What is your top priority concerning yard work in the spring?

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
It seems like I wait and wait for spring, then all of a sudden my yard explodes. Everything is a top priority! Branches and twigs need to be picked up for the first mowing. Peas,lettuce, onions need to be planted in the veggie garden. Around here I need to spray for deer or my Hostas will never see the light of day. Old daffodil flowers need to be cut off. Get mulch for around the front trees, then I need to Preen that to deter weeds. Put in the screens. I actually saw a fly in the house! The list goes on and on. Oh my aching bones!! I know it will all come together,it always does. Anyone else feel overwhelmed by it all? I am grateful I can still do it despite my bad knees and sore back. So afraid to cut back for fear of becoming a blob in front of the TV set.
 

My front yard is shaming me. Especially at the street there is a tree. I used railroad ties and bricks to make it a flower bed. All the dead stuff has to come out, the pots need re-potting, fresh mulch put down. The bricks have been scattered and cars parking knocked away the wood. Just have to get out there one day and prepare to sweat.
 
I have a landscaper to do the Spring cleanup, but I just spent the better part of three days getting my waterfall cleaned up and started up. Next task will be planting the new perennials I bought a few days ago. I have several kinds of seagrass, plus flowers to get into the ground this week.
 

I guess my top priority is pulling weeds, as I don't like to use any poisons in my yard. I try to pull the dandelions and other sticky leafed weeds before they go to seed, but each year I'm overwhelmed and can't keep up. Weeds thrive here, and in some sections of my yard where the grass doesn't grow anymore, I just accept the weeds as ground cover, cuts down on mud when it rains. :p
 
My top priority regarding yard work is to avoid it at all costs. When I had homes I had a gardener and a wife that loved it. Now, living in a apartment with beautiful well kept shurbs and landscaping I don't give it a second thought and just enjoy.
 
I've spent much of the month of April cleaning up the yard, and getting the garden ready to plant in a couple of weeks. I've tilled the garden and a couple of big bare spots on the back side of the house, and reseeded those spots with ryegrass. Moss has taken over a section of the back yard, so I got some Ferrous Sulfate and sprayed that section...the moss is already turning black. The gravel driveway was turning green, so I sprayed it with some Gly Star...generic Roundup...and I can see the creek rock again. Earlier this week I got the mowers out and mowed the entire yard, and the big meadow below the house. We're supposed to have a rainy week, so perhaps next week, I will put the bush hog on the tractor, and mow our 1/2 mile walking trail through the woods. This is my favorite time of year...getting outdoors and getting back into the routine of healthy outdoor work and exercise. Tick and chigger season is almost here, so I will defer doing any more chainsawing in the woods until Sept. or Oct...I've probably got 8 or 9 cords of firewood already cut for next Winter. I try to get everything caught up this time of year, because by the time July and August hits, it is almost too hot to do much other than basic mowing.
 
Weeding and cutting back the dead stuff so the new stuff blooms strong!

I can't wait! My day lilies are peeking at me! And last year,my favorite clematis ,which I thought died,sprouted again so this year it means hugee flowers!
By my patio I have honeysuckle vine that is just something else in the summer.

And ofourse the most fun will be the patio planting!

Cutting fresh oregano for a bbq ,what more do you need?
 
I share your pain. You sit for weeks looking out at it and thinking of what needs done, but the weather is not agreeable. Then when the weather does settle a little, everything needs done at the one time.

For me, my priorities are working on the soil. Getting it cleared of weeds, dead stuff and either hoeing or forking it. Then I identify the gaps caused by the winter and set about replacing those plants. After that, it is adding compost and fertiliser to the soil and keeping the weeding and hoeing going. Oh, and pruning the roses and other shrubs.

Then I wait on the rain returning and messing it all up again.
 
My job is to make occasional cups of tea for my husband, the gardener. :D We have a 1/2 acre garden filled with dozens of different species of flowers, plants, trees, bushes and it takes a lot of work to keep it looking good.
 
I'm with Don M. Like working outdoors, and I like a pretty yard. I kind of spread the work out through the year. Do the pruning and mulching in late fall. Bring some of the potted plants inside in early winter and cover some others. I go on nightly snail patrol in early spring, and cutting back and replanting some of the bulbs. That's when I start pulling weeds, too. Plus aerating and putting in new topsoil, and laying bark.

Crap. That's a lot and I didn't even get to late spring and summer yet.
 
I had suggested to my wife that we get rid of the lawn care service this year and that I'd get a new mower to do it myself. She was adamantly opposed to that idea, so I'm going to focus on things like planting and weeding. There are a number of beds on our property, the result of major work we had done several years ago. It's a job to control the weeds. It's already time to get after the dandelions popping out of the beds and also pull the tiny oak seedlings that resulted from the tons of acorns that fell last autumn. It's a lot of work, but it keeps me active and is good exercise. I throw on my headphones, crank up some music and I'm good to go. Here's a link to the waterfall I referenced in my earlier post. [video]https://www.facebook.com/bob.warner.7127/videos/vb.1199566703/10209665655137049/?type=2[/video] I hooked up the lights to the transformer and they came on last night. The waterfall gets lit up for a few hours and looks very nice in the dark.
 
That link didn't work for me, Bob235. Maybe because I don't have facebook. I assume your wife doesn't want you to over-do it, but sounds like there's enough besides the lawn to keep you busy. Music is definitely a nice addition. My tenants always know when I'm working in my yard in the daytime because I have speakers installed in the patio area.
 
Something that gives me the push to get out there is the spiders and centipedes. If you clean up beds and all early in the season the big buggies haven't come out yet.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
It seems like I wait and wait for spring, then all of a sudden my yard explodes. Everything is a top priority!
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Exactly how I feel. I look forward to it for months and then become overwhelmed buy how much there is to do. I like to get the raking done first, but this year the grass grew before I could get out there. Like you, my body parts don't like all the hard labor, but it feels like such an accomplishment to finish something to see progress. I love spring and summer!

Yes, it will all come together. I have some great salve for aching joints and knees. I've been using it double duty lately! :)
 
Yard work is a never ending thing, my number one chore in the spring is cleaning up....dead limbs, weeds in the beds...etc etc. I hire help several times a year for the jobs that I can not do, but there is still much work for me, some of it I enjoy, mainly mowing, some of it not so much, but hey it keeps me going.
 
After reading this thread a few times I got myself out the door last night and began putting the street side flower bed back together. You know it really feels good. Therapeutic for sure, I mean if you enjoy plants and gardening even the scutt work is rewarding. It makes you feel better, getting it all in order and adding new plants.:D:D:D
 
fureverywhere said:
Yay, I got the street side flower bed done...even with the icky pill bugs. The front flower beds are next.
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I never heard of a pill bug. We have stink bugs here. I don't think they do any damage. Their main objective in life is to stink. Every once in awhile they get in the house. If you happen to vacuum one up, you know it right away. The whole room smells. Even dead they stink.
 

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