Equipment

When doing your own work around your house and lawn the equipment you use is very important to you. They are very important to you because if they break down or don’t work correctly the job either won’t get done at all or even done the right way. With this being said it is very smart and beneficial to make sure you buy the best and most reliable equipment and that you also take good care of them with the upkeep. So when it is time to buy your first, or upgrade your lawn mower, edger, weed whacker, hedge trimmers, and what other landscaping equipment it is very important that you pay attention to what brand you are buying from. Going cheap with these types of purchases is not always a good idea. It may seem like it in the short run since you are saving money upfront. But in reality you are most likely going to spend more money in the long run. You are going to end up spending more money in the long run if you buy cheap equipment since you are probably going to have to pay for repairs on it or even just toss it out and buy another new one time after time. I know this from personal experience with our landscaping company. We decided to go with the cheaper weed whacker to save some money and we ended up having a lot of problems with it and it broke on us relatively quick compared to the other ones that we have owned and own currently.

Backyard

There are many things you can do to your backyard to make it not so plain. The first and most popular solution to this is to do some planting. This can be a whole bunch of things, from a garden to flows and trees. This is probably the most popular since it is the least expensive and most convenient. Something else that people do to their backyards to give it some style is to get some patio furniture and decorations. This can range from a table set with chairs and an umbrella to just chairs and little tables kind of like a lounge. Something to add to this to spice it up a little bit would be to have some potted plants, wind chimes, or even some lighting so it feel more like an outside lounge (which it is) compared to an inside lounge. One of the more drastic changes that can be made to a backyard is by installing a pool. I say this is a drastic change for a few reasons. The first reason is that they are a rather pricey to install them, but it doesn’t just stop there. You have to keep up with it by adding chemicals to it and it will also run up your energy bill since you will need to run the filter for it. Another reason why this is drastic is because if you decide to move later on in life, you are going to need to sell your house. And many people think that a pool should add value to your house, but this isn’t always the case. So when thinking on ways to upgrade your backyard there are many things you can do to it.

Landscaping can be rather affordable or rather pricey

When thinking about landscaping most people thing that it is expensive. This is true to an extent. This is true because landscaping is a very broad array of things. Landscaping varies from just the basic lawn cutting to the very elaborate brickwork and there is a ton of different services in the middle. When taking a look at the basic lawn cutting it isn’t very expensive. Most companies are trying to give you a very fair rate just like any other business because they are trying to be competitive and get the most work that they can. But when taking a look at doing all the brickwork it is a little different. This is different since not all landscaping companies that offer lawn maintenance offer that type of service. Brickwork is the type of landscaping that becomes expensive. It is so expensive since the materials themselves are a little pricey and there are a lot of materials that go to work when doing brickwork other than just the bricks themselves. Another reason that makes this expensive is because it takes a whole lot more work to do this compared to the basic lawn maintenance. It takes more work and also more highly skilled workers, which also ups the price. It takes higher skilled workers because you have to make sure the work is done exactly right and it is much more complex process than it seems. If the work isn’t done correct, the bricks start to split apart and over a little bit of time it looks as if the work that was done is falling apart. This is something that happens when doing brick work that if it isn’t done correctly that it actually does fall apart. 

Paying attention

When cutting your lawn it becomes routine doesn’t it? Many people would say yes to that question but that is not the right response to that question. This isn’t the right response for a few reasons. The first reason that cutting your lawn shouldn’t be routine is that changing up the patterns is good for your lawn. If you keep cutting your lawn in the same pattern it will end up killing that grass where the wheels of the lawn mower go time after time. For instance if you cut your lawn horizontally one week cut it vertically the next, or even on a diagonal. The changing of the way you cut your lawn keeps it looking fresh week after week. By fresh I mean that the lawn will always be standing up to its fullest and won’t be falling down looking like it isn’t healthy. Another reason for always paying attention to your lawn when cutting it and not getting into a routine is that there may be thing in the lawn that you shouldn’t mow over. As said before you shouldn’t mow over large twigs or branches because it can damage your lawn mower. With that being said it is common for branches and twigs to fall off of trees. Another thing t be cautious about is the animals. The first thing to be aware about are the rabbits. Rabbits make there “home” in lawns and when they have their offspring they stay in those homes. When cutting your lawn the noise of the mower will scare them and they tend to jump out of that hole onto the lawn.  Another animal to watch out for is the birds since the baby birds can fall out of the nest onto the lawn. So always pay attention when cutting your lawn.

