Lawn care and landscaping should not all fall into one season. Doing a little every season will save you a lot of time and ensure that your home is looking its best for when you are ready to sell. It is not a quick fix like the HGTV shows. Here are my best tips and tricks for what you should be doing to the outside of your home and your yard this spring.
- Visit your local hardware or garden store. They set up displays for a lot of the products you will need. You can not miss them
- Ask for help at your local garden center. Local garden centers typically know what grows in your region and will be able to tell you what is best in your yard. Also, look at what is blooming in your neighbor's year.
- Know what annuals and perineal's are. Perennial plants regrow every spring, while annual plants live for only one growing season, then die off. Perennials generally have a shorter blooming period compared to annuals, so it's common for gardeners to use a combination of both plants in their yard.
- Get ahead of fertilizer and weed preventer on your lawn. I recommend Scott's program. They will tell you when to apply.
- Use lawn lime. It is cheap and helps! Lime restores balance in overly acidic soil to bring pH back to optimal growing levels. Poor grass growth and lawn moss are signs that lawns may need lime
- Dethatch. You can buy an attachment for your mower or ask your landscaper to do this. Think of it as combing your hair. You don't just cut your hair. You have to comb the scalp. Aeration allows air, water, and nutrients to penetrate the soil. When nutrients penetrate deeper into the root zone, they become available to the turf. This improves the effectiveness of your fertilization and ongoing watering to promote healthy turf.
- After you dethatched your lawn and you are confident that the temps will not be in the 30's any longer, plant some grass in thin areas. Scatch up the soil and put down some new topsoil in holes and bare spots.
- Edge your beds. This can be done with a motorized machine or a simple shovel. This separates the mulch beds from the grass and gives a clean appearance.
- Clean your gutters again. Prepare for the spring showers
- Plant Bulbs. Tulips and daffodils are planted in the fall and bloom in the spring. Your local garden center will have spring bulbs like dahlias that will appear in the summer.
- Plants like hosta and ground cover prevent weeds in beds.
- Use a moss, algae spray on your patio furniture and trim and shingles around your house.
- Spray or power was your deck.
- Get propane, light the grill and enjoy your yard.
Oversand's Beaches on Cape Cod
