When winter comes to an end, there is a lot to do in the garden so that it wakes up from its hibernation and can shine in bloom in summer.
The new year has started and spring is coming. Hobby gardeners in particular should be happy about this. This is also the start of the new gardening season. As soon as the first early bloomers raise their heads towards the sun, you can start getting your garden back in shape. In addition, there are now various tasks so that you can enjoy lush flowers in your garden in summer.
Check garden tools
Before you can get your garden in shape and implement one or the other garden trend, you should take a closer look at your garden tools. Defects can be life-threatening, especially with electrical or motorized equipment such as hedge trimmers, lawn mowers or trimmers. If you find damage to the housing or the power cable, you should hire a specialist workshop to repair it.
Take a closer look at your other garden tools. If necessary, remove rust and replace rotten or loose wooden handles. Spades, hoes and the like may not be as sharp as they were when you bought them. You should sharpen them again so that you can continue to work with them without any worries. The same applies to tools that you keep in the garden shed. Before you can work again with hammer, pliers and drill, the utensils must be checked. Blunt drills can be sharpened with a drill sharpener, with a hammer you can check whether the handle is still tight.
Spring Cleaning
Once you have checked your garden tools and repaired or replaced them if necessary, the real work begins. The first thing you should do is remove the leftovers from the previous year from your garden. Clear beds and lawns of leaves and dead plants. On the one hand, this serves the optics and on the other hand, rotten spots can otherwise form and the soil can acidify.
Tip: Have you treated your plants with frost protection before winter?you should only remove it when no more frosts are to be expected.
If you own a garden pond, you can also start caring for it in the spring. Use a net to remove dirt such as algae, leaves or twigs. In addition, you can cut off old plants close to the ground and remove any existing ice preventer.
Lawn Care
Once the lawn has been cleared of leaves, you should mow and scarify your lawn to remove leftover leaves, moss and plant debris. This will ensure that it is better aerated and can sprout again.
Tip: If your lawn is still young, i.e. less than three years old, you should avoid scarifying.
Finally, you can treat your lawn to a layer of lawn fertilizer to provide it with the nutrients it needs.
Edit beds
If you haven't already done so in autumn, you should loosen compacted and heavy soil in spring. You can also add lime to the soil acidified by the downpours of autumn and winter to neutralize it.
Tip: Some plants, such as Rhododenron, prefer acidic soil. You should avoid adding lime here.
As soon as the temperatures allow it, you should also remove weeds from the beds. You can also add a layer of compost to the soil. It contains valuable nutrients that are slowly absorbed by your plants.
Once the soil has been ideally prepared, you can start planting. Spring is the ideal time for planting fruit and ornamental trees or berry bushes. But you can also plant perennials such as asters or chrysanthemums in spring.
cutting measures
Maintenance cut for the hedge
Most hedges will grow more evenly and densely if they are first pruned back to the desired height and width in February, followed by a lighter pruning of the hedge in mid-June. These often only sprout again in May, so that you can enjoy an accurate and well-kept hedge until then.
However, you should not cut spring-flowering hedges, such as those made from spring-flowering plants such as forsythia or blood plums, in February. Here you have to wait until they have faded, otherwise you would spoil the flowers.
Tip: For larger hedges, it is advisable to work with a battery-powered hedge trimmer.This is significantly lighter than petrol hedge trimmers and has no annoying cable. An overview of the best cordless hedge trimmers will help you find the right model for you.
Pruning ornamental shrubs and roses
About every two to three years you should cut back summer-blooming ornamental shrubs such as hibiscus or butterfly bushes in March at the latest - but if possible earlier. Here they are shoots that have borne flowers in the previous year to shorten to just above the ground. This encourages new growth of the plant with magnificent flowers.
Ornamental shrubs that flower in spring should only be cut after flowering. Here it is important to remove the oldest and lazy shoots every two to three years. In this way you create space for strong young shoots, which will form buds over the course of the year and flower next spring.
Once the forsythias start blooming, you should start pruning your roses.
Tip: When cutting, apply the pruning shears at an angle so that no water can remain on the cutting edge. Otherwise there is a risk of rotting.