12 Early Spring Landscaping Tips to Prepare Your Lawn and Garden

Right between the doldrums of winter and the colorful burst of spring comes a limbo of sorts, particularly for garden and lawn care. If we head to the backyard with our seedlings and shovels too early, a late-March snow shower can ruin all our hard work. If we wait too long, well, we have to play catchup to get the most out of our blooms.

Despite nature's finicky nature, early spring is a fantastic time to prep your flower beds, seeds, trees, and lawns for the upcoming planting season. Take a look at these 12 spring landscaping tips for a solid start to the season.

1. Get to Know Your Frost Zone

First things first—even if your friend down in North Carolina has tomato plants in the ground already, it doesn't mean you should in Massachusetts. Get to know your hardiness zone and check the Farmer's Almanac each year for approximate final frost dates.

Perennials, trees, and many types of grass remain dormant until this time, and this determines how much water, fertilizer, and disturbance they can take. New plants, including most flowers, herbs, and veggies, should wait until after the last frost to avoid damage.

2. Clear Away Debris

When that final patch of snow finally melts, it's time to check how your yard fared in the winter. Remove winter mulch from your flower beds to allow the ground to thaw. Clear sticks and remaining leaves from your lawn as well. In the first few passes, be gentle with your lawn as you rake, especially if the grass is still dormant yet to green up.

3. Address Winter Lawn Damage

Grass turfs can handle the hard weather of winter, but issues do occur. Snow mold—a common fungus that develops under thick snow—can cause rings or patches during the cold months. Keep in mind that you can treat your lawn for snow mold before winter or early spring with a lawn fungicide. You can also save on long-term landscaping costs by choosing grasses native to your climate.

Make a note of any yellow patches from deicer, too much traffic, or a visit from the local dog.

4. Fertilize Your Lawn and Reseed, if Necessary 

Spring is the perfect time to show your lawn extra love with fertilizer. Apply fertilizer when the grass is growing and looks green—right before your third mowing session of the season is a good rule of thumb. Colder climates may not reach this stage until May or June, while warmer climates may be ready for fertilizing in February. Whether you have cool-season or warm-season grass can also affect your ideal lawn fertilizer schedule.

If brown patches or bare sports have developed in the dormant season, spring is also ideal for overseeding. However, try to identify and solve underlying issues beforehand. Consult a local landscaping company if you can’t find a cause or the problem persists after overseeding. They may also offer recommendations or services for improving the health of your lawn and home, such as landscaping around your house to prevent water damage.

Reseed once temperatures stay fairly consistent and moderate. Water the area before spreading the seed (the ground should be moist but not soggy). Spread the seed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

5. Check In With Your Trees

A winter wonderland puts a lot of pressure on branches and trees. The early spring is an excellent time to bring in a local arborist to check your trees for instability, rot, disease, or pests. If you'd rather prune on your own, your tree expert can advise on how to properly and safely trim the ends of branches while avoiding flowering trees that prefer to keep their buds.

6. Keep Up With Weeds

If you're itching to start gardening but it's not time to bring out the tomato plants, focus on weeds. Weeds will start popping up the moment they get the chance—in your flower beds, around your perennial bushes, and between stepping stones. Pay particular care to your hardscape. If left to overgrow, weeds can throw off the balance of stepping stones and even cause damage to your pavers.

7. Prep for Pests

Cutworms are notorious garden pests that appear as early as the first thaw. First appearing as larvae, these young moths can damage plants and roots. Removing winter debris and mulch and overturning the soil can help you catch cutworms before they flourish. Consider a natural insecticide such as soapy water to eliminate early invaders, or consult a local pest control team for garden-safe methods.

8. Divide Your Perennials

To spread out your forsythia, garden mums, or hostas, divide their roots in early to mid-spring after you've had a chance to water them thoroughly. Dividing one involves delicately splitting a grouping of roots and transplanting perennial plants separately to thrive on their own—a bit like propagating a succulent. Check instructions for your unique species, as not all like to be divided in early spring.

9. Fertilize Perennials 

Speaking of perennials, flowering plants love a layer of fertilizer just before their growth season. According to the Farmer's Almanac, apply fertilizer to the perennials about a week before the last frost but after the ground has thawed.

As for the rest of the garden, add a slow-release fertilizer marked specifically for flowering plants and vegetable gardens. Be careful about overfertilizing early in the spring to avoid overwhelming plants coming out of their winter sleep.

10. Wait on Mulch

It may be tempting to break out the mulch the second you prune and divide your perennials, but this insulating layer can slow down the natural thawing process. Apply mulch around your perennials several weeks after the final frost and once you have consistently warm temperatures. In the meantime, you can learn how to make mulch from materials in your yard so it’s ready to go when the time is right. 

11. Start with Hardy Plants

There are a handful of tough vegetables that don't mind the cold as much. You can either grow these hardy veggies indoors or buy them from your garden store as seedlings. Plants that can go into a thawed ground before the final frost include spinach, sunflowers, lettuce, and radishes. Soon after, consider kale, broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, and parsnips.

The first signs of spring are also fine reminders to hire a landscaper who can check the health of your plants, lawn, and trees on a regular schedule.

12. Inspect Your Irrigation System 

Give your sprinkler system a good visual inspection. Look for broken or bent sprinkler heads, grass and weeds growing around sprinkler heads and other components, and cracked connectors or pipes. Check the backflow preventer to make sure it's intact.

Inspect and clean any filters, even if you did so before winterizing the system. Look through the manufacturer’s guide before turning on the system, and follow any recommendations based on the unique configuration of your system.

Ginny Bartolone contributed to this piece.