The snow melts, the ground thaws, and suddenly your yard looks like it survived a war. Broken branches, matted leaves, gravel scattered across the lawn from winter plowing, and grass that's been dormant for five months — Canadian springs are messy. But an hour or two of focused cleanup in April or May sets the stage for a great-looking yard all summer.
Here's a step-by-step spring cleanup checklist, with the right tools for each task.
1. Clear Winter Debris
Before you do anything else, walk the yard and pick up anything that doesn't belong. Fallen branches, pinecones, litter that blew in over winter, toys that got buried in snow — remove all of it. This isn't just cosmetic; debris left on the lawn smothers the grass underneath and creates dead spots.
A Greenworks 40V 450 CFM Leaf Blower makes quick work of lighter debris, scattered leaves, and gravel dust. For heavier cleanup — wet matted leaves from autumn that never got cleared — step up to the Greenworks 80V 770 CFM Blower.
2. Rake or Dethatch the Lawn
Over winter, a layer of dead grass (thatch) builds up on the surface of the lawn. A thin layer is fine, but anything over half an inch starts blocking sunlight, water, and air from reaching the soil. Give the lawn a firm raking to lift the thatch and let the soil breathe. On larger lawns, a power dethatcher makes this much faster.
If your mower has a mulching function, you can run it over lightly thatched areas on a high cutting setting to break up the surface without a separate tool.
3. Inspect Borders, Beds, and Hardscape
Walk the perimeter of your property and check for winter damage. Garden bed edging often shifts during freeze-thaw cycles. Retaining walls can crack. Fence posts can heave. Patio stones may have shifted. Catch these issues now while they're small — a shifted paving stone in April becomes a tripping hazard all summer.
Blow out garden beds with your blower to clear dead leaves, seed pods, and debris from around perennials that are starting to emerge. This is one of those tasks where a lightweight 24V or 40V blower excels — you don't need maximum power, you need precision.
4. First Mow of the Season
Don't mow too early. Wait until the grass is actively growing — usually mid to late April in southern Ontario, later in the Prairies and Atlantic Canada. Set your mower to one of its higher cutting heights for the first mow. Cutting too short in spring stresses the grass before it has established strong root growth.
The Greenworks 48V 17″ Push Mower is perfect for this first spring pass — its 7 cutting heights let you set a taller cut, and SmartCut technology adjusts motor power automatically as you move through patches of varying thickness.
5. Edge Walkways and Driveways
After the first mow, edge along driveways, walkways, and garden beds to create clean lines. Grass creeps into hard surfaces over the dormant season, and crisp edges make the entire yard look maintained. A Greenworks battery string trimmer on the same voltage platform as your mower shares batteries, so no extra investment needed.
6. Check Your Tools
Before the mowing season hits full stride, give your tools a once-over. Check mower blades for nicks and dullness — a dull blade tears grass instead of cutting it, which turns the tips brown and invites disease. Inspect battery contacts for corrosion. Charge all batteries fully. Clean the underside of your mower deck to remove last season's grass buildup.
This is also a good time to expand your tool kit. If you've been using a mower and nothing else, adding a blower and a string trimmer from the same battery platform completes the trifecta for weekly yard maintenance — and you already own the batteries.
7. Plan Your Mowing Schedule
Consistent mowing is the single biggest factor in a healthy Canadian lawn. From May through September, most lawns need mowing once a week. Set a recurring day — Saturday mornings, Tuesday evenings, whatever works for your schedule — and stick to it. Consistent mowing at the right height prevents the grass from getting overgrown between cuts, reduces strain on your mower, and keeps the lawn looking sharp.
Your Spring Cleanup Arsenal
You don't need a garage full of tools to handle spring cleanup. A blower, a mower, and a trimmer cover 90% of what a Canadian homeowner needs. With Greenworks battery tools, all three can share the same batteries, which keeps costs down and storage simple.
Get spring-ready with Greenworks → Shop mowers, blowers, and trimmers