Spring Cleanup Services in Guelph & Puslinch

Local know-how

Spring cleanup in Guelph

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What winter leaves behind. After a Guelph winter, most yards have the same list: leaves that came down after the last fall rake, sticks and small branches from wind and ice, gravel and sand pushed onto the lawn edge by plows and shovels, and matted, flattened patches where snow sat the longest. Left alone, that layer keeps the grass underneath cold, wet and shaded just as it’s trying to green up.

Snow mould. Grey or pinkish matted circles in the lawn as the snow melts are usually snow mould. The fix is mostly air and light: a gentle rake to lift the matted grass and clearing debris off the top lets the area dry out and recover.

Timing — and why not to rush. The most common spring mistake is working the lawn too early. Guelph’s heavier soils stay soft for a while after the thaw, and raking or walking on a saturated lawn compacts it and rips out grass that’s barely rooted. Our rule is simple: if your footprints stay in the lawn, it’s too early. That usually lands around mid-April, but we book by conditions, not the calendar.

Preparing for spring growth. Once the spring lawn cleanup is done and the turf is dry, the first cut — taken at the right height, never scalped — tidies winter-flattened grass and encourages the lawn to thicken up. Spring is also when we’ll flag anything that needs more than a cleanup, like thin or compacted areas that would benefit from aeration and overseeding.

Garden beds. Clearing out last year’s stems and debris, then re-cutting bed edges, gives perennials room to come up and makes weeding far easier for the rest of the year.