Spring Landscaping 101: Expert Tips for Evaluating, Preparing, and Planting Your Outdoor Space

Spring has arrived, and with it comes the perfect opportunity to revamp your outdoor space with fresh plants and new landscaping.

But where do you begin?

Knowing how to approach your spring landscaping can be overwhelming, with many options and decisions. That’s where our Spring Landscaping 101 guide comes in.

Assess Your Yard: Tips for Evaluating Your Outdoor Space

When you go outside to evaluate your landscape, look up at your trees. Are there any hanging limbs from storm damage? Do you see the potential for trees to cause problems with future storms?

Next, look at your flowerbeds. Are there shrubs, perennials, and other plantings that need pruning or dividing? Are there plants that aren’t thriving and need to be dug out of your beds?

Spring landscaping is also an excellent time to cut down dead stalks and rake leaves from your beds.

Finally, check your hardscapes. Are there steps that need to be replaced? Does your deck need to be cleaned? Are there broken flagstones that require repair?

Bridge the Gaps: How to Deal with Space Issues in Your Garden

If there are spots where perennials didn’t come back or were filled with annuals last year, order new plants, trees, and shrubs to replace them for spring planting.

If you’re looking for a particular type of plant variety, ask about ordering the plant varieties that you’re looking for from your local garden center

Ready, Set, Grow: How to Prepare and Create New Garden Beds

Do you want to add new garden beds to your backyard? You can easily create new beds by digging a new plot and working the soil so it is loamy and not compacted.

First, remove the grass and weeds as soon as you can work the soil. Next, buy a soil test kit to check for pH and missing nutrients.

After you get the results, use the recommendations to prepare the soil for new plants.

Add lime or sulfur to the ground to balance your soil’s pH. Next, add 4” of compost or well-rotted manure into the soil at a depth of 10”-12” with a spading fork. Then make the planting area smooth by raking it.

From Roots to Shoots: How to Plant Bare-Root Plants

What are bare-root plants?

According to Penn State University, bare-root plants are dormant when sent to you, or you buy them from a garden center. Many garden catalogs sell bare-root plants like trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, and edible plants.

Learn more: Best Edible Plants to Install in Your Garden

The plant wakes up from dormancy when you place it in potting soil and water it. Penn State recommends that you soak your bare-rooted plants before planting them in soil:

Several hours for trees and shrubs
10-20 minutes for strawberries, asparagus, perennials, and other plants.

If you can’t plant your bare-rooted plants, put them in a dark, cool place until you can put them in a container or garden. You can also put them in a container with potting soil, water them, and store it in the garage or another cool place.

However, you mustn’t water dormant plants while they’re in their original packaging, or mold will grow and will kill the plants. Leave them in their plastic bag or box until you can plant them in a pot or the garden.

Container Planting: Tips for Growing Landscaping and Vegetable Plants in Pots and Other Containers

Did you know that you can have a vegetable garden in containers? You don’t need to make a plot that replaces your lawn if you have an urban backyard. Instead, you can grow fruits and vegetables in containers on your patio or balcony throughout the growing season.

For example, you can put dwarf-size landscaping plants in containers. Patriot blueberries (Vaccinium patriot) make perfect plants to grace your patios this summer. The shrubs can take up to 18 months to produce fruit, but their evergreen leaves will brighten the space you put them in.

Also, boxwood varieties, like Green Beauty and NextGen Freedom, do very well as landscaping container plants on your patios.

Mulch Matters: Why Your Garden and Landscaping Need Mulch

You may think of mulch as the finishing touch, but it does much more for your garden and landscape plants. For example, mulch regulates soil temperatures, suppresses weeds, holds in moisture, and adds nutrients to the soil as it breaks down.

Your landscaping and garden plants will thank you when the summer gets hot and dry because their roots stay moist.

Campbell & Ferrara Provides All You Need for Spring Landscaping

You need us at Campbell and Ferrara if you’re ready to start your spring landscaping projects. Our garden center carries plants, garden products, and building materials for landscaping, such as stone and soil.

If you’re a busy family with careers and kids, our landscaping team will happily create a landscape design with new garden beds and plantings that achieve your objectives and complement your property.

We also design and build retaining walls, outdoor fireplaces, and install outdoor lighting. And if you have ponding in your yard every time it rains, we’re your drainage contractors, helping you to solve your flooding problems.

For more information about our landscaping and hardscaping services, call us today at 703-705-7892 or fill out our contact form.

Campbell and Ferrara offer landscape design and build services and a retail garden center catering to Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and Springfield, Virginia homeowners.

Sources:

MarthaStewart.com, 12 Essential Spring Gardening Tips.

NextGenBoxwood.com, Routine Care.

Extension.PSU.edu, Handling and Planting “Bare Root” Plants in the Home Landscape.