The warm weather we’re having right now may be giving you a case of “Spring Fever”, but be aware, it’s still very possible to see some more frost nights, so don’t be too quick to start on your spring Myrtle Beach landscaping projects.
That doesn’t mean you have to sit indoors staring out the window at your garden and landscape, pining for the good ol’ days when you spend countless hours weeding, fertilizing, and harvesting in the heat of the Grand Strand summer. There are plenty of chores to be done in your landscape even now!
Here are a Few Important Tips For Your Early Spring Myrtle Beach Landscaping Checklist:
Now is a good time to prune your stoloniferous shrubs. That’s a fancy word for a shrub that produces suckers. The list includes forsythia and shrubby dogwoods. Some gardening literature may tell you not to prune in early spring. However, early spring is a good time to do some pruning, but don’t get too carried away with those hedge trimmers.
You’ll want to avoid top pruning because plants such as lilacs, forsythia, mockorange, honeysuckle and some of the spireas form flower buds on growth produced from the previous year. Any top pruning will result in loss of flowers.
A good general rule is to remove one-third of the oldest canes each year. Remove canes that have become too large, that are insect-or-disease ridden or that may show winter dieback. Pruning these canes leaves a healthy shrub that flowers evenly and does not develop a leggy look. The amount removed depends on the density of the canes and the length of time since the last pruning.
Thin small trees now, paying close attention to broken, dead and diseased branches as well as sucker sprouts. Make cuts just outside the flare or branch “collar.” The collar is the slightly swollen part at the base of the branch.
Other Myrtle Beach Landscaping Tips
Other than pruning tress and bushes now before they begin to bud, you’ll want to make sure you’ve applied a pre-emergent weed killer now to get a jump on the weeds that will plague you all summer if you don’t. See our recent article on pre-emergents.
Another one of the early spring Myrtle Beach landscaping projects you’ll want to tackle now is to fill in bare patches in your lawn. One easy way is to mix a few shovelfuls of soil with grass seed, scratch the surface of the bare lawn areas and cover with the soil/grass mixture. Water well and continue to do so until the bare patch begins to fill in. Some people prefer the easy way to instant lawns by laying down some new sod. Just be sure you get the exact same grass as what’s in your lawn now so you don’t have a hodge-podge of different grasses all over your lawn.
And finally, give your lawnmower and other lawn maintenance equipment a thorough inspection. Clean and replace parts as needed, or have your equipment serviced at this time.
The time to start cranking up all your lawn equipment will be here before you know it, and you don’t want to have your mower and other tools “in the shop” when you should be cutting your lawn for the first time.
Super-Natural Landscaping can tailor a lawn treatment program for your lawn as well as help with any last minute pruning you need to have done before the really warm weather gets here to stay. Call us today for a free estimate at 843-246-5598. Or, complete our short form for a free, no-obligation quote on any Myrtle Beach landscaping issues or assistance you need help with. To get more Myrtle Beach landscaping tips, as well as tips for any of your landscaping projects, visit us on Facebook.
