Spring Planting Bed Clean-Up

images-4Winter is like that guest that has overstayed his welcome and didn’t make the bed.  Winter is gone and if you look around you can see that it has left our planting beds a little messy.  In this month’s newsletter I want to give you some tips to cleaning up your planting beds.  Once the snow is completely gone you can start cleaning up your shrub and perennial planting beds.  Be sure to wait until the soil has dried enough so that it doesn’t get further compacted when you walk on it.  To make your planting bed prep a breeze, I want you to keep in mind three simple steps: remove, add, and plan.
 
Remove
• Garbage and tree branches
• Dead annuals leftover from last year
• Perennial plant material – cut back the old growth within several inches of the ground,
avoiding any new plant material
• Prune dead branches from trees and shrubs – prune your summer and fall flowering trees and
shrubs now,wait to prune spring flowering trees and shrubs until after they’re done
flowering
• Rake the bed to remove any leaves leftover from fall
• Fluff existing mulch
• Remove weeds that have started to grow
Add
• Compost – make sure not to cover up any new growth
• Slow-release granular weed preventer, such as Preen, to help prevent weed seeds from
germinating
• Mulch – have a 3-4″ layer to conserve water, cool plant roots, control erosion, and prevent
weeds
◦ Our favorite mulch is Western Red Cedar or MN Northern White Cedar
◦ Keep mulch away from the base of the plant stem
Plan
• Plan for additions to your garden or annual planting areas
 
If you need help laying out a plan for your yard, please give us a call at 651-755-7901!

Posted in Blog.