Spring Clean up Tips

Sunshine and warm early Spring days can make us anxious to get outside and tackle some yard work, but the conditions are notoriously unpredictable. We can have warmth enough for spring bulbs and buds to show signs of life, and then the next day they are covered in snow again. Still, there are some cleanup tasks that we can get done this time of year.

Tasks To Do Now:

🌿 Clean Up: Tidy up your yard and make way for new plant growth. Remove debris, fallen branches, and dead. Note: See below about pollinators.

🌿 Uncover and Unwrap: Remove any winter covers on trees and shrubs.

🌿 Pruning: Prune any branches that were damaged by snow and ice. Trees can be pruned before buds break. Cut back shrubs and ornamental grasses as needed to remove dead or damaged branches and promote healthy growth. Note: If you prune spring blooming shrubs you might prune off flower buds. Cut back perennials or annuals you didn’t get around to last fall (or seedheads left up for the birds). Note: See below about pollinators.

🌿 Mulching: Apply a fresh layer of mulch to planting beds to help retain moisture, suppress weeds, and improve soil health. Be careful not to smother the crowns of plants.

🌿 Soil Preparation: Prepare garden beds by loosening the soil, adding compost or other organic amendments.

🌿 Early Planting: Start planting cool-season vegetables and flowers, such as lettuce, spinach, peas, and pansies, as soon as the soil can be worked. Begin indoor seed starting for warm-season vegetables and annual flowers to give them a head start before transplanting outdoors later in spring.

🌿 Lawn Care: Rake and remove any remaining leaves or thatch from the lawn, aerate if needed.

🌿 Planning & Designing: Look around and make a plan for any changes to your beds for this year. Schedule a consultation with a landscape designer, arborist, or landscape maintenance company to get a good plan for the year (before everyone gets too busy in the Spring!)

Tasks to do later spring:

🚫 Frost-Sensitive Planting: It may seem warm enough for gardening, but hold off on planting tender annuals and warm-season vegetables until the threat of frost has passed, usually late April to mid-May.

🚫 Heavy Pruning: Avoid heavy pruning of spring-flowering shrubs and trees until after they have finished blooming to avoid removing any flower buds.

🚫 Fertilization: Delay fertilizing lawns and plants until they are actively growing and can better utilize the nutrients.

After a mild winter, Spring can pop up early. This can be both positive and negative for your plants.

🌱Early Growth

Some plants may begin to wake up earlier than usual with warmer temperatures. This is nice to see after a long winter, but early spring growth is vulnerable to late-season frosts or freezes, which can still happen in our region into April.

🐛Pests and Diseases

Early spring can also mean more pests and fungal diseases.

🐝Pollination

Early blooming plants may not get pollinated if the timing is off, and pollinators have not yet become active. This can impact fruit set and seed production.

💧Water

Especially after dry winter, plant can be water stressed. Without adequate moisture, newly emerging plants may struggle to establish healthy root systems and may struggle with warmer temperatures.

🌷Spring Bulbs

Most bulbs that emerge early will survive. Leaf tips may be damaged, but flower buds below ground should be fine. Some of the more early-blooming daffodil and tulip blooms may be lost to frost, but the bulbs will live to bloom again next year. A light snow cover shouldn’t hurt them.

Prevention Tips for Next Year:

1. Apply mulch in the fall.
   
2. Protect plants in winter with a layer of straw or evergreen boughs to help insulate.
   
3. Don’t plant too close to your foundation, dryer vents, or other areas with warmer than normal temperatures.
   

SAVE THE POLLINATORS!

You may have seen campaigns to discourage garden clean-up too early because of pollinators. Conventional advice tells us to clean up the garden early to remove potential pests and diseases, but this also removes or weakens pollinators and other good bugs. Last year’s leaf litter, mulch, and perennial plant debris are still providing protection for emerging plants and insects against late frosts. By mid-late April (or when it’s time to start mowing the grass) you can consider cleaning up, but keep in mind some bees don’t emerge until late May. The longer you can tolerate your yard a little messy, the better it is for pollinators.

• Ground nesting bees begin to fly in warm weather, but they still need the cover for chilly nights and cold spring showers.
  
• 
  
• Mining bees, mason bees, carpenter bees, and bumble bees may out by early April, but other species such as sweat bees are still hibernating, waiting for the warmer days of May.