Garden maintenance - Let's get ready for spring

Start by cleaning the patio, balcony and garden paths. Check where moss, soil residue, leaves and weeds need to be removed.

If complete cleaning is not achieved by removing weeds and sweeping the floor, use a high-pressure cleaner. Even stubborn dirt, such as moss and algae stuck in joints, can be removed quickly and easily. 

If necessary, wooden decking can be given a new coat of paint after cleaning. 

The spring sun can be enjoyed twice as well on a freshly cleaned and well-maintained terrace.

Not everyone can enjoy their own garden, but your own balcony can also become a little oasis of well-being. You should also get it ready for spring. 

Defective brackets or cracks in the pots would otherwise quickly spoil your enjoyment. Replace damaged items and replace soil and plants if necessary. 

You can also prepare your balcony for the new season with a fresh coat of paint. 

First, you should remove the remains of leaves and small wood from the beds. These belong in the compost or at the garden waste collection point. As this layer of plant remains was like a protective warm blanket, life has long since begun underneath.

For this reason, you should only work the soil in these areas lightly with a rake (or hoe) and the like to loosen the soil. Weeds are best plucked by hand.

Where life is still dormant and in beds that will later be used for self-sufficiency, it is recommended to mix the soil with organic material such as compost, straw or grass cuttings. This serves to supply the soil with nutrients

Plants of all kinds extract nutrients from the soil. Even if you plant different crop rotations so that the same nutrients are not always extracted from the soil, you cannot avoid fertilizing. 

Efficient and natural fertilization is also possible without the use of chemical products. Compost and manure are the fertilizers of choice.

Your advantage: beneficial insects are not driven away, but enrich your garden. They eat pests, pollinate crops and aerate the soil. They thus ensure a natural balance.

If you have removed old twigs and leaf debris from your lawn after the winter and you see brown-yellow patches, bare patches or moss, there is no need to panic. 

As waterlogging, lack of nutrients or infestation by pests cannot be avoided over the winter, this condition is completely normal.

The end of March to the beginning of May is the ideal time for a lawn treatment. 

This should consist of three steps and take place after the first lawn mowing: Scarifying, reseeding and fertilizing.

You can cut your lawn from March and a height of 8 cm at the latest.

In average weather conditions, the cut length should be about four centimetres high. In very hot and dry periods, a few centimeters more is good for the lawn. This protects it better from burning out. 

Hedges, shrubs, flowers etc. that have not already been cut back in the fall should be brought back into shape in spring at the latest.

To ensure that this is successful on tall trees or plants, it is best to work with hedge trimmers or delimbers.

Pruning is as gentle as possible when temperatures are above zero degrees.

To keep the areas under trees and shrubs looking neat and tidy, the greenery there also needs to be trimmed. A lawn trimmer is very useful in these hard-to-reach areas.

When it gets dark in the evening, you can add beautiful accents to your outdoor area with the right lighting for your house and garden, patio and balcony. 

Whether solar garden lights or classic battery-powered garden lights, they all lend your garden a very special atmosphere. 

Garden spotlights are particularly suitable for highlighting individual objects that you want to draw attention to. These can be sculptures, trees or bushes. It is important that garden lamps are waterproof and dustproof.