Spring gardening tips to have a garden teeming with life.

Posted By: Manuel Gaviño In: Garden Care Comment: 0 Hit: 671

It is warm again and your plants will wake up from winter dormancy. Now is the time for them to flower again and turn your garden into a show of colors and aromas.

It's official: spring has just started.

It is warm again and your plants will wake up from winter dormancy. Now is the time for them to flower again and turn your garden into a show of colors and aromas.

But you know that for that, you need to care for them properly.

Do you know how?

If you have doubts, don't worry. In this article we are giving you some spring gardening tips and in which order you should apply them.

Take the rake and the gloves, and let’s go with it.

How to take care for garden in spring

Let's first take a look at the general works you should do in the garden once spring begins.

1. Clean the remains 

Once winter is over, your garden will be full of dried leaves, withered flowers from plants that bloomed in winter ...

If you do not remove these remains, the arrival of heat can become them a nest for fungi and other pests.

Therefore, the first thing you should do is raking the entire garden in order to leave it completely clean.

Make sure to also do it under the leafiest species, where you can have tangled leaves.

2. Prune the plants

Towards the end of winter it is convenient to prune your plants.

With the cold, it is common for your plants to have dead stems and leaves. In the case of stems, you will distinguish them because they are more brittle and under the bark they have turned black or brown.

Remove them to allow the rest of the plant to grow more vigorously.

Remember that this same work must also be done on your trees and bushes.

3. Check automatic irrigation

During the winter, it is normal for the irrigation system to be idle for a long time or with very intermittent use.

So now that the heat is back on and your plants will demand more water, it is important to check the system for:

  • Leaks and runoff: water losses can cause pounding that will choke the roots of the plants (in addition to bulking your bill). This often happens if there is any remaining water in the system pipes that freezes in the cold.
  • Clogs: Sometimes the sprinklers get clogged with debris or small pebbles. Check them to make sure all plants get the amount of water they need.
  • Failures in the controller: it is not usual, but it may happen that during the period of disuse your irrigation controller has suffered a failure. Or it may have run out of charge, if you use a battery-powered model. So it is important that you turn it on before the watering season starts and check that it works well.

Remember to also check the irrigation routines that are programmed, in case you have to make any changes.

4. Spring sowing

Now that the cold is subsiding, it is time to renew the garden with those species that bloom in spring, such as:

  • Thoughts.
  • Petunias.
  • Lilies.
  • Roses.

In addition, it can be a good time to transplant the species that you have in a pot and that you want to move to the garden.

In this way, the roots will have time to take root and prepare for the arrival of heat.

4. Fertilize in early spring

At this time, your plants are beginning to emerge from the winter slumber and prepare to unfold their flowers.

This is a process that consumes a lot of energy, so you should pay special attention to fertilizing.

Use it to help your plants grow healthier and develop a greater volume of flowers.

The type of fertilizer you’ll use will depend on each species (if you have doubts about which one is necessary in each case, you can contact us for advice.

5. Apply phytosanitary

With the heat, plants will not be the only thing that awakens in your garden: it also means the arrival of some unwanted visitors, such as:

  • Ants.
  • Mealybugs
  • Mites.
  • Powdery mildew and other fungi.
  • Aphid.

All these pests pose a risk to your plants, so it is important to prevent their appearance with some type of plant protection product.

The usual thing is to use a generic phytosanitary, but if you detect a specific pest in your garden you can look for a more specific one.

Lawn care in spring

The lawn also recovers its energy during the high temperature season.

But, as you know, this plant requires a series of special care to recover from the harsh winter conditions.

First of all, the care we give to the lawn during the spring should promote the growth of the root system (that is, the development of the roots).

This will ensure that it is ready when summer arrives.

These are the steps you should follow.

1. Eliminate weeds

During the winter weeds may have colonized your garden.

Some of these species, like dandelions, may seem attractive to you, but seeing them appear is not a good sign.

The reason is simple: these opportunistic plants quickly spread through the garden and rob nutrients from other species.

If you want your lawn to grow healthy, you first need to remove all of these weeds.

For that you can use a specific herbicide (in some cases it can be mixed in the fertilizer itself), or, if there are not many, remove them by hand.

2. Deep raking

As we told you above, by raking the remains of dried leaves and flowers we prevent the lawn from developing fungal pests.

But in addition, we will also be eliminating moss, a species that usually colonizes the lawn during the cold season and that can drown it.

Try to make a deep rake that scratches the ground to remove all the moss.

3. If compacted, aerate and scarify

Lawn that has been stepped on, or has not been maintained for a long period of time, is prone to compaction.

That means the roots tangle with each other, forming a solid layer known as a tatch.

This tatch suffocates the grass and prevents water from penetrating into the ground, thus increasing its water needs.

To break the mattress layer you must do two things:

  1. Aerate it: By making vertical punctures in the ground, we allow oxygen to reach the deepest layers of the soil.
  2. Scarify it: We make deep incisions in the ground that break the mattress and allow the roots to grow back normally.

After completing these works, we recommend you to cover the lawn with a layer of mulch that fills the gaps.

4. Reseed if necessary

The most obvious sign that the soil is compacted is that they begin in areas where the grass grows unevenly, or even does not grow at all (called “bald spots”).

In these cases, after having decomposed the area as we explained in the previous point, you must re-sow to restore that area of grass.

5. Fertilize

Like other plants, during the spring it is recommended that we apply a layer of fertilizer to the lawn.

This should be a slow-release fertilizer, which is distributed over several weeks or even months.

This will cause the grass to grow slower, resulting in less mowing.

6. Irrigation

Depending on the type of grass you have in your garden, you will need to water it with a periodicity of between 10 and 15 days.

Also, remember that spaced and deep watering encourages root development.

And deeper roots provide a stronger lawn, more resistant to drought and with less need for watering during the summer.

And deeper roots provide a stronger lawn, more resistant to drought and with less need for watering during the summer.

The most important point for you to take care of your garden in spring: the forecast

Now you know everything you have to do to help your garden recover from winter and unfold all its colours.

But do you have everything you need at hand?

Before the work season begins, we recommend you to:

  • Check the state of your tools.
  • Decide what plants to plant this year (if you are lacking ideas, take a look at our catalog).
  • Check that you have the fertilizer and the phytosanitary you need.

With all this, you are ready to start taking care of your plants.

Do you usually do all these tasks in your garden? Would you add any other?

Tell us in the comments.

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