Yard Cleanup for Spring

As the weather clears and the mud dries, you can take advantage of early spring to get your yard ready for warmer weather use. After a winter covered in snow, you’ll definitely have some work ahead of you. Today, we will discuss some easy ways to prepare your yard for spring after a long winter.

As a note, wait until the weather is consistently warm to clean out mulch and organic waste, as many pollinators (honey bees, monarch butterflies, and other insects important to our food ecosystem) use yard waste for their eggs. Clearing organic yard waste (leaves, sticks, etc) too early can kill off these pollinators before they hatch.

Getting Started

Yardwork is a never-ending project, and it will do you well to start small. Get organized first, grab waste bins, rakes, shovels, and garbage bags, and make a plan.

What part of your yard are you hitting first - front or back? Are you planting any bulbs or updating any shrubbery? Make a plan for where you’re starting and get any supplies you need (or need to replace) first. You can even sketch everything out on a piece of paper so you have an idea of exactly how you want it to look.

If you’re planning on planting new greenery, you’ll definitely want to sketch out where you want everything in the yard and also make sure the soil is the appropriate PH. We won’t go into all of the nitty-gritty gardening details, but it’s important to do some prep work as part of your yard clean-up.

Get to Work

Once the weather is consistently warmer and your yard is snow-free, you can get started with cleaning up.

First, if you’re starting in the backyard, tackle the most boring (and worst) part of winter cleanup: animal waste. It’s messy, it’s gross, and it’s important to get done before it completely melts and mushes into your soil. If you have a dog, you know exactly what we’re talking about.

Once your pet waste is cleaned up (or if you’re pet-free), continue on to your plan of attack. Rake up leaves, mulch and other organic waste, and prep the soil for any bulbs you want to plant. Sort your organic waste (other than animal waste - that’s always trash) into one bin and your general trash into another. Be careful if you’re using ladders to trim trees, and make sure you double-check how much you should trim trees and bushes back because we all know how easy it is to get carried away and do something you can’t undo.

Make loads to the dump as you need, and try to stay organized. While it’s tempting to ping-pong back and forth between different corners of the yard, stick to your plan! If you started in the front, stay in the front, and vice versa. Take breaks, drink lots of water, and try to have fun! You’re outside! The winter is mostly over!

If you’re planting flowers, adding bulbs, or updating landscaping, wait until the weather is for sure warmed up, or you risk ruining a lot of hard work and wasting money on plants.

Also, make sure you find a trusted landscaping and gardening resource for all of your gardening plans - we can help clean up your bulk waste from your landscaping adventures, but we’re not plant experts!

Need a Hand?

Yard cleanup is efficient at making a ton of waste. No matter if you’re trimming trees, cutting back old plants, or raking up what seems like 750 pounds of old leaves and mulch, you’ll have a lot to deal with. If you’re too busy to hop over to the dump or don’t have a truck or a trailer to bring loads with, this is where we come in! You can schedule a free estimate here, and we’re happy to come help get your yard junk taken to the dump.

Wrapping Up

Honestly, are you ever truly done with yardwork? Once you’ve cleaned up from winter, spring hits, and your grass gets long, and you need to deal with maintaining that, storms make a mess of your yard (we have a great guide for that!), and then suddenly it’s fall, and there are leaves everywhere again. Our best piece of advice is to stay on top of your yard’s regular maintenance, and life will be much simpler. Schedule biweekly or monthly maintenance time on your calendar so you don’t forget, and enjoy your beautiful space!