Extend your spring clean-up to the garden

Notice the disarray that appears from beneath the melting snow lately?

Trash blown in and collected against a fence or under a hedge, miscellaneous tools and toys not quite put in their places before snowfall, and scrapings from snow removal deposited on the edge of the lawn and along the front walkway.

An early spring clean-up brightens both the landscape and the soul. But who notices the carnage of dead, mud-caked perennials and broken limbed trees and shrubs?

Have a good look around.

After picking up the trash, sanding the rust from the tools and raking the gravel from the lawn, a bit more must be done to complete the job.

Let us begin with the dead perennials. Although the roots are alive and waiting for warmer weather to produce new shoots, last year’s growth is certainly dead. It is not only lifeless, it’s grungy, brown, and ugly.

Having served its purpose of anchoring the snow against blustering wind, the dead growth must go.

Cut off tough stems with a sharp pruner, gather the bodies, and pile them into the compost for recycling or onto the burn pile for cremation. But leave the smaller bits such as leaves, pods, or spent flowers that have settled onto the ground; they will decompose, adding organic matter to the soil, and discourage germination of weed seed.

Having disposed the perennial bodies, let us move on to treating the broken-limbed shrubbery. Here, again, a sharpened pruner will be needed.

At another time, we will discuss more technical pruning techniques, but for now, general maintenance is all that is required.

Broken limbs, the victims of winter winds, snow overload, and snowplows, need to be removed by cutting back to a larger branch or to the trunk.

Cut the damaged limb cleanly, about one-half inch from the branch collar, which is the round raised area from which the limb emerges. This type of pruning is known as a thinning cut and will result in the permanent removal of the limb.

If the break is near the tip end of a limb which one desires to salvage, a heading cut may be used.

Cut the branch cleanly, this time about one-quarter inch above a bud, or pair of buds, slanting the cut away from the bud. Be aware that this type of cut will promote branching; the bud behind the cut will be induced to grow. With this in mind, it is important to cut above a bud that is located on the side of the branch on which one wishes the growth to continue.

After the broken limbs have been thinned or headed, look for other branches needing surgery: Crossing branches, beginning on one side of the trunk and growing toward the other, or branches that rub together. These will deform a tree’s or shrub’s natural shape. Follow along a crossing branch to its origin and remove it with a thinning cut. Study rubbing branches to determine which one wants removing before making a cut. Does the center of the tree need more light? Take the branch closer to the center. Is the shrub lopsided? Keep the limb that helps restore balance. Rubbing, or other out-of-control branches, might be shortened and redirected by careful heading.

Other surgery that can be performed now is the removal of suckers and water sprouts.

Suckers are straight shoots that grow rampantly from the root system, usually in multiples at the base of the tree or singly along a lateral root. An unwanted sucker must be cut cleanly across the base, and, if possible, just against the root from which it arises. But be careful not to damage the root, as this most certainly will induce several more suckers to shoot up where the one was removed.

Water sprouts are upright, vigorous, soft shoots which arise rapidly from other branches during peak growth periods or due to injury. These should be removed with a thinning cut, as they do not conform to the natural or preferable form of the tree or shrub and will sap the vigor of desirable growth.

Finish the beatification process by removing any dried flower stalks remaining from last or previous years. Clip the flower stalks precisely without cutting into the woody parts of the plant.

Now the spring clean-up job is complete.

The yard is tidy, the gardens neat and the gardener is finally refreshed by partaking of gentle exercise, invigorating fresh air, and ever increasing sunlight.

Sally Koppenberg is a garden and food designer and the owner of Stonehill Gardens, a nursery and nature conservatory specializing in Alaska grown trees, shrubs, perennials and native plants.