Spring Clean Up - Part I

SPRING CLEAN UP

It is that time of year again! Spring is here and now we can begin cleaning up gardens in readiness for the upcoming growing season. If you have been gardening for a long time, you’ll want to skip this article, which is aimed at the budding gardeners. This is for people who are fairly new to gardening and perhaps not quite sure on what to do, when to do it, and why they should do it.

Let’s start with the biggest area.

THE LAWN: You’ll want to do this once the ground has dried out a bit and the grass has begun to green up. If the lawn feels spongy, stay off it

Pick up all the broken branches, twigs and litter that have accumulated over the winter, including the calling cards left by your dog.

Bag up the litter etc, and bundle up the twigs and branches ready for roadside pick up

Grab your leaf rake, and starting in one corner of your lawn, begin raking it in a grid pattern. Eventually you will get the whole lawn raked. This removes most of the dead grass, leaves and other small stuff that you couldn’t pick up.

Bag the rakings for pick up or, if you have a compost pile, put rakings directly on it.

Once the daytime temperatures hit 60F or 15C, the lawn should be fertilized. Look for a fertilizer that indicates it is for Spring application. You can find these at most garden centres, hardware stores etc. Many of these places will even have fertilizers spreaders for rent. Check with them.

Follow the instructions on the bag to the letter! Too much fertilizer will actually burn the grass, too little and you’ll not be satisfied with the results. Depending on the fertilizer you choose, you may need to keep children and pets off the lawn for the period specified on the bag.

The first cut can be done once the grass is actively growing and the ground is firm. Your lawn mower can be set to 2” for this first cut.

Make sure you rake up and bag your grass clippings or put them on the compost pile. Never leave them on the lawn. If you have a mulching lawn mower, this task is made even easier.


A word about lawn fertilizers: A healthy lawn will smother out most weeds through vigorous growth, making the use of weed killers unnecessary. Therefore fertilizer is your first defense against weeds. Many fertilizer manufacturers (see Sources) now offer a line of organic lawn fertilizers which are just as effective as the chemical based ones. Please consider using these for a healthier environment.

By going through these steps, you are on your way to a beautiful lawn.

The next installment will focus on cleaning up the gardens.