It's finally that time of year again, longer days, more sunlight and warmer weather. With spring right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about your outdoor living projects. Whether you are thinking to install new gardens, redo your entire landscape or just want to tidy up your existing landscape, now is the perfect time to start planning it. Did you know that having a clean and tidy landscape is the most powerful way to increase your property value and also adds that 'curb appeal' that all of your neighbours will admire?
The best way to set you up for a successful growing season is by doing a spring cleanup.
The benefits of a spring cleanup are endless and will give your plants the advantage to thrive, eliminate weeds and improve overall growing quality. There are several elements involved in a spring cleanup and will depend on the types of plants in your landscape gardens. Here are the main elements of a spring cleanup:
Pull all weeds and be sure to remove the entire root to avoid new growth in a few weeks. By removing weeds, you decrease the chance of competition for nutrients and space in the soil for your other plants. Having overgrown weeds in your landscaping is also just super ugly.
Prune any shrubs with flower heads from the previous season's growth. Be sure to only prune off flower heads from plants that bloom on new wood. Some examples include: Butterfly Bush, Panicle Hydrangea, Rose of Sharon, Beauty Berry and many more. These plants that bloom on new wood are typically the shrubs that bloom later in the summer once they have had time to grow new shoots and develop buds.
Cut back ornamental grasses. It is important that ornamental grasses are cut back in the early spring to encourage strong new growth to make a fuller, more dense grass in the summer. If left uncut, they will not push out as much new growth and will become leggy and full of dead leaves. The most common ornamental grasses include: Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass, Fountain grass cultivars, Miscanthus (Silver grass species).
Apply a balanced fertilizer. The best time to fertilize perennial shrubs and plants is in the spring - early summer when plants are eager to shoot out new growth. Fertilizer applied in the spring can enhance plant performance by increasing the strength of the plants root system, producing more dense growth and an overall healthier plant. A balanced, slow release fertilizer like a 7-7-7 (NPK) granular product is ideal, since it will last in the soil longer than a liquid fertilizer and will provide an equal amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium.
Fresh mulch or decorative stone. Whether your current garden has natural mulch or decorative stone, adding fresh materials will boost your curb appeal 10 X and improve the overall look of the landscaping. In addition to looking clean and fresh, mulch can help improve soil moisture, nutrient levels and will keep weeds down to a minimum, which results in less maintenance.
To get your own spring cleanup started, contact the Florascape team at 226-345-5021 or by email at flora.scape@outlook.com
Our professional team is ready to serve you with high quality service and years of experience.