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Spring Ahead with Lawn and Garden Cleanup

Spring cleaning is not just an indoor house project. Getting your outdoor space ready for the growing season is an annual task that is best started in early spring.

The adage about preparation as the key to success is true in landscaping. By preparing lawns and garden beds now, you can have lush and thriving surroundings through the season.

Bob Bertog, president of Bertog Landscape Company, Wheeling, offers the following tips for spring landscape preparation.

• Survey your surroundings. Remove debris from the landscape. This can include stray leaves and branches as well as blown-in garbage and leftover toys or tools from last year. Look for any damage or cracks in patios, sidewalks, containers or other landscape features.

• Start with a clean slate. Prune damaged branches on trees and shrubs. If a dangling branch looks hazardous, call in pruning professionals to take that task off your hands. Sweep patios and pathways.

• Prep the soil. When the weather warms enough to soften the ground, turn over the soil in garden beds and containers and add peat, compost or other amendments that provide nutrients and foster plant growth. Protect that "new" soil from temperature fluctuations by top-dressing the area with a thin layer of compost.

• Assess and organize your tools and supplies. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, make sure you have the right tools and that they are in good working order for the season. Take stock of spades, shovels, rakes and sharpen pruners if needed. Just as you let the gas run out of the snowblower at the end of the snow season, make sure your lawn mower is ready to go in late spring. Once temperatures are consistently above freezing, re-connect outdoor hoses and find your watering cans and sprinklers. Buy potting soil, mulch, compost, fertilizer and grass seed as needed.

• Get the lay of the land. While you are outside doing your spring cleanup, take a look at your surroundings with fresh-from-winter eyes. What works well for you? What new plants and features would you like to add? This might be the year for a new seat wall or fire pit for entertaining or perhaps that raised garden bed for growing your own food. If preparation is half the work, planning enables you to enjoy the space when it is time to enjoy the great outdoors.

Bob Bertog is president of Bertog Landscape Company, in Wheeling and a Certified Landscape Professional with the National Association of Landscape Professionals. He is also past president of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association. He and other landscape professionals at Bertog can be reached at (847) 279-0028 or customerservice@bertoglandscape.com.

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