Year-round Garden Tips

The following tips are based on a Texas climate when spring is wet, summer is hot, fall is mild, and winter is cold.

Spring - This is the best time to start planning your yard and garden to look great for the year.

1. Clean up your flower beds and add new soil. Add weed killer to your yard.
2. Begin planting your flowers after the last frost. A good sign of when to start planting flowers is when the bulbs you planted in the winter begin to spring out of the ground.
3. Know the difference between perennials and annuals before selecting a spot for them in your garden. Perennials are more permanent while annuals only live for the season and then you have to replace them each year. So you might be asking yourself why buy annuals? Because they tend to have the most vibrant colors, cheaper to buy in bulk, they grow fast and fill in your garden nicely;plus it gives your the opportunity to give your garden a new look next year.
4. Add new mulch to your flower beds after planting. The mulch retains the moisture for your plants and looks great. Avoid getting mulch on your plants' leaves, they don't like it.
5. Start a garden and have fruit and veggies through summer.

Summer - There's not much more that you can do to you yard and garden other than take care of it. Take care of your investment.

1. Water your plants and yard longer rather than frequently. Allowing the water to soak into the garden will cause your plants' and grass roots to grow deep searching for the water. If you water too frequently, your plants will grow shallow roots and won't be as sturdy.
2. The best time to water your yard is early in the morning. Watering at night will cause mushrooms to pop up everywhere almost instantly.
3. Continue to keep weeds out of your yard and flower beds before it gets out of control.
4. Don't try to plant trees and bushes in the summer. Trust me they won't survive.
5. Don't try to transplant flowers, bushes, or trees wait until the fall. Transplants causes shock to the plants. You can buy root stimulator to help when planting new plants or transplanting. But all the root stimulator in the world won't help a plant overcome 100 degree heat.
6. If you start getting brown spots in your grass, make sure your sprinkler is reaching that area. Sometimes you need to make adjustments. Also, Miracle Grow for lawns makes your grass greener than ever. It doesn't take long for brown spots to turn green again.

Fall - This is a great time to plan for next year and long term.

1. Plant trees and shrubs in the fall. This is the time when they establish strong roots between now and winter. Water your newly planted trees and shrubs with a deep soak often for the first few weeks for a healthy start.
2. Choose your spot for your trees wisely. If the tree will lose it leaves, flowers or fruits, keep it away from swimming pools and ponds. Decide where you want shade and what views you would want to wither block or avoid blocking.
3. You can also find some fall flowering shrubs and flowers to continue to have color throughout the year.
   

Winter - Another season for minimal maintenance and planning for the busy Spring.

1. At the end of fall, have your plants pruned and garden beds cleaned of any plants and annuals which have reached the end of their life. This will keep your yard looking well groomed and less work to go come spring. (Don't be surprised if later in the spring that some of your annuals start popping up out of the ground, they do have seeds you know)
2. During freeze warnings, cover your plants, shrubs, and trees as instructed; it only takes one very cold night to destroy your investment for the year.
3. Buy flowering bulbs which you can plant at the end of winter. They are great indicators of Spring and a delight to see when they sudden appear out of the ground in early spring giving your a jump start on your garden before your neighbors without lifting a shovel.