Spring Landscape Maintenance Musts to Get Your Yard Ready for Safe Outdoor Gatherings

More than ever, we’re anticipating spring—a return to more time outside and meeting up with friends and family we’ve missed while winter weather kept many of us shut in. Now, it’s time to prepare our great outdoor spaces for safe outdoor gatherings with these five spring landscape maintenance musts.

#1 Clean Out Messy Beds

Remove leftover leaves from beds and cut back expired perennials, including ornamental grasses, so they can sprout new growth as the weather warms up. Add a neat edge to beds with crisp corners that define the space. Proper edging gives beds a “coloring within the lines” effect. Finally, refresh mulch. Some of our clients are opting to replace mulch with river rock because it requires less maintenance.

#2 Trim Tree Limbs and Wayward Branches

Diseased, dead and dying tree limbs should be removed because they create a significant liability. Storm winds and freezing rain (or snow) we sometimes get in spring can cause compromised limbs to fall and potentially damage your home or other structures on your property. Spring is also a great time for pruning trees that interfere with great views, and wayward shrubbery that brushes up against a house or blocks walkways.

#3 Replace Tired Plants

We don’t always think of the fact that plants age, but they do—and some better than others. Tired plants are more susceptible to disease and can require more care to thrive. In the end, you might be over-treating a plant you’re trying to save when the most sustainable option would be to replace it with a healthy plant. On the other hand, you might want to test out a new plant variety, or perhaps the plants in your landscape are requiring more maintenance than you want.

Spring is a great time to consider replacing run-down plants, swapping labor-intensive varieties for low-maintenance plants, or checking out a new variety that will add interest to your landscape.

#4 Give Your Lawn a Breather

Lawn core aeration is an essential, annual service that involves mechanically removing plugs of turf and soil to allow nutrients, oxygen and moisture to reach grass roots. We like to pair aeration with overseeding to fill in weak areas of turf. Without regular aeration, your lawn is probably not properly absorbing the fertilizer and nutrients applied to it during maintenance visits.

#5 Plan a New Project

While not technically maintenance, enhancing your landscape is ongoing and will keep your property looking fresh and functioning the way you want. Consider what features would help you maximize the way you use your backyard space. We’d be happy to perform a free site assessment to offer some ideas.

Get in Shape for Safe, Spring Outdoor Socializing

You’d spring clean your house and prepare it for guests to arrive for a party, and the same applies to your outdoor living spaces. From spring cleanups to tree and shrub care, Neave Group will get you set for the warm season so you can enjoy reuniting with friends and family outside.

Contact us at 845-463-0592 in Hudson Valley, 914-271-7996 in Westchester, and 203-212-4800 in Connecticut. Or, fill out this contact form and one of our pros will get in touch with you so you can get the pool of your dreams this summer.