Get your home’s landscaping on point this summer. It’s not that hard!
Spring cleaning your landscape for summer can be a daunting task. When should I do it? Where do I even start? There’s like 20 different kinds of mulch. How do I know which one to use? It’s overwhelming. Luckily, we’ve got a Super Easy 11 Step Guide that will show you exactly how to do it! Follow each step like a recipe and I guarantee your neighbors will be asking who did your landscaping this year.
1. SCHEDULE TIME: Block out some time between late March and Memorial Day. How much time you need is going to depend on the size of your landscaping. And the exact time is going to depend on your schedule and the weather. Some people prefer to wait until the soil has warmed up to apply mulch, but if you’re going to be busy in late April and May, don’t hesitate to get a head start – you won’t hurt a thing.
2. PRE-SPRAY: In the weeks ahead of your cleanup, take a visual survey of the condition of your landscape. How bad are the weeds? If there are just a few, you can pull them during the cleanup. But if you have a lot of weeds, now is the time to spray them with a chemical weed killer like glycophosphate (Round-Up). This is especially important if you have weeds like nut sedge or Canadian thistle. You’ll want to consult your local garden center or landscaper to see what’s the best chemical control for these weeds – but they will only get worse if you try to pull them. Two weeks is typically enough time between the pre-spray and the spring cleanup to kill the weeds to the root.
3. PRE-PLAN: Figure out the logistics and get your tools together. For the logistics side, you’ll have debris to remove and mulch to bring in. You’ll have two types of debris to remove from your beds: one is the organic yard waste like leaves, sticks and clippings and the other is soil and sod from the edgings. Yard waste is pretty easy to get rid of as most cities offer a pickup service and the county’s solid waste district will usually accept yard waste at no cost if you drop it off. As far as soil goes, the first place for a disposal site is on your property. Do you have any low areas in your lawn? Do you need any soil for your compost? If you do need to haul soil away, you’ll want to call the dump and make sure they accept soil debris.
Mulch can either be delivered or picked up in bulk or bags. Figure out where you’ll have the mulch delivered and how much to buy. There are mulch calculators online that will help you figure out how much to buy. The type of mulch we recommend ordering is an organic double-processed hardwood mulch. We don’t recommend the dyed mulches or wood chips for your foundation planting beds.
Once you’ve got the logistics figured out make sure you have all the right tools. At a minimum you’ll need a wheelbarrow, a 10’x10’ tarp, a soft rake, a hard rake, a flat shovel, an edging spade, a pitch fork, hand shears, and a broom. If you have a leaf blower, it certainly makes things easier, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
4. DEBRIS REMOVAL: It’s time to rock and roll – but first a quick word of caution – to get pro results it’s all about the prep work. Mulch is literally the last step, so don’t be in a hurry. Trust me, just take your time with the prep work. The mulch will be the easiest part and it will look awesome. Start by cleaning out the junk. Work from the perimeter of the house out. If you have leaves, sticks, and junk on your roof or in your gutters, sweep it off and into the beds first. Use a blower and a soft leaf rake to get all the junk out of the beds and onto a tarp. Pro Tip: Put the debris straight onto a plastic tarp or an old bedsheet. It’s a lot easier than picking it all up and putting it in a wheelbarrow. While clearing out the debris, go ahead and cut back any perennials and ornamental grasses that were left up during the winter.
5. WEED REMOVAL: After all of the debris is removed, go back through the beds. Working systematically, start from one side of the house and work your way across. Don’t leave an area until every weed is pulled. Pro Tip: Put the weeds directly into a 5-gallon bucket or a wheelbarrow. If you just throw them on the ground, you’ll create more work for yourself since you’ll have to go back through the beds to pick them all up.
6. PRUNING: Pruning is as much of an art as it is a science. It should be done regularly to encourage plant health and for aesthetics. If you’re unsure where to begin with pruning check out this fact sheet from the University of Minnesota Extension. If you’re still unsure about pruning, this is one area where it may be best to contact a pro. It’s really easy to seriously injure your plants if you don’t do this right.
