GARDEN MAINTENANCE IN PITTSBURGH
If you’re new to gardening or new to gardening in Pittsburgh, here is an overview of garden maintenance tasks you can complete for garden beds that have trees, shrubs, and perennials. If you want more information and want to receive reminders and how-to’s specific to our area, check out our Grow Your Garden newsletter.
Deer prevention
Deer are a common problem in Pittsburgh gardens and you’ll have to work year-round to keep them at bay. You can apply deer spray or granules that will make plants unappealing throughout the year or put up fencing to keep them away from select plants.
Tree pruning
It’s good to go around at the end of winter and cut off any diseased, damaged, or dead branches from your trees or large shrubs. Criss-crossing branches or branches that need to be pruned because they are too low or too close to a structure can be trimmed now as well.
Perennial cutback
I recommend doing the majority of your perennial cutback in early spring, right before your perennials wake up for the year. This will clean up your garden beds and get last year’s foliage out of the way for this year’s new growth. You can also cut back plants in the fall if needed.
Planting trees, shrubs, and perennials
Garden centers usually start to get in new stock right at the beginning of April and I recommend you plant trees, shrubs, and perennials all the way through mid-October, before our first frost.
Watering
While we typically still have rainy springs, it isn’t a guarantee throughout the summer anymore in our area. So, be sure to keep an eye on plants that have been in the ground for less than 12 months. I recommend watering those plants every 2-3 days if we don’t get significant rainfall.
Weeding
A gardener’s never-ending chore! Keep weeds at bay by pulling or smothering them with cardboard while they are young. This is a chore that can get away from you if you let it so I recommend weeding 1-2 times per month throughout spring, summer, and fall.
Mulching
Another great way to keep weeds at bay is to mulch your garden beds with a shredded bark mulch every 1-2 years. Mulch also helps keep plant roots moist during dry spells and adds good organic matter to your soil as it breaks down.
Fertilizing
Before you fertilize, I recommend you do a soil test through the Penn State Extension office and see what nutrients you are lacking. If you need to add anything, a good time to fertilize your plants is during the spring when they are waking up.
Leaf mulching
Leaves are great for your soil (or compost bin!) and can be mowed and left on the lawn or placed into garden beds as free mulch. Keep up with leaf mulching over the course of the fall so your leaf piles don’t get too big to handle.
If you would like more in-depth resources on how to accomplish these gardening tasks, including how-to’s and timely reminders, visit our Grow Your Garden newsletter.
If you’re planning a new garden bed area and need some design help, please check out my design services here. We can discuss new plant ideas for your garden that suit your maintenance requirements.