Spring Gardening & Planting Guide: Part I
Springtime Gardening Guide For Southern Colorado Landscapes — Part I: PREPARING YOUR GARDEN PLOT
The spring season is nearly upon us here in Southern Colorado! Whether you live in Montrose, Grand Junction, or another area of the Western Slope, there’s no time like the present to get started on your springtime gardening. Make sure you follow the steps in this seasonal lawn care guide to ensure that you get the most ‘bloom’ for your buck.
For more information on springtime lawn care and seasonal gardening tips for Southern Colorado properties, or to schedule a free consultation for our local landscaping services, please contact the Green-Way Pro Landscape team today!
Before You Grow: Preparing Your Garden Plot
Before you start to grow, seed, or weed, you may want to look down and inspect the ground of where you intend to plant this spring’s assortment of blooms. If you planted any bulbs last fall, such as tulips or crocus, you may have noticed a blade or two already peeking up out of the soil. Once you can reasonably detect signs of springtime growth in your gardening area, it’s time to get moving on the prep steps for your future plants.
When it comes to gardening, there are three “P”s that can help you remember what’s essential: prepare the soil, identify a specific plot, and make sure it’s readied for planting before you sow any seeds. Easy peasy! But what does that prep work entail?
Mulch Ado About Planting
Start by removing any mulch you may have laid down back in winter or even during the previous fall. If you’re fortunate enough to see that some of the mulch has already begun to break down into natural compost, don’t worry about removing it from your in-progress plot. Next, remove visible debris that isn’t naturally biodegradable, such as stones, large sticks, or small pieces of paper and rubbish that the wind may have kicked into your planting zone.
Trifecta For a Flourishing Garden: Prune, Divide, & “Conquer”
Prune First, Plant Later
The follow-up to the preparation of your spring gardening plot involves another trifecta of essential tasks: pruning, dividing up plants, and conquering — or, rather, cultivating! If you have any shrubs or flowering bushes in your garden, whether it’s a lilac, lavender, or something else, you’ll want to prune these back.
Trim until the bushes are reasonably comparable in size to the stature they had during their previous blooming season. It’s okay for your shrubbery to grow out a bit each year, but you don’t want to let it get so overgrown that its pollen drifts into nearby plots and flower beds — hardy ground-cover plants such as these can actually choke out your perennials before they have a chance to thrive!
Divide & Conquer
Once your tulips and bulb babies are safe from potential pollination by surrounding shrubs, you may want to divide up your perennials. This simply means splitting up your perennials so that you plant them over a larger area of soil, rather than consolidating them in one large clump. Doing this reduces the likelihood of all the flowers or plants getting damaged in one fell swoop — whether it’s a hungry family of rabbits or a nasty late-spring snow storm that does the dirty work.
Conquer the Art of the Cultivar
Once you’ve pruned and divided, it only follows suit that a “conquering” of sorts is next in order! We’re not talking about combat, necessarily, but when you consider just how much work and effort goes into the cultivation of a plant — it’s a little bit hard not to feel like Julius Caesar with a green thumb.
Pick & Plant!
Last but not least — and arguably the best part of the entire process — it’s time to finalize your picks for what you’ll plant in your spring garden! Here in Southern Colorado, from Montrose to Durango and everywhere in between, the Western Slope has some of the best soil for growing a diversity of crops, flowers, trees, and other cultivars.
Spring Into Gardening Season With More Green Thumb Guides
When the world is your oyster, so to speak, it can be difficult to narrow down which plants you truly want to include, as well as what your soil pH and plantable space can accommodate. Fortunately, our Spring Planter’s Catalog is the perfect guide for helping you select the assortment of ideal blooms and homegrown goodies for your personal garden. Read our seasonal gardening resource here, and don’t forget to check out the helpful infographic that goes along with it.
Want To Build Your Best Backyard This Spring?
Get Started With Green-Way Pro!
From all of us here at Green-Way Pro, we hope you’ve enjoyed this springtime gardening guide and that you feel more prepared to manage and maintain the flowers, vines, and/or vegetables you may be trying to cultivate. If you have any further questions or would like to know more about the gardening services and property management solutions we offer, please contact our professional landscaping company today!
At Green-Way Pro, our team of gardening and lawn care experts service the majority of the metro areas along the Western Slope, including Grand Junction, Montrose, Olathe, and more than a dozen others. We encourage you to reach out anytime for a free consultation on seasonal maintenance services, gardening management and more, so if you want to ensure that your perennials return next year and for many years to come, please give us a call now at (970) 964-4610.