Spring Cleanup · March – May
Everything a yard does for the rest of the year is easier if March and April are done properly. Winter debris out, last season cut down, edges recut, and beds clear before the first flush of weeds gets going.
Why Timing Matters
There is a real window here. Cut perennials and ornamental grasses down before the new growth pushes up through the old stems and the job is quick and clean; leave it three weeks too long and you are picking dead stems out of fresh shoots without damaging them. The same goes for weeding — the first cohort comes up early and pulls easily, and it is far less work than the same weeds in June. Around Chester County the last frost typically falls somewhere between mid-April and early May, so late March into April is the sensible stretch for most of this.
Last season's stems and grasses taken down while the crowns are still dormant, which is faster and does not damage what is coming.
Wet leaf litter packed over a perennial crown holds moisture against it and rots it. Getting it off is one of the more genuinely useful things spring cleanup does.
Cleared, weeded, freshly edged beds are exactly what mulch should go onto. Most people book the two together, in that order.
What's Included
Everything that blew in over four months of wind — sticks, leaves, litter — off the lawn and out of the beds.
Last season taken off at the crown before new growth comes through, and ornamental grasses cut low.
Winter heave and mower drift blur the line between lawn and bed. Recutting it is what makes a yard look deliberate again.
Early weeds come out with almost no effort, and taking them now is worth several visits later in the summer.
Matted wet litter pulled off the plants underneath before it rots the crowns it is sitting on.
The bed is left in exactly the state mulch should go onto, whether that is the same visit or a later one.
What Happens
February and March fill up first, because everybody wants the same three weeks. Getting on the list early is most of it.
The whole property cleared of what winter left, so the beds are actually visible before anything gets cut.
Perennials and grasses taken down, matted leaves pulled off the crowns, dead growth removed from shrubs.
Bed edges recut, the first weeds pulled, everything bagged and stacked, hard surfaces swept.
Questions
Late March into April for most yards here — after the worst of the weather and before perennials push new growth up through last season's stems. Chester County's last frost is usually mid-April to early May, which brackets it well.
Most people do, and the order matters: cleanup first, then mulch onto cleared and edged beds. You buy the mulch and I will measure the beds and tell you how much to order.
It is a seasonal version with specific jobs in it — perennial and grass cutback, clearing crowns, recutting edges — that only make sense at this time of year. A general cleanup can happen any time.
Not at all, and leaving them standing over winter was the right call. Early spring is exactly when they should come down.
Get Started
Call or text to get on the list. The good weeks in March and April go first.