Front and back yards

When thinking and planning about doing the landscaping for your house, whether you do it yourself or if you hire a company to do it for you, you should never forget about the backyard. So many people do a wonderful job of creating a lovely look to the fronts of their houses but not to the backs. People seem to only do the fronts of their houses because to them that is the only place that most people are going to be seeing any ways. This isn’t completely true. For the most obvious part there are your neighbors, whether to the back, sides, or diagonal, that will be able to have a clear view to the back of your house. Well this may not matter to you exactly what your neighbors think about how the back of your house looks but there are two other instances when it might matter. The first example is when you are having a party or even a get together and people are in and around your house, they notice that you only took the effort to do the front of your house and not the rest of it. Once again this may not be such a big deal since you already know these people. But the last example I have is when you are showing your house off to potential buyers. Buyers like to see that not only everything within the house has been taken care of and looks nice but also that the outside appearance looks nice all around and has been taken care of. So for people thinking about doing landscaping work to their houses, don’t just focus on the front but rather the whole house.

Trees and plants part of your Landscaping

Many people may not like having trees or bushes in their landscaping but there are some positives and also negatives about them. The first positive thing about plants and trees being added to your landscaping around your house is that it is good for the environment. By this I mean that they produce clean oxygen to keep the planet healthier. The first drawback of having bushes and trees in the landscaping is that they can be bothersome to maintain. By this you have to trim a lot of different types of bushes and also trees if they grow too large and also in the fall you need to clean up the leaves after your trees. Another positive aspect of having trees and shrubbery around your house is that they create homes and protection for the wild animals in your surrounding area. The most obvious point of this is birds and squirrels nesting in the trees. Another drawback of having plants and trees incorporated with your landscaping is that during storms, if server enough, they can break the branches off of the trees which can then cause damage to your house or vehicles. Two things that are a little more minor compared to the other but are still positive aspect of having trees and plants around your house is that they can create shade for your house meaning you won’t need to use as mush air conditioning in the summer as you might usually have to. Also they make your house look that much more appealing compared to a house with no plants and trees around it.

Perennials

Don’t you just love the look of a house when you drive buy it and they have an array of different plants and bushes on the walk way to the front door and in the front of the house so it isn’t all bare. Many people like this look but either they feel they are too lazy to plant those plants each year and also take care of them. On the other hand they don’t want to pay a landscaping company to come out and do the work for them because it is going to be too expensive or they won’t like the work that they did. There is a simple solution to this problem. There are certain types of flowers and plants that are called a perennial. A perennial is a type of plant that keeps growing back after two years. This means that once you plant them on year you won’t have to worry about replanting anything else until you get bored of those one and want to change things up or just want to add more plants. There are also certain bushes that don’t grow very much at all and you won’t have to worry about having to trim them or anything like that. The hardest up keeping that you are going to have to do with these plants and bushes is just water them every now and then. But in the summer time when it gets really hot and dry you are going to need to water them more than usual just like you would have to do with your lawn.

