Maintenance
Fertilization
Fertilization is a perfect example of maintenance for landscapes. It is one of those regular things that you simply cannot afford to neglect.
Every year, as the end of autumn approaches, you should apply a final dose of fertilizer to your grass. The lawn will absorb those nutrients and they will help to keep it strong, healthy throughout the winter, and ready to explode into growth when things warm up again.
Cleaning Your Lawn
If your lawn is smothered in any location, it can do a great deal of harm. Before the really cold weather sits in, walk your property and carefully remove any debris from the lawn. Things like tree branches, logs, your children’s toys or that shovel you have been meaning to put back into the garage can do serious damage if left in place through the winter.
Smothered grass is less disease resilient and may even die completely. You certainly do not want to usher in spring with a brown ring in the middle of the yard! If you simply "let things go" you run the risk of undoing all of your hard work and encountering disappointing results. Last year's landscaping accomplishment can become next year's embarrassment if maintenance is not taken seriously.
Remember, your landscape is not a pretty picture that, once painted, remains in place forever. It is a constantly growing and changing collection of living things. It is, in many ways, an organism unto itself. In order to nurture it effectively, you will need to revisit it frequently.
That is what landscape maintenance is really all about!Why Do We Need Landscaping?
The Benefits
Economic Benefits:- Landscaping enhances property values
- Proper placement of shade trees and evergreens reduces cooling costs
- One tree removes 26 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air every year and releases about 13 pounds of oxygen - enough for a family of four on a daily basis.
- Plants control runoff and erosion
- Plants reduce noise pollution up to 50 percent.
- Plants create green space for human rest & recreation.
We often have a "do it and forget it" mentality. Once a task is completed, we do not give it a second thought. Instead, we move on to whatever is next in line. That attitude may work in some areas, but it certainly is not appropriate for the care and nurturing of your property's landscape.
Great landscaping does not stem exclusively from those days of planning and planting. Your property is a growing, living thing. You can set something beautiful into motion, but in order to get the most out of your landscaping plans, you will need to conduct regular maintenance. You will need to address the yard's needs and to be proactive in order to prevent the development of problems that could completely derail your plans.
Begin the overall planning of the landscaping area by taking a walk around your place and the courtyard with a pencil in hand. Take an inventory of what you have, what you would like to keep, what you would like to add and what you would like to eliminate.
Consider Lawn Alternatives
Avoiding large expanses of lawn can reduce maintenance. If you do not need a large lawn area, select ground cover or other plants that do not need continual trimming or cutting. Paving, broken up with small areas of plants, is another way to reduce lawn area.
Planning Saves Money
Making an overall plan that identifies all of the paving or the carpentry needs, so that they can be accomplished at one time, will same money. You may also get discounts by buying all your plants at one time. The biggest savings in cost come through proper planning.
Planning shouldn't be done in a hurry. Proper planning may require that several weekends be spent looking through literature, looking at other yards and public gardens, drawing up the plan, and then giving it a trial test.
Other Landscaping Ideas
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Landscaping lighting:
- Landscaping lighting is a wonderful way to add color and appeal to your home after dark. Most of these lights are very easy to install and operate on a low amount of electricity, with some even using solar power.
Landscaping lights can be purchased at most home improvement stores as well as on the internet. They are available in many shapes, colors and sizes. The prices vary depending on what you are in the market for. With so many options, you are sure to find exactly what you are searching for. - Hardscaping
This term can refer to any solid materials you use in landscaping at all. From the borders you use for your boxes to stone paths that line your lawn as well as the rocks. Even fences, gates, arbors and gazebos can fall under the title of hardscaping quite accurately. - Fencing
Fences serve several purposes for your home. A nice fence can not only keep pets & children in your yard, they can also be a beautiful way of marking property lines, giving privacy from neighbors, or even just an accent to your landscaping.
Avoiding Common Landscaping Mistakes
We live in a do-it-yourself culture. The upside to that reality is that many of us get tremendous opportunities to try our hands and new skills and to learn interesting things while saving money. The downside is that we sometimes trade expertise and quality for that experience and cost-effectiveness. Landscaping is a perfect example of this. Everyone wants to take care of the job without calling the professionals, but their lack of expertise can create problems.
Professional landscapers know the business inside and out. They understand composition, they know which plants will compliment others. They understand the soil, the elements and what things will actually compliment the design of your home. You might think you have a "great eye" and you may be a quick study however the average do-it-yourselfer is not an expert landscaper.
As such, several common mistakes are repeated over and over again across the nation's lawns. Let's look at four common landscaping mistakes. By understanding the errors of others, you might be able to avoid doing the same things!
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RULING WITH A RULER - ERRORS OF LINEARITY
- Many self-styled landscapers approach their projects as if the world functioned exclusively along the rigid lines of grid. The natural world, however, isn't flat or square. It's bumpy and curvy. It undulates and sways.
Professionals understand that and they try to work within natural lines and to use the "imperfections" of nature to heighten aesthetic appeal. Amateurs, on the other hand, often have a preoccupation with trying to make everything square and straight. When everything is straightened, it tends to create an uninviting and severe atmosphere.
Play with nature as much as you play against it. - NEGLECTING THE FRONT - FORGETTING TO PUT YOUR FACE ON
Most of us prefer some degree of privacy. Thus, we tend to spend the bulk of our time in our back yards instead of in front of the house. As a result of that preference, we also tend to have much larger areas with which to work behind our house. Thus, it does make sense that most landscaping work will occur in the back.
However, too many amateurs focus on the back yard to the near-exclusion of the front. There is no "harm" in that, per se, but it does represent a wasted opportunity to improve the value and attractiveness of your home.
Make sure you plot a course of landscaping success in the front yard, too. - LIVING IN THE MOMENT - IGNORING FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Those shrubs you plan on planting right under the bay window will look great this year and the next. After that, though, you had better plan on a weekly trimming. You have three feet of clearance between ground and window and those cute little shrubs will grow ten feet high if not held in check.
You get the idea, right?