Are you itching to get outside and start gardening? Even if the cold hasn’t completely disappeared, you can still do a lot to ensure your lawn and garden stay healthy, strong, and colourful. Here’s a checklist you can use to set your garden up for success this year, and for years to come!

Gardening To Do’s For Early Spring

The warm weather might be taking a while to stick around, but now is the time to do your preparations. It can seem early, but much of the hard work has to be done in March and early April so you don’t fall behind.

Do a walk around. Take a couple of minutes to examine your beds and envision the coming growing season in your head. It’s never too early to map out your garden’s colour scheme!  Check for signs of growth. See what might be coming back! Start pruning your trees, bushes, and shrubs now. It’s important to do this while the bud are still dormant; after they’ve grown, you could stunt the growth of fruit and stress the limbs.  Prepare the beds. Clear the litter from where your perennials and bulbs will grow. Work a layer of mulch into the top layer of soil. Maybe include some rotting leaves or, if you can get your hands on it, manure! Take care of any structural maintenance and repair barriers, stonework, etc.

Gardening during Mid-Spring

So you’ve prepared everything and laid down a great foundation for your 2018 garden. Late April and early May is when the fun part of gardening starts (but all parts of gardening is fun, right?).

Plant your perennials, trees, shrubs, and hardiest annuals now. You can also water them if the April showers aren’t showing up. Apply mulch under your shrubs and bigger plants to retain moisture in the soil and keep weeds out.  Prune vines and coniferous plants.  Hang or lay down traps for pests.

Gardening Tasks in Late Spring

Late-May to June is a busy time for planting and maintenance, but it’s when you can make your garden as strong and colourful as possible for the rest of the summer!

Plant your summer flowers. Flowers that bloom and thrive in the summer, like Dahlias, daisies, marigolds, peonies, petunias, lilies, and other annuals should be put in now! You should have at least all your trees and shrubs planted by now before the summer heat makes it hard for them to thrive. Stay on top of the weeds.

The more preventative measures you take now, the less time you’ll spend in the height of summer.  Feed your lawn and garden with fertilizer. You don’t want a harsh summer sun to scorch the plants!  Water new plats more often. They’ll need more H2O to grow healthy and strong. Read more Green Ninja blogs to stay on top of your game and reach out to us for any lawn care services.

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