Mulching or bagging your lawn clippings

When mowing your lawn you have two basic options on how you want to do it. Those two options are that you can either “mulch” the grass or you can bag the grass. There are reasons for doing both types of these cuts. The first reason for mulching your glass clippings and not bagging them is the most popular reason; and that reason is because it is cheaper and easier. By cheaper, I mean that you don’t have to worry about buying decomposable lawn bags to put the clipping in. And there are many reasons why it is easier. You don’t have to fight around with the lawn mower bag and the decomposable lawn bag trying to transfer the grass from one bag to the next. The positive aspect of mulching your lawn is that when the grass clippings are cut to a fine enough size they don’t just lay on top of the other grass, but rather fall down on top of the soil and act as a fertilizer. Many people decided to bag their lawns when the grass grows exceptionally fast. The reason for bagging in when it grows fast is because the blades of grass will be longer than normal and will not be cut up finely enough to act as fertilizer but rather just sit on top of the other grass not doing any good for the lawn and also decreasing the attractiveness of your lawn. A positive aspect of bagging you lawn is that you can use those grass clippings for a fertilizer in your gardens. You can spread the grass around the different types of plants you have and this will decompose and help feed the plants and also keep the moister in while doing so.

Lighting up your landscaping

Many people work very hard on the landscaping around the front of their houses to make sure that it looks really nice and that it helps make the house look more attractive. Once that sun goes down all the hard work trying to get your landscaping to look good goes to rest. This upsets people since they have been putting in so much effort to make it look that way and that once the sun goes down no one will be able to appreciate what they have done. Yes, many people have porch and garage lights but those do not do a justice of illuminating your landscaping. Once very simple solution to this would be to buy those little lights that you can just stake into the ground that will do a wonderful job of illuminating the landscaping. A positive aspect of getting these lights besides the fact that it will help show off your landscaping is that it will make it safer for people that are walking to or from your house. There are many different types of these lights that you can choose from. I personally would suggest getting the ones that have the solar panels on the tops of them. Buying this type of lighting for your landscaping will cut the use for batteries and you won’t have to plug them in wasting any energy. Also you wouldn’t have to worry about having to turn them on and off but rather they would turn on and off automatically. 

Getting a fence for a dog

If you are thinking about getting a fence for a dog there are a few things to think about before jumping strait in and getting it. If you are getting a fence to keep your dog contained without having to chain it up so it will be able to run around freely without straying too far there is another option. That option is the invisible fence. Many people know what the invisible fence is and how it works. The thing that they don’t advertise able the invisible fence is the nice part about maintaining your lawn without a fence. There are a few positive aspects to having the invisible fence for your lawn. The first and most obvious is that you don’t have to have an “ugly” barrier confining your lawn. Something else that many people forget to think about when getting a fence is the up keep. With wood fences, after years the wood and or paint may begin to chip meaning you would have to do something to it so it won’t be an eye sore. Another thing is that the wood may break making you have to replace that piece or section of fence. With the chain link fences they may begin to rust or also the paint starts to chip off of it. With chain linked fences it is much harder to replace since it isn’t just sections it’s a whole large roll of it. One of the more obvious positive of the invisible fence is that you don’t need to worry about trimming the grass along the fence line. This makes it much easier to upkeep your lawn. Also in the fall fences help a lot with keeping those bothersome leaves in your lawn.

Seed planting

There are two times of the year when it is a good idea to seed your lawn and you may want to seed your lawn because you have a few bare spots in your lawn or maybe your lawn is not looking as full as you would like it to look. Once you have decided you are going to plant some seeds in your lawn, now it is time to think about when it is the right time to do so. The first time of the year you can do it is early spring. There are two reasons why it is a good idea to plant your grass seed in the spring. The first reason why planting your seeds in the spring is a good idea is that there will be plenty of natural rain water so you won’t have to be watering your lawn as much as you would normally need to. The second reason why it is smart to plant the seed in the spring is because you will be avoiding the hot summer days when the seeds would need a lot of water and would have a much harder time of successfully growing. The second time of the year that it is a smart time to plant your grass seed is in the late fall. Many people don’t think that this makes any sense because the seeds won’t be getting that much sunlight if any. The positive of planting in the late fall is that in doing so when the winter snow comes the weight of the snow will help push the seeds down into the ground making sure that they are well planted. Also the periodic melting of the snow will help feed those seeds of some of its water needs over the winter months.

