We Can Feel Spring Coming in the Air Tonight

Feeling Springy yet? Whether or not you're enjoying the birds, bees, and rest of nature at your time of reading, the process of Spring has already begun. So, are you doing your part to help your landscape step into its greatness in this most verdant of seasons? In nature, plants do a pretty impressive job of creating and sustaining life all on their own, but in the modern yard, plants need some help. Spring cleanup is the task that brings in the Spring, making it easier for all your flowers and other plants to bring you the beauty you value in your Central City yard. Here's how we clean up to Spring Perfection. Why Spring Cleanup? As we mentioned, your yard needs some help to reach its full potential. The value of cleanup is twofold: Aesthetic and health. Aesthetic The aesthetic benefit of a cleaner landscape needs little explanation. Who doesn't want to look neat and clean? With a yard, that means removing anything that doesn't belong. Anything dead (or trash that was never alive) should be removed, and everything living needs a spruce-up. Health The less obvious benefit of Spring Cleanup is the health boost it gives to all of the plants in your landscape, from the tops of your trees to the roots of your grass. An introductory biology review will help you understand why. Any unhealthy part of an organism affects the whole's health. So to be a healthy person, it helps to have healthy lungs. To be a healthy flower, it's best not to have diseased parts. Similarly, anything that blocks an organism from getting its survival necessities must go so it can survive and thrive. Cleanup does all that and more, as we'll explain below. How Do We Clean Up for Spring? Spring cleanup is an exercise of seeing the forest and the trees! It's paradoxically broad and detailed because it takes looking at your whole landscape and paying attention to each inch of it. Here are some basics to give you an idea of what cleanup covers. Debris Collection The bulkiest chunk of yard cleanup is debris collection. Your plants' lifecycle involves much blooming and dying. Even the plants that last many years still have pieces that die regularly. Winter accelerates the shedding process that is already present in your plants. In addition, snow and ice can break off tree branches to accompany the leaves and blossoms that naturally litter your ground. All that dead plant matter gets in the way of your living plants' health. Anything on the ground prevents the plants it sits atop from getting sunlight. It may also be an obstacle for water and nutrients. Further, larger and harder plant debris like twigs and branches prevent proper mowing. And when moisture gets caught beneath leaves and other plant parts, that prevents natural evaporation, which can create mold, fungus, and plant diseases. Mulching On the other hand, mulch is a dead plant matter that is good for your gardens due to its weed prevention and water retention properties. But over time, it deteriorates and/or washes away. So part of yard Cleanup is replacing mulch wherever it has thinned out. Dead Plants, Help Plant New Plants! Of course, most of the landscape you care about is everything you've planted. So part of the seasonal cleanup is removing anything that has died to make room for new plants. Annuals die every year, so replacing them is an expected and essential part of landscaping. In addition, some perennials might not make it through each season. Those who do will need pruning to remove the no longer healthy parts. Aeration & Overseeding While aerating and overseeding your lawn is generally a separate process, you can also think of it as a part of Spring Cleanup. That's because every Spring, we take the time to perform these steps to keep your lawn healthy. As your soil compacts, it becomes difficult for your grass to thrive. So we loosen it up so your grass can spread its roots. Then we reseed the lawn to replace the grass that is no longer growing. Spring Cleaning Inside, Spring Cleanup Outside Spring cleanup may not be the most glamorous part of landscaping. Instead, that honor goes to creating flower beds. And it's also not the most complex. But cleanup is vital to the health and look of your yard. It takes time and lots of attention to detail, so we recommend getting help from the Perfection pros to make your yard sublime.