I hope everyone is having a wonderful April– it has been a busy month for me, as we just got back from vacation in Montana! We visited Glacier National Park, and it was beautiful! It was really nice to experience a part of the country we have never visited before!

As nice as our trip was, it was REALLY nice to come home to the trees on the verge of bursting with green leaves! Everything was looking stunning! My flowers were in full bloom, including my tulips:

I am now getting ready to do a full spring garden prep! Seeing as May is just a couple weeks away, which, I still can’t believe, because April feels like it just started!

So, here are a few garden prep tips you can consider doing this spring!

• Plants any trees or shrubs. This is the perfect time to plant any trees or shrubs, the ground is moist, and rain is typically abundant in the months of April and May. As with planting anything, trees and shrubs need a lot of water to get established.
• Start picking up the winter rubbish. It’s time to start raking up all the gravel, leaves, sticks, and anything else that is in your yard. For this job, you should use two different rakes to get the job done:
  • Rake– your typical rake that you would use to remove leaves in the fall. All the light, loose stuff like grass, twigs, etc. will get removed the fastest and easiest way with this rake.
  • Bow Rake- This long, straight-edged rake is perfect for picking up stones and dirt that have accumulated.
• Mulch- Since I have made some new flower beds this past fall, I know I need to mulch them and get them prepped for the coming growing season.
• Pruning/Removing old growth– Now is the time to prune/remove anything that will be blooming in the summer and beyond. I know I started manually removing the old stems of my Autumn Joy Sedum because it has already started growing! So, start removing winter interest and get your plants ready for summer!
• Soil prep. Turn up the soil and get it ready for spring plantings.

There is certainly many more things you can do, but here are some of the basic hardscaping chores you can do to make it easier when planting season is in full swing!

What will you be doing for spring garden prep?