West Michigan gets a real winter, a compressed spring, a dry stretch in late summer, and a long wet fall. Almost every yard problem we get called out to is a timing problem underneath — the right job done in the wrong month, or the right month missed entirely.
March and early April are for structural pruning, while shade trees are still dormant. You can see the whole framework with no leaves on it, there is no weight in the canopy, and the cuts seal quickly once the tree starts moving. This is also when to pull off the winter debris, cut last year's perennials and ornamental grasses down before the new growth pushes through them, and get the salt and sand off the turf and beds along the drive.
Late April and May are for beds and lawns. Cut the edges, get mulch down before the weed seed germinates rather than after, and overseed thin patches while the soil is warming but the air is still cool. Do not prune lilac, forsythia or any other spring-flowering shrub now — they set those buds last summer, and cutting them in spring is exactly how people end up with a lilac that has not flowered in three years. Prune those right after they finish blooming.
June through August the lawn does most of the talking. Cut high — three inches or better. A tall canopy of grass shades the soil, which keeps crabgrass seed from germinating and holds moisture through the dry weeks in August far better than a short lawn does. Scalping a lawn in July is the single most common self-inflicted injury we see. This is also the window for shearing hedges, once the spring flush has hardened off.
September is the best month of the year for a lawn in this climate, and almost nobody uses it. Warm soil, cool air, and reliable rain are exactly what grass seed needs — a September overseed establishes better than an April one, and it goes into winter with real roots.
October and November are leaves, and leaves are not one job. An oak drops for weeks after a maple has finished, so a single pass in mid-October leaves you a second lawn's worth in November. Wet leaves matted on turf through a Michigan winter block light, hold water at the crown, and hand you snow mold in April. Clear them in passes, clean the gutters while you are at it, and put the beds down before the ground freezes.
December through February is quiet, with one exception worth knowing: heavy wet lake-effect snow and ice load a canopy far beyond what wind does, and that is when marginal limbs and weak unions come down. If a limb is hanging over the roof and you have been meaning to deal with it, the time to call is before the snow, not during it. But if it does come down at 3 AM in February, call anyway — that is what the 24-hour line is for.
Tree Services & Landscaping runs spring and fall cleanups, weekly mowing, mulch and leaf removal across Holland, Zeeland, Grand Haven, Spring Lake, South Haven and everywhere within 50 miles. Free estimates — call (616) 218-0091.