7. CULTIVATE THE EXISTING MULCH: This step is often overlooked, but extremely crucial. The purpose of mulch is to insulate the soil from temperature changes and moisture evaporation, but it’s also there to break down over time and to add organic content to the soil. In order to cultivate or break up the existing mulch, you’ll use a hard rake or a garden weasel. As you rake through the old mulch, you’ll see the hardened crust layer change color and start to appear fluffed. This step ensures the old mulch will break down into the soil over time. It also allows you to spread out and even out the mulch before applying the new mulch. You only want 2-2.5 inches of mulch in your beds total – that’s new mulch and old mulch combined. You don’t want to apply new mulch to an area that has two inches of crusty old mulch. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with too much mulch. Too much mulch looks unattractive, it can kill your plants, and it invites pests like termites. Make sure you don’t have too much mulch when you’re done. And if you already have too much mulch, remove it with a wheelbarrow and flat shovel.
8. EDGING: This is where you’re going to really start to see some results. A nice, clean, spade cut edge that flows smoothly is what you’re after. This takes some practice, but once you get it, you’ll love the look. There are also some machines for this step – just watch out for the machines that spit the grass and clumps back into the bed as this is going to create weeds and mess up the look of your beds. We use a reciprocating bed edger or a hand spade. The tool you use is just a matter of your preference and how much edging you have to do. The real key to edging is a nice 3-4 inch vertical edge cut against the grass line. Once you cut your edge all the way down the line, come back through with a flat shovel and a wheelbarrow to remove the ribbon of grass and the mulch/soil left in the cut. This will give a nice open spot to tuck in your new mulch. You’ll also want to go through with the flat shovel along all of the “hard edges” at this point. For the same purpose, you want the mulch to tuck in along the driveway, sidewalk patio, etc. We always remove the soil/mulch and haul it away. This prevents build up over time. After all of your edges are picked up, you’ll have a nice smooth edge around all of your landscape beds. Pro Tip: Take one more step to get a super crisp, professional looking edge. Using a weed eater, cut a vertical edge along the inside of the turf edges – this will smooth out any imperfections and create a crisp clean edge.
9. PRE-EMERGENT AND FERTILIZER: You’re almost ready to mulch! But first, one more quick but crucial step. Pre-Emergent is an herbicide that keeps dormant weed seeds from germinating by creating a barrier between the soil and mulch to help suppress weeds. There are several brands of pre-emergent available, but it is typically sold at garden centers as Preen. Along with the pre-emergent, you’ll want to go ahead and fertilize all of your ornamental plants now. Use a 12-12-12 balanced fertilizer and apply to the drip line of the plants. Follow the manufacturers’ recommended application rate for both the pre-emergent and fertilizer.
10. MULCH: FINALLY! Everyone has their own way of installing the mulch. There’s no right or wrong way. The two main keys are to never apply more than 3 inches of mulch and keep the mulch off of any house siding and below the brick line if at all possible. Also keep the mulch away from the trunks/crowns of your plants. Mulch should not be touching your plants. Keep it a couple inches away and don’t worry about the small area that’s left uncovered. Piling mulch against plants is a sure way to cause stress and death. Our preferred method of mulching is to fill a wheelbarrow and bring it as close as possible to the area you’re mulching. (Be careful not to smash your nice clean edge or to run over plants.) Working from the house out, use a pitchfork to place the mulch exactly where you need it. Use the back of the fork to smooth the mulch as needed. Continue this until you’ve applied mulch over the entire landscape to a total depth of 2-3 inches. After you’re totally done mulching and smoothing, go back with a garden rake and tamp the edges of the mulch for a clean look.
11. CLEAN UP: Once the mulching is done you can clean up – sweep up, hose off, and enjoy!
Are you too busy to give your yard the clean up it truly deserves? Or are you completely overwhelmed by the jungle your yard has become? Maybe you just hate yard work. Whatever the reason, have J Squared Outdoor do your spring clean up for you! Click the link below or call 937.572.5482 to get an estimate.