To celebrate this year’s Earth Day, we thought we would take our spring cleaning tips outdoors! The weather is warming up and our yards are starting to wake up from a long winter slumber. Spending a little time now to clean up your yard will help save valuable time later this summer when you would much rather be basking in the sunshine at Redfish Lake!
- Rake and Sweep Leftover Leaves. No matter how hard we try to prepare our yards for the winter’s snow, it is inevitable that there are some partially decomposed leaves remain after the snow has melted. By cleaning up these leaves, you can help eliminate moist and moldy condition to let your flower beds and lawn breath and soak up the sunshine
- Check Your Sprinklers. Whether you start them up yourself or have a landscaping company turn your sprinklers on for the year, now is the time to check for any leaks or rogue sprinkler heads. Watering the pavement is not only futile, but isn’t ideal for the earth or your budget.
- Consider drought friendly vegetation. If you have some plants that are looking a little tired or maybe you are tired of keeping up with the maintenance of a large lawn, spring is the perfect time to consider some landscaping that is a little more eco-friendly. If you are planting, opt for drought tolerant vegetation that requires minimal watering. Grass can be removed and “xero-scaped” to create beds rather than lawn for a increased water-friendliness.
- Fertilize safely. After a winter of everything appearing “dead” we may be looking forward to things blooming and brightening up. Fertilizer is a great way to provide valuable nutrients to your plants to maintain strong and healthy roots. However, fertilizer should be organic or environmentally friendly. Fertilizer easily enters our water supply through irrigation and rainwater. Therefore using a natural version can ensure our ecosystem isn’t affected down stream.
- Trim, Trim, Trim! Before the trees begin to leaf out, it can be a great time to ensure all branches are away from your structures and all bushes are at their optimal (if not almost small) size. Plants and trees will only be growing for the next few months so take advantage of this still somewhat dormant growth period to do some trimming!
We are so lucky to call Ketchum and the surrounding areas our home. We have easy access to all that nature has to offer and try our best to keep the outdoors as wild as possible. Spend some time over the next couple of weeks preparing your yard for the summer season and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine!