Your lawn and garden need your time and attention to help them grow and thrive. Plant care is a skill that takes time to develop. This article is here to get you started.

Looking after your garden will be easy when you equip yourself with the right knowledge. Keep reading to learn our best tips and tricks for cultivating your garden.

What We’ll Cover In This Article:

Update Your Lawn and Garden Care for the Season

When it comes to effective plant watering and plant care, you need to treat your garden differently throughout the year. If you live in an area that experiences cold winter months, you need to be mindful of the impact this can have on your plants.

At the same time, hot and humid summers can wreak havoc on your garden, which is when you’ll need to think about plant watering more regularly. Plan to cut your line once a week in the summer.

For the rest of the year, every two weeks is sufficient. Make sure you are mindful of the climate of your home state.

Spring-Time Gardening Tasks

Spring is the time to tour your garden to see what’s been happening while you were inside all winter.

At this point, you should remove any matted leaves left from last fall. Trim off the brown foliage from your ornamental grass plants and perennial plants. Lastly, remove any fallen branches or other trash that has made its way into your garden during the cold weather.

Build Exterior Garden Structures

A huge part of plant care is offering support and protection for plants to thrive. Start building your structures early spring before the ground has completely thawed out. April and May are good times to inspect, repair, or replace any hardscape items, including:

  • gazebos
  • fountains
  • plant stands
  • privacy screens
  • retaining walls
  • living walls

Fountains are a great way to add a relaxing centerpiece to your garden. They can also help attract more wildlife to your outdoor space.

Take the time in early spring to clean out fountains from leaves and other debris. If you don’t currently have a fountain, consider adding one.

Even if you have limited space to add a water feature, a small fountain can make a tranquil addition. Spring is also a good time to give your birdbaths a thorough scrub.

Types of Structures

Consider an exterior landscape design that includes plant stands to help your plants grow and make plant care easier. This display will bring show plants into focus.

Additionally, retaining walls can protect against wind and erosion. A pergola, or a roof-like lattice, can help cover some of your shade-loving plants while also growing through the design. This structure can make a beautiful addition to any garden. It can quickly become a place to gather with your friends and family.

Retaining walls are a more practical custom exterior landscape addition. These are vertical walls designed to redirect water flow and hold soil back on slopes. You’ll find that they can be both functional and decorative in their own right. Click here to learn more about the types of garden decor you can install.

Identify and Remove Weeds

Weeds are a huge issue in plant care for your garden and lawn. Lawn weeds might either grow as flowers or seed heads.

Generally, you’ll find a huge variety of weeds in lawns today. The best option for your home is to remove the whole weed, ensuring you get the roots out simultaneously. You can do this by hand but using a weed removing tool.

When carrying out regular plant watering, we suggest pet-safe herbicide. Always look for a product that has a low toxicity level. That way, you won’t cause any harm to nearby creatures.

Spring Pruning

Spring is the time of year when many plants will benefit from pruning. Do you have woody plants that flower in the fall? Our rule of thumb is to prune them in the spring. Examples include hydrangeas and roses.

However, don’t prune forsythias, azaleas, or lilacs in the spring. Spring is also the time to shape any evergreen trees that you want to control growth or spread.

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Improve Drainage for Your Lawn

Drainage is a major issue within the exterior landscape design. If your lawn has poor drainage, you may find it becomes soaked for days. In the long run, this can cause issues for your lawn health if you don’t work to improve the drainage.

Common reasons for drainage issues include inferior custom exterior landscape design and the lack of absorption from the soil. Are you seeing standing water in your garden outside of your water features? Take steps to avoid a buildup of water in the future to prevent further damage to your lawn.

Design With Your Garden Shape in Mind

The shape of your garden will play a big part in preventing waterlogging. Drive water away from your home to prevent damage to the property. Dips in the ground need to be avoided at all costs, as these can cause water to pool.

We sometimes find that homeowners need to install additional gutters and drains. These additions can direct excess water away from the lawn.

Another strategy, instead of working to remove standing water, is to add water-loving plants. Some species thrive in boggy ground, including:

  • astilbe
  • cardinal flower
  • sedge
  • rose mallow
  • summersweet
  • hibiscus
  • European cranberry bush viburnum
  • leucothoe
  • fothergilla
  • Pinkberry
  • sweetspire
  • sweet and swamp azaleas
  • white spruce
  • black gum

These varieties will absorb some of the extra water. You’ll be able to protect your plants that might otherwise become water-logged.

Mowing and Edging Your Lawn

Mowing your lawn is an important part of plant care. However, it’s best to only remove about one-third of the grass length during each session in the spring.

More often, mowing matters in the summer when you can cut about half the grass length. In the winter, the grass will grow much slower, if at all. Try to avoid mowing your lawn when your soil or grass is wet. This mistake can damage your lawn and stop it from growing at its borders and edges.

Invest in a half-moon edging tool or use edging shears or even a battery-powered edger to complete this work. You should do this after mowing, offering a finishing touch to the plant care process for your lawn.

Key Takeaways

Plant care and watering often seem like a huge task, but little and often is the best way to go.

Your garden should work in the right manner for your property’s design and unique custom exterior landscape. You’ll reduce the number of issues you face in the future.

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Boston Exterior Design & Plantscaping Specialists

Foliaire is a full-service interior and exterior greenscape design-build firm in Boston’s historic South End. For the last 40 years, we’ve provided the highest quality office plantscaping services for clients across the Boston Metro area.

We customize and plan our living walls and interior planting designs to fit your unique space and tastes. That’s how we’ve built a reputation of unparalleled style and elegance for both corporate plantscaping and residential community projects.

In addition, we’ve received several environmental design awards and have appeared in several publications. You can find us in Architectural Digest, House and Garden, Horticulture, and Interiorscape.

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