Spring is around the corner and you know what that means! There’s a lot to do to get ready for the warm weather ahead!
Spring marks the end of a long winter and the start to warmer days and new life. Before long, flowers will be coming up, birds will be singing and bees will be buzzing. Its an exciting time of year for sure.
At some point, it becomes necessary to clean up and clear out all those corners, whack the rugs, whitewash the fence, clean out the garage, and the list goes on. People everywhere seize this occasion to make changes to their yard like planting new trees, clearing out that formidable corner of the yard where junk has accumulated and getting the garden prepped for another growing season. Have you caught spring cleaning fever yet?
Here are a few tips for this year’s spring cleaning event that will hopefully make it go more smoothly and help you make the most of the trimmings and other organic matter you are disposing of.
Spring Cleaning: Out With The Old!
Trees & Shrubs
It’s a best time of year for pruning shrubs and trees while they’re still dormant. For trees and shrubs that blossom early like Crabapple, Magnolia or Forsythia, it’s best to wait until after they first begin to bud to prune them so that you spare as many blossoms as possible. You don’t want to snip off segments that would have otherwise produced an ample amount of buds!
Garden
This is a good time of year to remove old layers of mulch or any old foliage that’s leftover from last year. Your garden has plenty, as does your flower beds. All of this plant matter need not go to waste, you can chop it up and put it in a compost pile for it to decompose.
Make sure and store up some compost from your worm factory to be put around the base of new plants coming up in your garden and other places throughout your yard!
Lawn
This is a critical time of year to stop weeds before they have a chance to grow. Spreading weed and feed on your lawn in the Spring is the first step in producing a lush healthy lawn to enjoy the following months.
Lastly, over the course of Winter, the edges and lines in your landscape can become messy looking. One of the quickest and easiest ways to make your garden and lawn look good early on is redefining these lines. Remove uneven patches of grass and consider putting down a mowstrip or brick wall to help keep things looking neat and clean. Hardscape materials like stone, tile and brick can greatly help keep things in their respective places.
Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm is a website specializing in redworm composting and organic gardening. The above image is not our own.
Image courtesy of www.ehowcdn.com