Early spring is the perfect point to get a head start on some basic gardening and landscaping projects. Even though it’s only early February, March and April are just around the corner and will be here before you know it.

That’s why we like to get started on our spring landscaping projects early. Of course you can’t do much when there’s snow on the ground, but Colorado Springs is known for some nice warm days in March. That’s when we get itchy to get outdoors and get going on our landscaping plans.

The following suggestions apply equally well to amateur enthusiasts and professionals; whether you garden for your own enjoyment or get paid for providing landscaping services, these are jobs you can hope to work on as soon as the weather starts to warm up.

landscaping-colorado-springs-001
You can do these things before the ground thaws.
Maintain & Repair Structural Elements
Structural bits of your yard and garden that need a little TLC will benefit from your attention early on, before they have to compete with more plant-centric gardening tasks.

Early spring is the perfect time to inspect and work on ornamental pieces like arbors, trellises, and lattices. While they’re bare of plant materials (vines and so forth), take a close look at their condition. This is the perfect time to give them a fresh coat of paint, fill holes, tighten up loose nails, and close any gaps.

Repair Stone or Rock Borders
Dry-stacked stone or rock is a lovely material for use in walls and planting borders. Freezing temperatures, snow, and ice can cause the stones to shift, resulting in a damaged retaining wall.

Towards the end of winter your stone borders may be looking much messier. Especially if we’ve received a lot of snow. Temperature shifting and moisture can even render walls and borders unstable and unsafe — an especially important concern if you’re soon going to have children playing in the yard.

Check all dry-stacked stonework to make sure the stones are neatly arranged and stable.

Get Rid Of Debris From Trees And Shrubs
Any mess that’s left over from the fall — or debris and deadwood that’s arrived during the winter — should be removed now. This includes vines and trellises, ornamental grasses (cut them back) and any other plant that looks unkempt and unsightly.

Prune Trees And Shrubs
Getting an early start on pruning gives you time to carefully consider the aesthetic effect your pruning will have. Try using twine to tie up branches so that you can inspect what your work will look like from multiple angles

Touch Up Your Mulch
Wind, snowmelt, and other weather action have likely carried away a fair amount of the mulch you put down in the fall. The soil around your plants needs to head into the warmer months with a solid two-inch covering of mulch to hold in enough water for fresh growth. Mulch can be beefed up with a range of different materials, including compost, wood chips, leaves, bark, pine needles, and more.

Fix Pest Damage
Check your structural elements (including, for example, birdhouses) for damage or dirt produced by wintertime pests. Confirm that structures are still firmly anchored to the ground. Inspect your whole garden for dirt and tunnels caused by burrowers (e.g. moles, rabbits and gophers).

If you find such diggings — in your garden or lawn — break up the dirt with a rake and level out the soil as best you can. For pest damage in lawns, you can re-seed as soon as you’ve leveled the soil.

Check Spring Bulbs
Wide temperature changes will typically make spring-blooming bulbs turn brown. This is normal. Early spring is a good time to check the location of your bulbs, though, so that you have a fresh picture in your mind and you can plant annuals and perennials in relation to the bulbs.

Maintain Tools
Clean up your faithful gardening tools and get them ready for another active season.

Soak tools in warm water if necessary to loosen caked-on dirt. Get any rust off of metal parts with steel wool or emery cloth. They should then be lightly sprayed with a light conditioning oil like WD-40.

Check wooden handles for rough spots and rotted parts and use sandpaper to smooth them down. If you haven’t already, find a dry, secure place to store your tools (should have done this in the Fall).

After the ground has thawed.
Aerate Soil
Check your garden soil to see if it’s ready for digging and aerating. Do not disturb your soil until it has dried out after the thaw.

Be especially careful of aerating over areas with an irrigation system. If the water supply lines are too close to the surface, the aerator could punch holes through them, creating another headache for you when it’s time to turn the sprinklers on.

Apply Fertilizer To Trees And Bushes
Heavy Spring snows and rains will do a great job of carrying fresh nutrients down to the plant’s roots. Be sure not to exceed the allpication amounds as you don’t want to have a bunch of fertilizer run-off if we have a wet Spring.

Pre-Germinate Seeds
Your seeds will grow faster and stronger if you pre-germinate them. Soak seeds in a jar of water before planting. My father used to do this for his garden. I believe the germination rates were much higher after soaking.

Remember that these seeds will still need ample watering when you get them in the ground!

Harden Greenhouse Seedlings
If you bought or raised greenhouse seedlings over the winter, harden them off by slowly exposing them to outdoor temperature and light for increasing periods.

If you’re eager to get a head start on planting, check out vegetables that thrive in cooler weather. Examples include carrots, lettuce, spinach, and peas. On the flower side of the roster, annuals like poppies and bachelor’s buttons will do well with an early start.

Getting outdoors on a nice Spring day can do wonders for your health and mental attitude! Why not put that energy to good use with some Spring Landscaping projects?

