Cleaning Flower Beds For Spring – Get Rid of Winter’s Leftovers

Here in Ohio, I think it is time for me to do some serious work in my garden beds to be ready for spring. I have a some fairly small garden bed against the house so it shouldn’t be more than I can handle.

Last spring, I didn’t get out there early enough to set my peony cages in the beds where the sprouts come up. By the time I finally did, the sprouts were too high to get the cages in. I like to use the grid style because I feel it supports the best.

Bummer: I had very floppy peonies last spring.

This year I am determined to get them installed in a timely manner so that the huge blooms will have a lot of support.

Weeds Are Roaming & Ready To Take Over

So far this spring, I am seeing mostly Wild Mock Strawberry ( Potentilla indica) and Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta.) These are such viners and can overgrow my beds if I don’t take action.

I will pull some of those weeds especially before they set seeds, but at this time in March, I can see flowers already on the Hairy Bittercress. Let’s hurry and get rid of it.

The wild strawberry vines are scampering through the beds and around rocks. I will be constantly pulling that out all summer.

The sedum album is growing well and spreading and I hope that it will suppress some of the weeds too. But I have to keep pulling that vine!

The “Laura” Rake is The Bomb!

I watch Garden Answer on YouTube faithfully and I had told myself I would not go another year without getting a “Laura Rake.”

This is a small 8 inch shrub or leaf rake that can get into the beds and bushes and around your plants easily. My verdict? A wonderful tool and I won’t be without it.

I picked mine up at Home Depot for $15 but you can order one from Amazon for the same price and have it delivered!

Mulch and Extra Garden Soil for Amending Flower Beds

In my case, I have one of those garden wagons that I pull around to help with the heavy items. Most of the time, I can have my son or grandson come visit so that they can get the bags of mulch out of the trunk.

The people where I buy the mulch load it for me and I have to depend on my guys to get it out. Then, one by one, I can get it around the beds where I need it.

In the coming years, I may need to have it done by a landscaping company when I get unable to physically handle it. But I have not had a good experience with the one time I had a company come and do landscaping.

See this post where I whine about it. It is all at the end of the post. Can I trust anyone new?

Replenishing the soil in my garden beds will also need to be done. I had removed weeds and bushes when we first moved here, and I feel the beds have “settled” and are in need of a boost to level them up.

So I plan also to add some extra garden soil too along with the mulch. Hopefully I won’t cover any seedlings that are sprouting…of the plants and flowers that I want! For sure, I want to cover sprouting weeds!