds will come up easier. You want to pull up weeds as soon as you see them, and check for them regularly throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
After the final risk of frost has passed, you’ll want to tame your roses. Whether they’re climbing roses or shrub roses, you should prune them back to a more reasonable shape before new shoots reach half an inch. Remove dead stems, rubbing stems, or stems that are just outside of the shape you’re aiming for once blooming starts.
On Long Island, you’re looking at late March before it’s 100% safe to prune.
Before new growth appears you’ll also want to remove old, dead stems from other perennial plants. Don’t yank on stems, as that can damage new growth. Instead, use gardening shears or hand pruners to cut the dead growth away. For ornamental grasses, you can use a hedge trimmer, and be sure to cut off old, dead tops before the new growth appears if you have not already done this in the fall.
Finally, plants in spring are hungry after a long winter’s dormancy, so fertilizing them is always a great idea. Mix the fertilizer into the soil once new growth is seen and make sure to soak in the fertilizer, so it mixes with the soil.
Getting all of this done before your garden starts to come back to life can make a big difference in what you see come mid-spring through summer. It’s a lot of work and can be time-consuming, but worth it once you see those plants blooming and bringing color back to your garden.
If you’d prefer to have the experts take care of the dirty work, give Aronica Plant Healthcare a call, and they’ll be happy to prep your property! Visit our website to complete our contact form or call 631.928.9000.