Summertime Water Conservation Tips
Usually, summer in Colorado Springs means using more water and having higher sewer and water bills. Even if your water comes from a well, using more water for irrigation can result in higher electricity bills and additional wear on your well pump.

And, even though we’ve had an unusually wet Spring for 2019 in Colorado Springs, you’ll still appreciate our water conservation tips!

However, for many people this summer, they are not just concerned about higher bills. Some areas of the country are suffering long periods of drought and dry spells, so water use restrictions have been implemented which have made water conservation a summertime necessity these days.

Summer of 2019 is looking pretty good with no big drought issues, but we all know how quickly a drought can resume, so it’s best to develop good water habits while we have plenty of water.

Small Changes Can Equal Big Savings
Fortunately, making a few of small changes to your regular water use routine and a few quick fixes around your home can save you both money and water – this summer as well as all year long!

water conservation
Water Savings Inside your home
Turn off the faucet. That is, when you are brushing your teeth. That can save you around 2 gallons per minute. If you do that each time you brush your teeth it will save you an additional 240 gallons of water per month. To save even more, turn off the faucet when you are shaving!

Shower Instead of Bath
Take a shower instead of a bath. You might think it would be the opposite. However, typically, a five-minute shower uses just 10-25 gallons of water, and a full tub uses around 70 gallons. In order to minimize your shower time, don’t run your shower while you are shaving. If you enjoy a leisurely soak in the tub, stop up the drain immediately and adjust the temperature as it is filling up.

Full Loads Of Wash & Repair
Only wash full loads of clothing. The average washer uses around 41 gallons per load, so the more loads that you wash, the more water you will use. To reduce your water usage, wait to do laundry until you have a full load.

Repair your leaky toilet. Do you hear a sudden hissing sound of water when the tank is filling itself up again even though you didn’t just flush? Or is there a damp spot on the floor under the tank on a regular basis? About 2000 gallons of water per day can be wasted from a leaking toilet.

Repair leaky shower heads and faucet. A small drip may not seem like a lot but 2,080 gallons per year is wasted by a faucet that drips 1 drop per second.

Outside The House Water Conservation
The EPA reports that around 30 percent of a typical single-family household’s water use it spend outdoors, on gardens, landscaping, and lawns. p to 50 percent of this water gets wasted through runoff or evaporation. In order to avoid this type of waste and to reduce your water bill, make use of these tips:

Do you have any leaking outdoor faucets? Those small drips can be expensive.

Water late or early in the day, when the air is cooler and the sun is lower so that less water gets wasted through the evaporation process. However, be aware, since your community might have watering restrictions in place that you have to adhere to.
If you water by hand, aim the water at the base of the plants, at the roots. The entire plant doesn’t need to be watered.
Set your sprinklers (the droplet type preferably instead of the mist type) so that only your vegetation is watered and not the street, sidewalk, or driveway.
Time your sprinkler so that you don’t overwater (it can be just as damaging to your landscape to overwater as not watering enough). There are basic timers that cost less than $15 that can be hooked right onto the faucet.
Other Things That Can Be Done To Save Water
The following steps take a bit more money and/or effort but can provide a timely payback as well as long-term savings by having lower water bills on a regular basis.

A Water Saving Toilet For Water Conservation
Consider getting a new toilet. Any toilet that was made prior to 1992 uses on average 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush. New models use less than 2 gallons of water per flush on average. About 1.3 gallons of water per flush is used by a high-efficiency toilet which can result in a savings of around $1,000 over 10-years for a four-person family – without any compromises to performance.

However, if you are concerned about whether everything will be flushed away, less water is used by a dual-flush toilet for removing liquid waster and more water is used to remove solid waste.

Get A Sprinkler System
Consider using an automatic irrigation system. If you spend a lot of time moving your sprinkler around or hand-watering, an automatic irrigation system for your landscaping can be a great investment. A system that waters even when it is raining will not save you a lot, but self-adjusting and PC programmable systems are available these days that offer an 8-60 percent reduced water uses (depending on your climate) and are able to pay for themselves in as few as 8 months to a few years depending on your climate.

Use drip irrigation or a soaker hose. If you cannot use an irrigation system for your whole yard, you still may want to consider using drip irrigation or a soaker hose around your garden and landscaping.

Water is emitted gently by a soaker hose directly along the length of the hose to the base of the plants so very little water is lost through evaporation or runoff. You can even make your own soak hose from part of an old garden hose. The same thing is accomplished by a drip irrigation system. Emitters, or drip holes, are spaced at certain intervals along the length of the hose. A drip system is a bit more expensive. With either of the methods, you won’t have to water as often and when you do you will use less water. You can save more when you attach a basic hose timer.

Four Seasons Landscaping
739 Manitou Ave. Ste. B
Manitou Springs, CO 80829
Phone: (719) 266-1141
Email: fourseasonslandscapinginc1@gmail.com
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com.sg/biz/four-seasons-landscaping-manitou-springs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Four-Seasons-Landscaping-805679569536991
Official Site: https://fourseasonslandscaping.org/