Spring Yard Cleanup Tips

Kick-Start the Growing Season with Spring Yard Cleanup

Spring clean isn't just for the inside of your home.  When winter winds down, make sure you also take time to tidy your outdoor space.  Spring yard work begins with spring yard cleanup.  Clearing debris and dead, overgrown vegetation will revive the appearance of your landscape and also make room for new greenery.  Follow these spring lawn tips to help wake up your yard and prepare it for growing season.

Spring Lawn Cleanup Tips

Begin your spring lawn cleanup by picking up debris -- including leaves, rocks, twigs and branches -- from your yard.  If there is a lot of foliage scattered on your lawn, use a leaf blower -- such as the Remington Cordless Blower -- or a rake to gently remove it.  In addition to making your yard look neater and promoting new grass growth, cleaning debris will make it safer to operate your MTD Lawn Mower.  It also gives you a better view of your lawn, so you can assess winter damage.

Spring yard cleanup tips for your plants

Continue your spring yard cleanup by removing annual plants that didn't survive the winter.  You should be able to pull these out by hand with little effort.  In addition to creating space for other plants and making your landscape look healthier, pulling up dead annuals helps loosen the soil, which allows air, water and nutrients to circulate more easily.

Then, trim brown, dried parts off your flowering perennials and ornamental grasses.  As part of your spring yard cleanup, you should also prune summer-blooming shrubs.  Wait until spring-blooming shrubs have flowered to prune them.

Spring yard cleanup tips for your planting beds

The next step to your spring lawn cleanup is to straighten up your planting beds.  Remove debris that accumulated during the winter, and pull any weeds.  Gently rake back mulch to allow the sun to dry and warm the soil.  (Be careful not to do this too early, as mulch serves as a protective barrier against late freezes.)  The warmth will help kick-start spring growth.

To further encourage new growth and freshen the look of your landscape, turn the soil in your planting beds.  First, check the moisture of your soil to see if it's ready to turn.  Take a handful, tightly squeeze it, and drop it on the ground.  If it doesn't crumble, it's still too wet, and mixing may damage its structure.  If it crumbles, it's dry enough, and you can use a hand rake or spade to carefully loosen it around your plants.  If you're preparing a new planting bed, use a Garden Tiller to cultivate the soil more efficiently and effectively.  Now is also a good time to work in compost to improve soil fertility.

Prepare your equipment for spring yard work

In addition to following these spring lawn tips, get your outdoor power equipment ready for growing season.  Make sure your blades and tiller tines are sharp, and your mower belts  are free of cracks, fraying and other signs of wear.  If you need a replacement, use our parts finder to quickly locate the right one for your machine.