Spring is upon us in Colorado Springs. Now is the perfect time to begin your yard maintenance for the season. It is time to get ahead of the weeds as they start to grow and to help your flowers bloom.
The best place to start is by giving your yard a good clean-up. Rake the lawn before the first mowing to loosen up any matted grass. Clear the yard of any debris that might have gathered or old leaves that might be covering your grass or flower beds.
Prepare space for a garden! If your yard has a bed for flowers or growing a garden, break up the soil with a shovel or a rake. Pull any weeds or grass that might have started to take root in the area. Spring is a good time to begin planting. Plant trees and perennials in the early spring. Colorado can have some unique challenges with growing plants, especially in areas with a lot of wildlife. Consider covering the beds or enclosing the area with chicken wire. You can also surround your garden box with a small fence to deter deer from eating the tops of your plants. Try to wait until the last frost before planting fragile plants and annual flowers. Colorado weather is temperamental and varies dramatically in the Spring. If you have planted fragile plants and you are aware of a frost or low temperatures coming, cover your plants with a blanket and hold it down on the corners with rocks or another heavy object to keep the blanket in place.
Performing weed control before weeds emerge can help the overall health of your lawn and yard moving into the warmer months. Spring is a great time to begin spraying for weeds and pulling existing weeds to prevent spread.
Activating your sprinkler system will help get the lawn back onto a watering schedule so it can begin to grow and flourish again. If your lawn is looking yellow or dry, fertilizing the lawn can be a great help. Aeration can also help with reducing water usage and can help improve the health of the lawn. If you do not already have a lawn, you can start one in the Spring. You can add seed to an existing lawn to fill in gaps from frost damage or to thicken the existing lawn if the grass is looking patchy and thin.
Adding mulch to the base of your trees is a great way to help them retain moisture and keep weeds down. During the winter the mulch might have gotten tracked into the yard, blown away in storms, or just generally have fallen into disrepair. This is a great time to add more mulch and clear the existing mulched areas to give them a facelift and a bit of life.
Spring is a perfect time to reset, revive, and get things back in order. We hope that this helps give you some ideas on how to get your outdoor spaces ready for the summer.
