Checklist + Cleaning Tips For Your Large Garden Yard

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As fall is fast approaching, gardeners should plan for regular garden cleanups. If this is your first go-around, you must learn the cleaning process along with the garden cleaning tools you’ll need to get the job done. 

This is a guest post from Jessie at Average Person Gardening. Keeping up with your yard work is a small price to pay to avoid costly upgrades in the future. Just another example of how a little money spent now can save you a lot of money down the road!

Garden Cleaning Checklist

Check for the following tools, etc when going for a garden clean up, and make sure they’re in their best condition:

Thrash bags

Thrash bags act as a storage dump for the dry leaves that scatter around the garden. Nowadays, thrash bags are made of biodegradable materials that help you to dispose them easily.

Collect all dried leaves and twigs in the thrash bags. Generally, these are available in the stationary stores as well as e-commerce websites. If you have time, try to make these bags yourself to save a good amount of money. 

Furthermore, avoid using non-biodegradable materials to make the thrash bags as it can degrade the solid on dumping and adversely affect the atmosphere. 

Manual Rake

Traditional gardening rakes are one of the mostly used apparatus to clean garden yards. These are available in different sizes allowing you to choose a rake according to your height. Manual rakes are child-friendly for kids over five years of age. 

As a traditional instrument, manual rakes are simple, easy to use and inexpensive. However, when purchasing a simple gardening rake, check the following things:

• Size and height of the gardening rake
• Quality of the iron
• Proper pasting between the wooden handle and iron rake

 The best you can do is to make a small group and start cleaning the garden on the weekend with a traditional rake. 

Leaf Blower

The leaf blower is just the machinery counterpart of the traditional rake that runs on electricity or gasoline. Naturally, this machine helps to clean the dried leaves much faster than the normal rake.

People who do not have much time or have  problems on their lower back must use the leaf bower. Always be ready with a trash bag after cleaning the garden. It comprises medium weight but not fit  for children. Moreover, the wind blower makes much noise and the user needs to put ear protections to ensure safety. 

There are two different types of leaf blowing machines available in the market. They are hand held leaf blowers and blowers on wheels. The handheld ones have less weight but you can face problems on constant usage. 

On the other hand, the wheeled leaf blowers can constantly clean the garden and give you the desired output. However, the wheeled ones are bulky and do not work in a small area. You must only purchase a wheeled leaf  blower on having a large garden yard.

When cleaning the garden, You must always take breaks because the overuse of the leaf blower can cause sharp aches in your shoulder. 

Lawn Mower

Garden clean up does not stop at a point where you clean all the shredded leaves. Remember that the decomposition of the shredded leaves provides all the necessary nutrients to the soil to make it healthier.

However, you must apply the mower to your garden in specific intervals. Manual lawn mowers have nowadays become  obsolete as most gardeners seek for the fuel or electrical ones. It is because of the drastic effort one has to give while moving a lawn mower. However, if you have a tight budget, you can buy a manual lawn mower. 

Lawn mowers are cutting machines which turn shredded leaves into pieces and cut extra-grown grass to a constant size. The residuals decompose faster resulting in a lush and fertile garden. 

When taking a lawn mower you need to check the quality of the engine and the fuel it runs on. Lawn mowers of different brands and prices are available in the market and the ecommerce sites.

So, these are the key instruments needed for cleaning a large garden yard. You can also take large scissors to cut away leaves from trees and shrubs if necessary.

Garden cleaning tips everyone must know

Here are some garden cleaning tips that you can follow to maintain its beauty. Remember, only a beautiful garden can enhance the outlook of your house.

Start with prominent wastes

As a gardener,  make sure to clean up the prominent wastes at first. Plastic bottles, general litters, animal excreta and debris of plans come under the prominent wastes. Always keep plastic away from soil as it can affect it negatively. Plant debris restricts the growth of new grass.  On the other hand, plant debris and animal excreta can be used later as it decomposes to form humus that enhances the health of the soil.

You should always maintain proper cleanliness to avoid any type of infection as the garden is a large pool of disease-causing microbes. Always wear shoes and gloves when working in the garden.

Rake frequently

Raking a garden is something that should be done frequently to keep it clean. On having a large garden yard, try cleaning it up by parts. A rake machine turns up to be an excellent support system for you. You can also build a shade to restrict the shedding leaves to fall on your large gardening yard. 

Poor raking in the garden can lead to snow-mold formation in your garden during winter. Excessive snow mold on the garden soil degrades its quality. You must crucially clean the garden during winter to allow the trees and flowering plants to grow during spring. 

Cleaning up shrubs and trees with scissors

Cleaning shrubs and trees is not a routine job for any gardener. Neither is vitally necessary. However, most gardeners maintain different growth-shapes for the  shrubs and trees. If your garden comprises such shapey shrubs, cut them with big scissors on a regular basis. 

You can conveniently make a special pit for the residual branches providing them a good place to decompose. To ensure proper health of the trees, only apply fully decomposed humus on the soil. Otherwise, the semi-decomposed mash can restrict water to propagate to its depth. 

Avoid burning leaves

In earlier days, people followed a simple process to get rid of dried leaves just by burning them. At present, most gardeners avoid it to restrict air pollution. Moreover organic ashes in large amounts can restrict the growth of grasses.

Furthermore, burning dry leaves is legally banned in many parts of the world due to pollution and it is a punishable offence. Moreover, you might experience breathing troubles and eye irritations due to the smoke. The best one can do with dry leaves is to bury them in the soil till it decomposes. 

Clean up garden on sunny and dry days

As a gardener, you need to have knowledge about seasons and follow the weather forecast. Never start cleaning up a garden on a rainy day. Wet soil can only lead to difficulties in cleaning the garden. The leaves turn heavy and at times stick to the soil making it impossible to transfer to a different place. 

Moreover, you should observe the wind direction when cleaning a garden as the dried leaves can accumulate naturally at a particular side of your garden minimizing your efforts. You can slo clean a garden on an overcast day if the wind gust is high but no forecast of rain. 

Keep away bugs and pests

To maintain a garden’s good health, you should always provide pesticides and fertilizers  to the plants. Some bugs and pests are severely dangerous for the garden plants. This leads to abrupt shedding of leaves due to sudden abnormalities in a plant. 

You must talk with a gardening expert and give regular doses of pesticides and fertilizers as per the expert’s instruction. With this, you can expect longer life of the plants and a clean and green garden. 

Keep your tools in the best condition

Many gardeners purchase all the gardening tools mentioned above, however, degrade them gradually due to irregular usage. Make sure that your gardening tools remain in the best condition every time you use it. 

As a part of maintenance, you can clean the wheeled leaf blower or lawn mower after every use. Try to follow the user manual to know the process. 

Conclusion

Generally, garden cleaning seems to be an easy job but it needs a lot of physical efforts. However one can follow the tips discussed above to cut down excessive efforts. Gardeners should also be aware about the presence of pollen grains in the garden. 

So it is better to avoid executing garden cleanups if you have an allergy of pollen or respiratory disorders like asthma. However, a face mask can help you to maintain good health and look after your garden all round the year.