5 Spring Landscaping Tips
by Tobi Ulemek
It’s spring time in Orange County California! Here are five spring landscaping tips that will make your Orange County landscape bloom and grow to its full potential.
As we all know, weather is a huge part of what makes the OC a great place to grow different varieties of plants, flowers, and trees. Orange County’s plant hardiness zones range from 9b to 10b (a temperate Mediterranean climate that rarely freezes). Because of this, our weather permits us to plant new landscapes year round. Still, springtime is definitely a great season to spruce up the yard. Here’re some tips to help you groom your Orange County landscape that are sure to last year long.
1. Check your sprinkler system
Water is what makes the flowers grow! Most areas of the USA have to shut their sprinkler systems down during the winter, but here in Orange County we need to leave our sprinklers running for most of the year. With sprinkler systems, it’s all about coverage and setting a good watering schedule. To make sure each sprinkler head is covering the proper area, turn on each sprinkler station using the timer and inspect the spray from each sprinkler. The stream from each sprinkler head should be spraying onto the next head for “head to head coverage.” Proper sprinkler coverage will help you save water in the long run and keep your landscape nice and green.
2. Apply a “weed and feed” to your lawn
We always recommend that our customers treat their lawns 2 times a year with fertilizer and weed control. The first time in the spring and the second time in the fall. By following this pattern, we’ve found the lawns we maintain to be weed free and green year-round. To eliminate or help control weeds during the summer, it is important to apply different chemicals during the spring. Mild spring days allow the chemicals to work on killing the weeds in your lawn without stressing out your grass. That way the weeds will be kept at bay and your grass will stay green and alive! Fertilizing your landscapes in the spring time will also help the landscapes to grow strong for the hot summer. Fertilizer is the “feed” part of “weed and feed.”
3. Add more plants in the spring time
We get hundreds of calls from people who haven’t planted any new shrubs in their yards for several years and now they don’t like the appearance of the landscape. If you hire a good landscape company, they should be able to keep your plants nice and healthy year round. Finding that good landscape company can be the problem. If you have been using a less expensive “mow & blow” landscaper, you may need to bring in a company who has a relationship with the nurseries and can tune up your yard on a monthly or quarterly basis.
4. Plant more annuals during the spring time
Orange County has great flowers all year around, but spring time flowers are our favorite. To pick the right annuals for your yard, shop around and find those flowers that are just starting to bloom. So many times we see people buy the flowers that are already blooming. They soon realize that these flowers don’t last the longest. Flowers that are just starting to bloom have more time to get their roots established when planted. They will always last longer. Also, when you are planting your flowers, find a fertilizer that will help your annual flowers last for months.
5. Mulch it!
Now that you have your sprinklers working and your new plants installed, it’s time to mulch everything down. Mulch not only helps control the weeds, but it also helps hold the moisture in the ground. When mulch breaks down, it also adds nutrients to the soil and the plants love this! Install a good layer of mulch on all of your planter beds 2 times a year and you’ll help your plants be healthy and save water at the same time. If you have a small yard, you can use mulch from a bag. If you have a medium to large yard, ask your landscaper where you can by mulch by the quantity. Most of these landscape suppliers will deliver a few yards to your driveway for a fair price.
6. One last thing…
Our final springtime landscaping tip is to enjoy your yard! If you’ve followed our easy steps, it’s probably looking pretty great right now!
And remember, TRU Landscape Services is on your side. If you have any questions about your landscape, please feel free and call our friendly staff. If it’s a question we can’t answer over the phone, we will be glad to come and give you a free estimate to help fix your problem.
We don’t just do sprinkler systems and gardens! Check out our Orange County landscape construction page for more information on our custom concrete installations and more. TRU Landscape Services; with over 25 years of experience in the landscape industry you know we’ll take good care of you and your lawn!
If you’d like to read more blogs like this one, check out our Orange County Landscape Contractor news feed.
or, for more information, here’re some other Spring Landscaping Tips from experts in the field:
Spring Landscaping Tips from David Beaulieu
Spring Landscaping Tips from Ronique Gibson