As the crocuses and daffodils lift their heads, welcoming the longer, warmer days ahead, now is the time to get your outdoor space in order …
As the crocuses and daffodils lift their heads, welcoming the longer, warmer days ahead, now is the time to get your outdoor space in order. Whether it’s a sliver of a city balcony or an expansive suburban deck and garden, the time has come to dust off the furniture covers and bring it all back to life.
“Think about all the little projects now,” said Jan Johnsen, a landscape designer in Westchester. “Don’t do it in June when everyone wants to go to the beach.”
Here is what you need to do to get a head start on the outdoor chores.
Wash the Winter Away
Before the leaves return (yes, they’re coming back), and before you bring out any furniture or planters, survey your grounds. If you have a deck, balcony or pavers, check the materials for signs of wear, moss or mildew. Give the area a good sweep. If it needs more than elbow grease, rent a power washer for stone pavers or a pressure washer for a wooden deck. A wooden deck might also need to be repainted, re-stained or simply treated with cleaning and brightening solutions (make sure you choose a formula designed for your decking material). Check fencing for signs of wear, like splintered wood or bubbling paint, and address those problems now.
Once the last frost date passes, around April 5 for New York City, pull your planters out of storage and inspect the materials for any cracks. Terra Cotta is especially prone to cracking. Clean them, arrange them and fill the pots with soil now so they are ready for the flowers and vegetables that you’ll plant later in May.
Take your pruning shears, spades and shovels to a local hardware store to get them cleaned and sharpened for the season.
Wash your outdoor cushion covers, open and clean your umbrella, and clean off your seating. Check to see if anything was damaged over the winter. If you have teak furniture, you may want to oil it, depending on your preference. “If you want it to last longer and look more new, it’s going to need to be oiled,” said Amber Freda, a landscape designer in New York City. “A lot of people will let it weather and gray, it’s more of a beachy look.”
Wake Up Your Garden
While your trees and shrubs are still bare, give them a good pruning. “You want to lift the canopy, remove the lower limbs off your trees to get the light in,” said Ms. Johnsen, who writes a Substack newsletter about gardening. “Once the leaves come out, you can’t see the structure of the tree. You can’t see the broken limbs.”
Prune back ornamental grasses and some perennials, too, so the new growth does not get mixed up with brown, dead remnants. “Cut everything down to soil level,” Ms. Freda said. “That way they can start growing again.”
You do not, however, want to snip off any buds, so the spring blossoming trees and shrubs — your cherry trees, forsythias, rhododendron and azaleas — will have to wait for their haircut until after they bloom.
If you have an irrigation system, turn the outdoor water back on, and test it to make sure everything is working properly. While you’re there, take your spade and walk along the edge of your lawn, cutting a deep edge to separate your flower bed from your grass. This will give the lawn a manicured look and keep the grass from spreading into the flower bed.
You will need to wait to plant most vegetables and annuals until the danger of frost has passed in your area, usually in mid- to late May. “Definitely look up the recommended time for your area,” Ms. Freda said. “It’s going to be different on Long Island than a couple hours north.”
However, by March or April, you can plant perennials and cold weather annuals and vegetables like kale, beets, carrots, pansies, violas and primrose. So get started on those now.
Set the Mood
Create rooms in the outdoors. If the space is large enough, set up an area for dining, and another for casual seating. Maybe make a reading nook with an Adirondack chair and side table under a tree. “You can really create a living room outside,” said Jade Joyner, an owner of Metal + Petal and an interior designer with studios in Georgia and South Carolina. “It’s an extension of your home, it should not be your forgotten spot.”
If your outdoor space is limited to a tiny balcony or terrace, make it as flexible as possible. Matt Armato and Beau Ciolino of the TikTok and Instagram accounts Probably This suggest going with a sofa and coffee table rather than a bistro table and chairs. If you decide to eat outdoors, the coffee table can always double as your dining table. “Our set up was two chairson one side and outdoor poufs on the other,” Mr. Ciolino said. The couple’s book, “Probably This: Housewarming, A Guide to Creating a Home You Adore,” will be released in April.
Use planters to create barriers and privacy. If your space is tight, go vertical with a craft pallet or ladder set against a wall, and filled with planters. “We created an herb garden in our last apartment,” Mr. Ciolino said. “It is really a vertical floating screen.”
Once the danger of frost passes, take your houseplants outside. They will add character, and they’ll thank you for all the natural sunlight. Introduce them to the sun slowly so they have time to adjust to the intense light.
“All plants do better outdoors as long as the light and the watering is right,” Ms. Freda said. “The rainwater is much better” than tap water.
Check on your outdoor lighting, too, adjusting any timers for the longer days. Affix a pendant lampshade to a pergola or balcony roof, plugging the fixture into an outlet and stringing it up. If a string of fairy lights feels tired (as it does for Ms. Joyner) set the mood with some solar- or battery-powered lanterns. “You could hang them or they could sit on the ground,” Ms. Joyner said. “They give off nice glowy light, nothing too harsh.”
Take advantage of the cooler nights with a fire pit or heat lamp. Set a basket of blankets beside the seating to wrap yourself up in a cozy swaddle. Next step, invite a few friends over for s’mores or a glass of wine and celebrate all the work you’ve done to get back outside.
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