Start a Garden at a New Home

Get spring lawn care tips for designing a landscape from MTD parts

When you move into a new house and get unpacked, you'll begin to make design updates and renovations to make that house your home. This includes starting a garden or redesigning a landscape. If the previous owners didn't have a green thumb you may be starting from scratch. Or, you may just need to do some spring maintenance. If you can, consider splitting and transplanting your favorite flowers from your old home to your new one.

Before you get started with spring lawn care, make sure you have all the right tools, including walk-behind or lawn mower parts, landscaping accessories and lawn equipment such as tiller parts to help you start your garden. Then, follow the tips below to design a unique landscape for your family.

Treat the lawn and trim back the overgrowth

The first part of spring lawn care is testing the lawn to determine what type of fertilizer you need. If you have bare patches, find out what type of grass you have and reseed the lawn. Then, give your lawn water and time to regrow before mowing. The level of water should be enough that it is saturated without flooding. If it's overgrown, set your mower on its cut highest setting and take a slow pass over the lawn. Then lower the height and take a second pass. Make sure your lawn mower blades are sharp whether you're mowing a freshly grown lawn or overgrown mess. This helps ensure healthy regrowth.

Next, break out the string trimmer and cut back weeks and overgrown grass on the edges of your flower beds. If the previous owner had shrubs, use hedge trimmers to shape and prune them. You can also choose to dig up or transplant bushes if they're not your style. Whether you're starting them from scratch, or just touching up what the previous homeowner's did, cleaning up the lawn is the first step to starting a garden at your new home.

Prepare flowerbeds for planting

Dig out any plants you don't like, and thoroughly weed existing beds. (If you just planted new grass, don't use and herbicides as they will choke out the new growth). If the plants are in good condition, offer them to friends or neighbors - or even your local garden club. Use your garden tiller to prepare new flower beds or turnover old ones if you're planning to select new plants. Add compost to the beds and till them again, deeper this time to work the nutrients into the soil and water the beds. After you've added your new plants, spread mulch over the beds to keep them warm and keep weeds out. The natural breakdown of the mulch will also add nutrients to the soil. It will take several years to build up a flourishing garden at your new home, but you can use this first spring to design a landscape.

Spring lawn care tips for designing a landscape

How you design your landscape will depend on the space you have to work with, existing plants and trees, and your personal preferences. However, there are a few ideas you may want to know about as you start a garden at a new home.

Consider hedgerows for a natural border along the property.
Use a flat portion of your lawn to start a vegetable garden.
Plant trees in front of your home to act as a natural barrier to wind and snow.
Design a patio space that runs naturally into the yard.
Plant flowering trees for a touch of elevated color in the spring, or fruit trees if you have the time and inclination to cultivate them properly.
Create natural walkways using slabs cut out from downed trees, slate or stone dust.
Visit your local home and garden store in the off-season for great deals and consider buying smaller plants that will develop in your yard as they are often less expensive.

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and your new garden won't be either. Take your time creating a beautiful landscape that will flourish with each coming spring. Plant bulbs in the fall, and be sure to spread fertilizer and mow regularly and properly. If it's your first time as a homeowner, make sure you have all the lawn care parts and equipment you need for upkeep each season. And when you need tiller parts, mower parts or other power equipment replacements, use the Part Finder to get original manufacturer parts that will work best with your machine.