Spring is right around the corner! Have you made your gardening and landscaping checklist to make sure your yard is in shape for the warm weeks to come? If not, the landscaping experts at Tucker & Associates are happy to provide you with these quick and easy tips to make sure your yard and beds are in gorgeous shape for the upcoming Longview, TX spring season.
First things first, in order to get started on certain aspects of your gardening and landscaping, it is important to make sure you get past the last anticipated freeze of the season. The best way to understand when that timing might be is to check with your local home and garden center or ask a landscaping professional such as us. They typically time their sales around the last freeze and are usually pretty knowledgeable because of local forecasts, Almanac records and weather predictions. Although they can never guarantee when the last freeze will occur, it does tend to help homeowners with their planning.
Baby Your Grass
During the early spring and once the last freeze has occurred, homeowners should tend to their yards, working to control weeds, trim and control all edging, fill in bare patches on the lawn, and think about fertilizing. It’s noted by most homeowners that weeds are the biggest headache of all. Early spring is a great time to apply weed control, otherwise known as a “pre-emergent”. This can help weeds from growing, such as crabgrass, which can get out of control easily once the warm weather hits. It’s also important to fertilize your yard with a reputable fertilizer. This is an activity that should wait until after the final freeze of the season. For lawns that suffered winter damage, bare patches may exist. During that same time, you can fill these patches with seed, sod or a mixture of the two.
Bushes and Trees
Get your pruning tools ready! During the last several weeks of winter, it is important to trim and prune your trees, hedges and bushes before the first signs of growth. Almost all trees benefit from a good grooming before the spring hits. This includes all fruit trees, rose bushes, shrubs and many garden plants. For rose bushes in particular, which are gorgeous all around Longview, TX, homeowners will want to prune these before any sign of new growth appears from the canes. The better maintained and trimmed the bushes are now, the better chance that the bush will produce endless, healthy blooms. For homeowners who want to plant new rose bushes, April is a good time to do this.
Planting Your Annuals
After a long winter, homeowners crave color, but putting flowers and other seasonal annuals in the ground too soon could lead to a failed effect. Homeowners must wait until after the last freeze to plant these types of flowers. Our Longview landscaping company sometimes advises clients to do two planting phases to ensure gorgeous color throughout the spring and summer. This may include cool-season flowers such as violas, pansies, snapdragons and petunias, and then later once the hot temperatures arrive, other annuals, such as begonias and periwinkles are good replacements.
Consider Seed Planting
Some Longview area homeowners may turn their noses down to seed planting, but it is actually a great way to save money. It can also be a colorful way to fill in large patches of areas that you may not know what to do with. You can start the seed growing process by allowing them to grow indoors for a few weeks, or simply sprinkle them on your land after the final freeze. You will want to make sure the area is loosened and tilled with fresh, healthy soil, and that the area is kept moist.
The Charm of Bulbs
If you ever drive by a house near Easter and see gorgeous tulips and daffodils and wonder how on earth they got those to come up so early, the answer is bulbs. Most of these spring-flower bulbs typically need to get in the ground in the fall in order to bloom in the spring. It’s important to plant them deep enough and to choose a bulb that is plump and firm. While preparing your beds for spring and summer, some bulbs, such as gladiolas and dahlia, can be planted now in preparation for a summer bloom. Once again, just ensure the last frost of the season has passed.
The Magic of Mulching
After all pruning, planting and final preparations have been made towards your spring landscape, don’t forget the mulch! Mulching is one of the most important ways to maintain and protect your plants, flowers and shrubs. It also helps to prevent weeds from coming up into the beds, helps to hold water and moisture, and keeps the roots of your plants at an acceptable temperature. Most importantly, a nicely mulched bed looks aesthetically appealing and polished.
Update Your Lights
If your landscaping beds experienced trauma over the winter, you may have some damaged lights. Be sure to do a thorough check of your landscaping lighting to repair any damage, replace any old fixtures, reset timers and polish them off for a gorgeous result.
Any other tips or idea, please feel free to call landscaping professionals at Tucker & Associates, the Longview landscape design and construction experts. We look forward to helping you plant now, for a gorgeous bloom later!