Springtime is close by and we just have to wait out the final remnants of winter!
It’s been a long, dark winter, hasn’t it? We rarely venture outdoors in the cold, unwelcoming, winter darkness. We prefer to hibernate inside our warm, bright homes over the winter months, thankful to be out of the wind and cold barrenness of the season. In fact, don’t we look forward to seeing the warm light through the windows as we arrive home from work in the darkness? As humans, we’re drawn to the warmth and safety that light promises us.
Landscape Lighting
Adding outdoor landscape lighting increases this sense of warmth and safety. It brightens your home’s entrance and illuminates the darkness, providing you with safety, peace of mind, and a newfound beauty in the darkest hours of the long winter nights. Leafless trees become bright sculptures in the beam of a spot light. Path lights illuminate walkways for safety and direction. Ponds glow from deep within. With newer LED bulbs, you can enjoy the peace of warm light, lower electric bills, and incredibly long bulb life. We’ve been designing outdoor landscape lighting for our clients for many years and would be delighted to design and install a lighting system that you’ll enjoy not only in the winter, but year-round. Give us a call!
Spring Landscape Walk-through
As the snow slowly melts and the sun sticks around longer each day, it’s good to get outdoors and check over your landscaping. Are there areas that need some attention?
Do sections of your yard need more color? We can add shrubs that bloom throughout the year in just about any color imaginable. Yes, even THAT one. Have some of your shrubs grown so large they block a particularly beautiful view? We can remove them and plant something that grows more slowly or doesn’t get as large. Has your neighbor parked his run-down camper in plain sight? Do you need something to block your view? We can plant something full and thick to block your view of it. Are your plants looking old and scraggly? It might be time to remove them and start over with something completely different and new. Or trim them back and let them start again. Is your bark looking thin and gray? We can rebark your landscape beds with fresh, bright bark mulch that will renew the look. Look around, then give us a call. We’d be happy to quote your spring project.
New Plantings Last Year?
If you had new plantings installed last year, continue to water and fertilize them as the ground dries out. Refer to the care instructions we provided. If you need another copy of the care instructions, let us know. We’re committed to your landscape’s survival and happy to provide them upon request.
Spring Landscape Checklist
As the snow thaws, be sure to keep an eye on your landscaping for looming issues.
January/February:
- Check for deer, rabbit and/or mouse damage during the first thaw. Look for clipped branches and girdled stems at the base of plants. If these signs are present, we encourage you to put down mouse traps or poison (be careful with poison if you have a dog or young children), fox urine to scare away rabbits and deer, or installing something that makes noise or motion to scare deer.
- Be careful about how and where you use ice melters, especially salt. This can be very hard on plants and even kill them. Be sure to use a non-sodium chloride on stamped concrete. Magnesium chloride and other chlorides are fine.
- Now is the time to start thinking about flower beds and colors for the summer season!
March:
If the snow is gone for good, fertilize large shade, flowering, and evergreen trees. Spread 26-6-6 fertilizer or Osmocote evenly below the branch tips. Keep it 12” away from the stem or trunk. Use 2-3 cups per tree.
April:
Lawns:
- Fertilize with 26-6-6 fertilizer monthly for new lawns, every other month for lawns 2 or more years old. If you don’t have time, give us a call. We’d be happy to quote your lawn fertilizer schedule.
- If the weather becomes dry, begin watering lightly.
- Apply crabicide, being careful to follow the package directions. Evenness of coverage is critical to how well it works. Again, we’d be happy to provide you with a quote for even crabicide coverage along with fertilizing.
- If moles are a problem, use a grub killer to kill their food supply or bury Talpirid worms in their holes. Be careful not to put them were pets and small children can reach them.
Plantings:
- Apply 26-6-6 fertilizer to all perennials, shrubs, and evergreens, sprinkling it around where the branch tips reach. Use about ½-cup per plant. Don’t sprinkle it directly on the stem/trunk, foliage, or branches because it’s very concentrated and can “burn” the tissues.
- Apply weed preventive to all bark beds to keep weed seeds from germinating. Again, evenness of coverage is critical to how well it works.
- Deeply water newly-planted large trees weekly.