Pretty Simple Gardens
Spring Has Sprung!!
No-Dig Gardening
Over the years I've found that No-Dig Gardening makes a lot of sense and has made gardening so much easier. I leave my leaves in my gardens. Early spring I may gently pull thick leaves away from the base of bushes and trees to help prevent disease. Otherwise the leaves stay where they are until temps are in the 50's and I see that the bugs have hatched from their winter hibernation in my leaves and overwintering plants.
Once the ground is warm, I will gently rake and spread around the leaves that have accumulated. If they are thick in spots I might either spread them out gently with a rake or run the mower over them (with bag attached) to chop the leaves up, then sprinkle them back in the garden. The worms will eat them pretty quickly and aerate the soil for me.
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I loosen the decaying leaves in my garden beds so that they are not matted.
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Sometimes I rake the leaves to the edge of my garden so that the garden and leaves dry out a bit to reduce disease. Some years I let them dry for a few days then run my mower with the bag attached over the leaves. I dump the bagged, chopped leaves right back in the gardens as mulch. They decompose very quickly.
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I also chop the plants left for the winter down into small pieces so that they too can decompose right where they live.
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When I add bark mulch, I limiting it to no more than 1" thick so that rain can get through to the plant roots. And, make sure the mulch is not touching the stem or trunk of the plant or bush. If you are not disturbing the soil and using leaf mulch then less bark mulch will be fine to suppress weeds.
Early Spring Pruning
There are some bushes that I prune in early spring that will actually encourage juvenile vigor and blooms. This includes butterfly bush (Buddliea), spirea, and hydrangea that bloom on new growth. Blueberry bushes like a spring pruning too.
I also clean out of dead and broken branches in the spring when I can see into the bushes as new growth is coming in. Cleaning out allows more airflow and light throughout the bushes.
Pruning
Bushes like rhododendron and azalea aren't touched until the weeks after they bloom. The exceptions are dead branches and times when I'm hacking the bush down to get rid of leggy-ness. I have to accept that there won't be many blooms that year but the bush will become much healthier.