Come spring time, think about these little things

There are some things that are very good to do for your lawn when spring time rolls around. Like mentioned before it is a good idea to take care of those leaves that may have blown into your lawn and landscaping around your house. Something else that was slightly mentioned before was fertilizing in the spring. This will help ensure that your lawn gets the healthy grow out of it that you are always looking for. Another thing that this will do is help prevent bugs and other insects that are bothersome to your lawn from living there. One thing that not every home owner does to their lawns in the spring and fall is areate and dethatch it. Many home owners don’t do this because they don’t have the machines for it and or are not aware of the benefits of doing those two things to their lawns. Something you will not have to worry about during the first weeks and maybe even months of mowing your lawn is watering it. First of all there is the snow that will have melted on the lawn which in turn obviously waters it. Another thing is that in those first few weeks and or months there is usually a lot of rain. This is one of the major reasons why people tend to notice that their lawns are growing a lot fast and fuller during the early spring time compared to late spring, summer, and fall. It is a good idea to keep those few things in mind when spring rolls around and you are getting ready to start taking care of your lawn again.

Basic lawn mower care

Being a landscaper myself I know how bothersome it can be to try and keep your machine in its best working condition. If you think of it your lawn mower is sort of like your car. Both of them run on gas, need to check the oil (refill the oil and also replace it), and basically need to make sure that all the parts are working together so that they will be performing at the highest possible level that they can; and also to insure safety. Like stated before you always want to keep a close eye on your oil level since this can and will damage and break your engine rendering your lawn mower useless. Another thing you want to check often is the wheels. The first thing you should check with your wheels is to ensure that they are securely fastened to the mower. You want to check this because over time just from using your mower the nuts and bolts can become lose and or even break off. As you would imagine it would be very dangerous to lose a car wheel while operating, it is also dangerous to lose a lawn mower wheel while operating. Something else to be cautious about on your mower is that to make sure that all the wires are still fully protected like they were when you purchased it; if not this can be a hazard while trying to operate it. Another thing to mindful of is the underneath of the lawn mower. This includes two parts, the blade and the space in which the blade is able to operate. You want to keep your blade sharp to unsure that it will be cutting your lawn the best that it can. If you are a do-it-yourselfer you can sharpen them yourselves, if not you can take it to a local hardware store and they will most likely be able to do it for you. But even if your blade is sharp but the underneath isn’t clean you won’t be getting the best cut possible. You want to clean out the bottom of the mower from wet grass that has stuck there and harden in. This will give you the type of cut you are looking for.

Preparing your lawn for the first spring cut

Now that you have taken the time to check out your lawn mower before that first cut of the spring, there is something you need to be aware of before you take out that lawn mower and start mowing. The first thing to be aware of is that there is a good chance that you will have leaves on your lawn and in your landscaping. You should always try and clean out those bothersome leaves that always get blown around during late fall after your last cut and clean up. You should get them out of your bushes, whether it is at the bottom or stuck in-between the branches. This will allow your bush to grow easier, look fuller, and over look better (without debris in them). After you have taken care of those leaves you should take a look inspect your lawn and clean it off. What I mean by this is that there is a good chance there are twigs, small and large ones, on your lawn once all that snow melts and you don’t just want to be mowing over those when you cut your lawn for the first time. These twigs and branches get broken off of trees and bushes during the winter from the snow and or ice that accumulate on them. Adding to the fact that there is snow and or ice on those branches there are also strong winds that tend to help snap or break those twigs and branches off. You don’t want to be mowing over these things because if they are large enough branches they can damage your lawn mower in a few different ways, so it is a good idea to avoid cutting them up.

