Each spring I get the bug to really go overboard with my garden. I want to plant vegetables and flowers and vines and more succulents, etc. Sometimes, it's safe to say, I get a little ahead of myself. Because sometimes it's best to start with what I've got and take care of that. So I start with a little bit of garden spring cleaning.
How To: Spring Clean the Garden
Working in a garden can be time consuming (even if it's time enjoyed). Just maintaining what you've already got can take more time than you have. So, for me, before I start adding stuff, I've got to get what I have under control. Spring is a great time to clear out, feed and see if there are some gaps to fill. Here's my order of operations, spending about 5 minutes on each and maybe 15 minutes a day until it's done. this way I don't overlaod myself or have to do a blowout weekend garden binge:
• Weed. Take five minutes to weed your containers or the spot around your porch.
• Trim. Again, take another 5 minutes to go around and cut off anything dead, leggy, or overgrown. (Save succulent cuttings to plant later).
• Clean up. Gather the weeds and cuttings and put 'em in your green bin.
• Feed. I use Worm Gold worm casings to fertilize and feed my container plants. I also periodically give them coffee grounds to keep them going.
• Water. Give everything a nice deep water to spread out the fertilizer and give them a spring boost. (Make sure to do this in the morning or the evening and not the middle of the day when the sun is beating down on everything.).
• Plant the succulent cuttings. I normally just stick them into the ground or the pot where I want them and figure that at least 3/4's of them will make it. This is a great way to fill gaps without buying anything new. It's also nice to trade with neighbors and other gardener friends.
• Sit back and relax. Now it's time to enjoy the garden!
Comments (11)
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Since I have a container garden, my garden spring cleaning includes (a) washing out the pots and containers, (b) washing down the deck, and (c) adding fertilizer and/or compost and/or fresh potting soil to my containers, as needed.
view romateamo's profile
If only. My to-do list includes sweeping all the junk from around the pots, hauling unused/unusable stuff from the potting closet to the trash, hanging some small planters, and figuring out what's wrong with my pouting citrus trees. I hope to get some done tonight. But I expect it to be the last non-brutally-hot evening of the season. Most of what doesn't get done now will probably still be waiting for me in November.
view whytephoenix's profile
I wish weeding only took 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I weeds growing between the brick pavers in my courtyard.
view appledeco's profile
This might not be 100% applicable to "spring garden maintenance," but since it's spring, and it is sort of a pruning problem, I thought I'd ask.
I have a dwarf meyer lemon tree (probably 3 years old) that's just exploding with flower buds. The tree is 3 feet tall, with 6 or 8 main branches, and it's got over 200 buds, with more sprouting every day. I've heard that you're not supposed to trim back lemon trees until late fall or early winter, but I don't think my tree can physically make that many lemons! Am I hurting the tree if I cut off a bunch of the flower buds, or is this commonly done for smaller citrus trees? I'm afraid that if I let it keep flowering and pollinating, it'll have about 200 tiny, useless lemons, and will be sickly and weak next year.
Thanks for advice from anyone who's dealt with spring citrus tree explosions.
view itsakitty's profile
My Container garden spring cleaning includes
1.trim some dead flowers and branches from my vines..
2.move my plants to one half of the balcony.
3.sweep that half of the balcony and wash it.
4.wait to get dry and then move the pots back ,and do the same with the other half.
5.water my plants.
6.enjoy...
I do this once a month..
view ilovenature's profile
TO: Weeds between pavers
Boiling water is a great non-toxic weed control. Fire of the tea kettle then gently pour boiling water directly on your weeds - instantly cooked weeds do not survive.
view Alice's profile
itsakitty, I normally just break off the little budding lemons until I have, maybe ten on the tree. then as they get larger I get rid of a couple of the smaller ones. depending on the size of your tree I definitely wouldn't keep all those budding lemons!
and appledeco--trust me, I have way more than 5 minutes of weeding. But when I set the timer for just 5 minutes a day i get a surprising amount of it done with resenting it!
view laure's profile
i vacuumed my balcony the other day. I'm sure I looked a bit insane to people below on the street but it was quick and easy. I did sweep it first to get the bulk of it.
view adamwa's profile
@ itsakitty: You can pinch off just the buds without removing any leaves or branches.
view romateamo's profile
itsakitty: like others have said, just pinch out the buds before the lemons begin to grow.
view deeboyayay's profile
This year, new house with a new yard (and I mean newly CREATED, not just new to me...) one of my surprise gardening projects was killing the poison ivy vine that popped up on the stump in the corner! NOT happy. (I never actually knew for sure what poison ivy looked like before. I saw it and thought "that thing looks itchy, somehow" and checked my guess on Google images... When it dies, I have to figure out how to remove it without touching it!)
view SherryBinNH's profile