With Spring in the air, now is a great time to get started on yardwork
If the current weather is any indication, the spring season is on the doorstep, if not already here.
As we approach the warmer months, now is a good time to get a jumpstart on your yard and housework.
“I don’t think you have to twist too many arms to get people to go outside and work right now,” said Henkle’s Ace Hardware owner John Henkle. “So yeah, I would absolutely take advantage of [the warm weather].”
There are plenty of things to do outside right now, which is the big focus with the nice weather. Whether it’s yard work, gardening, grilling or patio care—the high temperatures have provided an opportunity to get a head start. Of course, if you have a green thumb, the time to think about starting your garden is now for certain plants, while you still have time to get others in the ground. The ground is soft enough if you need to till your garden area or roll your yard as well as any other basic lawn care maintenance.
“You know, we’ve been cooped up all winter and are glad to get back outside,” Henkle said. “You know, people are wanting to plant flowers and vegetables. Well, most of the vegetables are tropicals. So, the only things you can really plant right now are like potatoes and onions. It’s time for them to go into the ground. St Patrick’s Day is a great gauge and with the warm weather we’ve been having. Just because the next couple weeks it’s in the 60s and 70s doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way. And so these plants like the weather—the cold crops as they call them—are good to go.”
If you have any fruit-bearing trees, or maybe some berry bushes that need some pruning or trimming, now is the time to get outside and get them ready for the bloom.
“There’s a lot of products that you can put on to help suffocate the mites and things that have overwintered in your, in your trees,” Henkle added. “Then, doing some pruning while you can see the structure of the plant. And also on pruning, when it comes to your roses and different things like that, it’s important that you understand what they are and when to prune each. Some plants are going to be different.
“I’ve taken hydrangeas and pruned them back. Well, the ones I pruned back bloom off the second year growth. So, you know, it didn’t work out well for me and I learned a lesson the hard way.”
This time of year is also great for getting your grilling area or patio organized and squared away. That might mean adding some lighting or audio to your patio area.
“Preparing your patio is a fun process,” Henkle said. “Things that I like that we’ve done in our patio is get some extra lighting out there. And we have some really cool lighting that you can buy by the foot. And it has big, nice bulbs. They’re LED, so it doesn’t take a lot of power.
“You know, you can wire a switch in or just pull the plug on it or you know, if you were lucky enough to have a switch in the house that runs a plug outside. But there’s a lot of ways that we can get around that and get you to make it easy for you. I think lighting and then sound, we have JBL speakers and there’s a variety of products you can use outside to, to extend that reach of your house to make your house bigger and, and take that patio area and make it homey.”