It's Time to Tackle Those Spring Lawn and Garden Tasks

It is time once again to turn our thoughts to lawn, garden and patio clean up. As spring turns to summer, many spend more of their time outdoors. Right now is prime time to begin the spring clean-up and begin enjoying your outdoor spaces.

According to Good Housekeeping, the lawn is the first place to start. Examine your lawn for bare spots, dead grass, and moss. Remove debris such as twigs and dead leaves with a thorough raking. Rake only if the ground is dry, raking while the ground is wet will only tear up fresh grass and its roots leaving more bare spots. Bare spots can be patched now with grass seed or a patch mixture product. Keep the area moist and cover seed with straw to prevent erosion and protect seed from birds. If moss is a problem, it can be address with a chemical spray such as Moss Ex or Moss Out. If you are hesitant to put chemicals on your lawn, a simple solution of one gallon of water and two ounces of plain dish soap mixed together and dispensed through a spray bottle will help kill moss. Spray the mossy area thoroughly and in about 24 hours the moss will turn brown, dry up, and die. Rake up the dead moss and dispose of carefully as spores may still be able to spread, infecting other areas of your lawn.

Examine trees and shrubs to see if broken branches are a problem or if pruning is necessary. Don't prune when branches are wet because if disease is present, it can easily spread among wet branches. Cut back any branches encroaching onto walkways or driveways and thin if necessary. Hedges and shrubs which have suffered breakage during winter ice storms can be pruned now to encourage new growth. The time for trimming forsythia, rhododendrons, and lilacs, however, is after flowering, as these beauties will form next year's buds over the summer months. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) urges homeowners to not prune oak tress between April 15 and July 15 to prevent the spread of oak wilt disease, which can kill an oak tree in a matter of weeks. Beetles carry the fungus which causes oak wilt from tree to tree and trees with a wound in their bark where pruning has taken place make the oak tree more susceptible to the disease.

Now is also the time to dig up perennials such as daylilies, hostas, and Shasta daisies for division and replanting. Rake out flower beds gently and examine what may need dividing. When digging up perennials, avoid full sun on roots and keep the divisions in damp soil or peat moss to prevent drying out if moving plants or giving them away.

Now is a good time to prune vines growing on trellises or against the house. If vines are growing on the house, inspect to make sure they are not invading window frames or working their way under gutters, shingles, or siding. Vines always bounce back after a very heavy cutting so don't be shy about trimming.

Remember to give some attention to flower bed borders and lawn edges. Using a lawn edger tool or garden shovel to mark clean edges to beds and borders by pushing straight down into the soil about four inches and remove grass and weeds which may be invading beds and borders. Beds can be enhanced with garden stones, bricks, or plastic lawn edging.

Taking the time to tackle a few early spring tasks can go a long way in finding pleasure in your patio and garden all summer long.