Late Winter Early Spring Landscape Maintenance Projects

Snow Snow Snow.  Almost gone right?  Not quite.  I still have several inches of snow in my front yard and mounds along the street and driveway.  But it soon will be gone.  For those of you just itching to get outside and start working on your yards, there are things that you can do now to prepare your gardens for Spring.

Pruning Trees and Shrubs:

Today, I pruned a severely over-grown Crab apple tree for a client.  Dead branches, from previous hard pruning, had fallen in among the living branches.  The previous pruning had focused exclusively on the outer portions of the tree, leaving many dead branches still clinging to live ones.  The majority of dead branches were the result of years of insufficient light, water, and air reaching the leaves.  I pruned out and removed all the dead branches, along with excessively dense live branches, to allow air, rain, and sunlight to penetrate deep into the tree. 

Most likely, you can handle pruning small trees.  When you prune your trees, remove all dead branches along with any crossing or touching branches.  Branches growing vertically without secondary branching should also be removed.  These are suckers if they emerge from the roots or base of the tree trunk, or water sprouts if they grow from the trunk or branches.  Water sprouts are usually caused by previous pruned or broken branches.  Both suckers and water sprouts suck energy from the tree and cause it to grow weakly and irregularly.  Suckers can grow from any point along roots near the soil surface.  Crabapple, Aspen, Beech, Birch and Dogwood are particularly susceptible to suckering.

Now that the harsh winter weather is almost behind us, it is possible to start pruning the shrubs too.  One of the first chores in my own yard this year, will be inspecting the shrubs close to my house.  Usually, I get small amounts of snow falling from the roof over the full length of the winter. Not this year.  The constant extreme cold allowed snow and ice to build precipitously on my roof.  Guess what.  When we had a few warm days, all that ice and snow slid from my roof and landed on my shrubs.  I have never had this problem before.  I had one chunk of ice crash down on top of half a dozen Burning Bushes.  Crushed most of them in one foul swoop. 

So, I will be headed out once that snow and ice has melted, to cut most of those to the ground or close to it.  If you have the same issue, don't worry, most shrubs actually benefit from a hard pruning.  If you are in doubt, feel free to message me or send me a text with a picture of your plants.  I will be glad to advise you on an individual basis and help you identify the shrub and the best solution to your unique situation.

Cleaning Up Debris:

I don't know if you are seeing the same thing, but I have noticed an unusual amount of debris in my yard and on the streets this year.  Now that the snow is melting, all the garbage that blew out of the garbage trucks over this long harsh winter, all the leaves that waited to fall from the trees until the snow started falling, all those branches broken by ice storms and heavy snow falls and fierce winds, all the dog leavings abandoned by people too cold to stop to pick up the mess (mostly me and my kids), is being exposed by the slow melt.

Well, it's not too cold to do the clean up now.  If you do, as I am doing, a little at a time as it is exposed, this unpleasant chore won't feel so overwhelming.  And when the enjoyable part of Spring garden chores is possible, you will be ready.  The leaves may have to wait a bit. 

Live in the West Michigan Area and have some Spring Landscape Maintenance that needs doing but don't have the time, energy or inclination to do it, give Brent a call at (616) 328-3258.  I'll be happy to give you a quote on getting your landscape in shape for the season.