Preparing your garden for spring.

Now that Christmas is done for another year, and the stores have Easter eggs on the shelves, its time to start thinking about gardening. Yes, when you look out the window, it may still be wet, but it won’t be long before that’s gone and spring will have arrived and your garden beds and lawn will need attention.

Gardening to do list;

We have compiled a list of areas to pay attention to, so you can get that Nanaimo garden back into shape as quick as possible.

• Clear leaf debris away from shrub bases before spring leaves come out, also away from perennial crowns and anywhere bulbs may grow.
• Cut back any of last years growth or stems if you didn’t do the majority of the cutting back in the fall.
• If you have any protective coverings, then these can be removed ( as long as temperatures are no longer consistently getting below zero)
• Scarifying or breaking up mulch throughout your garden beds, to get air back into it, and remove the white mold underneath.
• Divide summer and fall flowering perennials
• Plant perennials, shrubs and trees
• Prune vines such as climbing roses, wisteria etc
• Weeding
• If you have plans or moving shrubs or rearranging them, now is a good time to get that new garden look.
• Once all this is done, you may want to think about a fresh top up of mulch. New mulch is always a great finish to the garden beds at the start of a new season.

For the garden lawn in the spring, we suggest the following;

• Aerating –  this gets water, air, and nutrients to get back down to the turf roots. It also helps to relieve soil compaction.
• Power raking – de-thatching to remove all the dead grass for the growth of fresh new grass.
• Mowing – Cut shorter to allow for the next stage of top dressing.
• Top dressing – applying approximately 1/4 inch of compost, high nutrient soil or sand over the entire turf area, raking it down for the roots to benefit from. Compost or top soil help to enhance the nutrients for the grass whereas sand will help to add drainage to the soil (especially good for heavy clay areas).
• Fertilizing – Can be done in addition to the above or instead of. A spring fertilizer is best for this time of year as it will give you a lush green grass. When looking for a lawn fertilizer check for a higher middle number as opposed to the first number, as this will make your lawn have good root growth as well as making it green and lush.

**Before Power-raking and aerating always make sure to mark out any irrigation heads and lines, so you can avoid damaging them in the process.

Other areas to think about, maybe refreshing any patio stones in the garden. Pressure-washing them and giving them a new layer of polymeric sand can get most driveways and walkways looking as good as new again.