Getting the mower ready

After those four to five months of not having to uphold your lawn, spring is finally coming. With the weather starting to warm up you need to start thinking about getting back into the grove of cutting and taking care of your lawn. But there are a few things that you should be cautious of before just taking out your lawn mower and cutting your lawn. The first thing you should be aware of is to check you mower before you start it up. First of all you should check the oil level of your mower. You should do this because if you don’t do it right away you may forget to do it soon and without oil you will ruin your engine; trust me it has happened to myself and it is not fun replacing a mower or engine for a silly mistake like not checking the oil. Another reason to check your lawn mowers oil level is because there is a good possibility that you didn’t check it before you stored it for the winter. If there is no oil when you try and start it in the spring for the first time this won’t be good for your mower at all. Something else to check on your mower before starting it up for the first time in the spring is the spark plug. Your lawn mower won’t start if your spark plug is either unplugged or broken. You’re almost ready to start up your mower now you just have to put gas in it and prime it. But be cautious of what gas container you grab to put in your mower. I say this because many people have two different containers for their lawn mowers and snow blowers since they take different gas. If you put the wrong gas in your mower this will damage you lawn mower.

Mulch

A lot of home owners choose to use mulch around an array of different landscaping projects. You can use mulch around your tree so it doesn’t look so plan and simple. You can use mulch around your bushes, plants, and flowers. Another place you can use mulch around is your pool or house. When using mulch it doesn’t need to be inside a brick barrier it can just be edged around. There are a few things that make mulch the preferred choice of landscaping fill. The first reason that mulch is one of the most preferred choices is that it is pretty cheap compared to rocks and other landscaping fillers. Another thing that it is a preferred choice is because if people and to do it themselves it is much easier for them to use mulch compared to rocks. When decided what type of mulch you want to use there are a few questions that you should answer. The first question is how much you are willing to pay for the mulch. Some public works offer free mulch which just basically just plain chopped up parts of trees. Then there are places that have pretty cheap mulch and relatively expensive mulch. Another thing to think about when picking out the mulch, is what color will look best next to the siding of your house and the plants/flowers that you have planted around where the mulch will be going. Something else to be aware of is that some mulch holds its color and will last longer than others. For instance premium shredded hardwood will need to be replaces every year and on the other hand died red mulch which is pretty thick will hold its color for a few years and won’t need to be replaced every year.

Be cautious of your lawn even during the winter

After that last fall cut, leaf clean up, and hopefully fertilization you get a break from taking care of your lawn. Many people love those four to five months off from cutting and maintaining their lawns. There are some things that people should be aware of during those winter months when the snow starts falling. A lot of people use several different types of salts to try and keep their drive ways and walk ways from freezing so they won’t have the hazards of slipping and falling. One thing to be cautious about when using your preferred type of salt is to make sure to keep it away from your lawn. There are several chemicals in those products that can and will harm your lawn. It is very tricky since when you are worrying about keeping your drive way and walk ways clear of ice, you are not really conscious of your lawn at that point. Many people use the same spreader for their salt as they do for their fertilizer, which are the ones that spread the salt/fertilizer over a wide area. This is not the best way of applying salt to those areas. This is true because you don’t have the best control over where the salt actually gets applied even though it is the most preferred way to apply the salt. When applying salt in the future try and use the spreaders that just drop the salt straight down or even using your hands to apply it since this way you will have control over where the salt lands and will not harm your lawn.

Fall Mistake - Fertilization

Many home owners think that there is no need to fertilize their lawns right before the season changes from fall to winter, which is a mistake. Yes, your lawn will be able to survive the winter and grow in the spring if you don't fertilize before the cold weather and snow comes. But if you fertilize your lawn right when it is about to stop growing this will give the grass the nutrients that it wants and needs for the long winter. Since the lawn will have those nutrients the grass won’t be "fighting" for what nutrients are left in the lawn, in turn giving your lawn a much better and healthier grow when spring rolls around. Another positive of fertilizing in the fall right before winter is that you most likely won’t have to work so hard in the spring to get your lawn looking full and green just how you would like it to look. Another way to get your lawn looking like that in the early spring is to fertilize it then, but that in turn makes the lawn start growing again, and earlier than you most likely would like for it to happen. So when you finish that last cut of the season and have taken care of all of those bothersome leaves you are not quite done yet. Just take out that fertilizer spreader of yours and get the fertilizer out and apply one last application of fertilizer to your lawn so that over the winter you won’t have to worry about putting in so much effort in the spring to make your lawn look full and green.