If you want your outdoor space to look its best during the summer months, it's crucial to prepare it correctly during the spring season. As the weather begins to warm up, your lawn and garden will come to life, and you'll want to ensure it's in top condition.
Having a plan is the first step toward achieving your desired summer landscaping results. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your landscaping, it's time to start preparing your yard. This includes taking the necessary steps to ensure your lawn and garden are ready for the upcoming season.
At Pacific Lawn & Pest, we understand the importance of preparing outdoor properties to stand out during the warmer months. Our team of experts has extensive experience in this area, and we're happy to share our knowledge with you.
Clean Up Debris and the Remnants of Winter
The first step to preparing your yard for spring landscaping is to clean up any debris that accumulated over the winter. This includes dead leaves, fallen branches, and any other clutter that may have accumulated. You’ll create a clean slate for your landscaping project by cleaning up this debris.
Inspect and Test Your Soil
Before moving forward with lawn and greenery care, checking your soil to ensure it’s healthy and ready for new growth is essential. You can test your soil's pH level to determine if any adjustments need to be made. You may also need to add nutrients to your soil to ensure your plants and grass have the nutrients they need to thrive.
If you're confident doing this yourself, here is a straightforward and effective way to test your soil that produces accurate results.
Soil Texture Jar Test
- Purchase a pH test kit for soil from any home department store, such as Home Depot.
- Find a large mason jar (or something similar), and clean it out to prepare it for use.
- Collect a teaspoon sample of soil from every quadrant of your yard. Use a trowel to dig deep enough—at least 6 inches—and extract your sample.
- Combine every sample and marry them in the mason jar, making one large soil sample.
- Combine the soil sample with PH test powder. Follow the user instructions to yield the most accurate results.
If your yard's soil is bad or unfavorable to host lawn growth and other greenery, the best and quickest solution is to add organic matter. Doing this will cause soil to clump and form soil aggregates, which improves its structure, allowing grass roots to quickly absorb the fertilizer and penetrate the soil for fast growth.
Inspect Your Lawn for Fertilization and Reseeding
Once your yard is clear of debris and you’ve successfully inspected and treated your soil, it's time to look closer at your lawn for any areas that may need reseeding or fertilizing.
It’s important to pay attention to the type of fertilizer you use, as some are better than others, depending on your climate and soil condition. If you aren’t familiar with fertilization methods or comfortable applying them to your lawn, we specialize in reseeding and fertilization and will happily oversee it for you. Our process is simple and will look something like the following:
We Determine the Type of Grass You Have
Finding out the type and species of grass you’re growing is essential to determine the type of fertilizer you need.
We Mow Your Lawn
Mowing the lawn is crucial before sprinkling fertilizer to ensure it’s evenly distributed throughout your lawn.
We Apply Fertilizer
We then spread the fertilizer evenly across every area of your lawn using a broadcast spreader to ensure that every blade is able to soak up the nutrients it needs.
We Water Your Lawn
The follow-up step is to water your lawn thoroughly to help the fertilizer penetrate the soil and reach the grassroots.
We Repeat the Process
We’ll return to your property in about six to eight weeks to repeat the process necessary to keep your lawn healthy and green.
Prune Trees and Shrubs
If you have any trees or shrubs in your yard, it's important to prune them before the new growth starts to emerge. Pruning can help promote healthy growth and prevent branches from becoming too heavy and breaking.
Be sure to use proper pruning techniques and tools to ensure that you don't damage your plants. You’ll need a pair of clean, sharp pruning shears to ensure you make a clean cut without tearing your plant stems. You’ll also need to cut at the right juncture of the stem to ensure the plant can spread outwards with new growth.
Plan Your Landscaping Design
Once you've taken care of the basics, it's time to start planning your landscaping project. Think about the features you want to add to your yard and where they’ll be placed. You can also select the plants and flowers you wish to include in your landscaping. Be sure to choose plants suited to your climate that will thrive in your soil.
If you're unsure of what the consider, here are some steps to help get your creativity started:
- Determine your landscaping needs—what will you do while outside? Are you looking to plant an herb garden or install a firepit for small gatherings?
- Consider what style you prefer for your yard, from classic to contemporary to overgrown to minimalist.
- Set a budget to work within, so your landscaping vision doesn’t outpace your resources.
- Create a landscape blueprint or find one online that replicates your vision—working from a plan is always best!
- Determine if you want to oversee the project yourself or hire a professional.
Transform Your Yard with an Expert in Spring Landscaping
Preparing your yard in the spring is crucial for successful summer landscaping. Spring is when plants and grass come out of dormancy, and the ground begins to thaw. It’s the ideal time to prepare the soil and create a healthy environment for new plantings. By taking proactive steps such as identifying pest problems, treating and pruning affected plants, and protecting plants from pests, you can control them before they become a significant issue.
If you would like a professional helping hand to manage the project from start to finish, you can trust the crew at Pacific Lawn & Pest. For more information about our many landscaping services, we invite you to call (509) 218-1775 now.