Winter weather can often make us overlook some of our outdoor upkeep duties. Who wants to be outside any longer than necessary when it’s cold, windy, wet, or snowy?
While we can’t blame you for wanting to stay inside where it’s warm, when spring arrives, there’s quite the list of to-do’s to get your lawn and landscape ready for the warm weather.
Custom Lawn has made the ultimate spring to-do list. Follow this and you won’t miss a thing:
Lawn Items
1. Clean Up the Leaves
You may have cleaned up most of your leaves last fall, but over the long winter, more leaves have blown into your lawn and collected in corners and under bushes.
Once the snow has melted, you may find that those leaves you ignored during the fall are still there.
Take this chance to go over your yard and remove any and all of them. Rotting leaves are not only a mess, but they can kill your lawn if left for too long and give unwanted bugs a place to hang out.
2. Give Fleas & Ticks the Flick
Most people think that wintertime means no fleas, ticks, or other crawling creatures.
While this can be true if you live in an area that gets a “true” winter (i.e. very cold for two to three consecutive months with a good chance of snowfall), areas that are more unpredictable, like Kansas City, may not stay cold enough to interrupt the life cycle of fleas and ticks.
Have your yard sprayed for fleas and ticks to help break that lifecycle and get you well on your way to a bug-free spring and summer.
4. Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicide to Prevent Weeds
Pre-emergent herbicide (sometimes referred to as crabgrass preventer) needs to be applied early, usually before April 15th in the KC area.
Applying a pre-emergent will prevent any weeds that are germinating from popping out of the ground.
It creates a barrier on the top of your lawn that kills the weeds when they reach it. It is the best way to prevent crabgrass, that once it’s established is very hard to kill.
5. Give Your Plants a Fertilizer Feast
Springtime is like morning for your yard. It’s been sleeping all winter long, and when it wakes up, like you, it wants something to eat.
Apply some fertilizer so your grass and other plants can wake up to a delicious feast to fill it up for the season. Slow release fertilizer will help the lawn stay green well into the late summer months
Related Read: 3 Steps to a Greener Lawn
6. Sod Bare Spots
Some areas may have taken a little too much abuse last year and are thin or bare. Sod these small areas so they will be green and healthy all summer
7. Sharpen Mower Blades
Be sure lawn mower is tuned up and ready to go for the year with sharp blades. It’s always a good idea to start the season with nice, sharp blades.
Your lawn mower sees some real abuse over the long mowing season and dull blades can cause damage to your grass.
Split and splintered blades of grass invite disease. Bring the blades by our office if you want us to sharpen them.
8. Set Up Lawn Care Programs
Lawn care starts in February. The first fertilizer and weed control treatment happens in early spring.
If you are going to hire a lawn care company, sign up now so you don’t miss out on the first treatment of the season.
Landscape & Flower Beds
9. Prune Perennials
Prune back perennials including knockout roses (before April 1st).
Prune any overgrown plants before they begin to put on new growth (be careful not to prune plants that flower on new growth or you will reduce your plant’s blossoms).
10. Edge & Mulch Landscape Beds
Redefine edges or add edging where needed to existing flower beds. Add fresh mulch to all flower and landscape beds.
11. Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicide to Beds
The ideal time to apply pre-emergent herbicides is when soil temperatures consistently reach 55 degrees at a depth of 4 inches.
When the application is made too late, the product doesn’t have enough time to work before seeds germinate. Once seeds germinate, many pre-emergent herbicides are ineffective.
Trees & Shrubs
12. Spray Trees & Shrubs
Prevent disease on susceptible trees & shrubs (including emerald ash borer prevention).
13. Mulch around Trees
Add mulch and put pre-emergent herbicide around your trees to prevent mower damage.
Sprinkler Check
14. Run Sprinkler System and Look for Leaks
Winter can cause damage to underground pipes causing them to freeze and crack which causes leaks in the spring.
15. Check Sprinkler Heads
Sprinkler heads may have been damaged by weather, snow shovels, or even burrowing animals.
Don’t wait until you need your sprinkler system to find out it has a problem.
Landscape Lighting
16. Repair Broken Lighting
Check and repair any broken outdoor lighting. Landscape lighting takes a lot of abuse in the winter.
17. Look for Loose Wires
Replace any burned out lights on porches, lamp posts, or path lighting.
18. GFCI Outlets
Upgrade any outdoor outlets that are not GFCI protected. GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) is a safety device that shuts off an electric power circuit when it detects that current is flowing along an unintended path, such as through water or a person.
No Time? Call the Professionals at Custom Lawn & Landscape
Regardless of the season, there’s always some type of something that you should be doing to keep things looking and growing their best. Call Custom Lawn & Landscape today at (913) 782-8315 to book your spring maintenance appointment and get the best looking yard on the block! We offer lawn care and lawn mowing in Leawood, Shawnee, Olathe, Mission, Overland Park, KS and the Kansas City metro area.
