Thursday, November 27, 2008

Maintaining Your Lawn Garden

When it comes to making sure that the landscape around your home stays in top condition, one of the key items to take care of is the lawn garden area. It is important that proper maintenance is done to keep the back and front lawn, and the garden healthy and looking good because in most cases, the lawn is the largest and most visible aspect of a property.

Watering the lawn and garden is one of the most important parts of good lawn maintenance. In some parts of the country, there is enough rainfall so that the roots are properly supplied with moisture. But even in what would be considered soggy areas, such as the Pacific Northwest, there are periods or dry weather and no rain. When this happens, it is vital to the survival of the lawns that they be properly watered.

The first sign of an impending drought condition of the lawn garden area of your landscaping is a change in color. The grass in lawns that are suffering from insufficient moisture will start to lose their intense greenness and will soon turn to a straw color, or even brown if the lack of moisture persists.

The best time of day to water a lawn or garden is during the coolest part of the day. This means that turning on the lawn sprinkler early in the morning or in the evening after the sun has set is best. Garden lawn experts also say that the rotary sprinklers provide the best coverage if you don't have a built in sprinkler system for your lawn maintenance.

In most cases, it is best to water your lawn just once a week, unless the weather is extremely hot or dry. When doing your weekly watering, you can place an empty tuna can on the grass and let the water run until it is filled up. This will help you know when you have watered enough to give the deep roots enough moisture without over watering. Watering in this way will also help your lawns develop a deep root system which will also help them survive periods of drought.

Another aspect of lawn and garden maintenance is proper fertilization and weed control. Good basic maintenance techniques will go a long way in keeping the lawns of your home and garden healthy, thriving and with few weeds. Spring is the best time to fertilize lawns as this is when the grass is "waking up" and will need the extra nutrients from the fertilizer to assure healthy growth. The best garden lawn fertilizers will have a combination of nitrogen, phosphates and potash.

Often, it is very beneficial to do another round of fertilization of your lawn garden in the summer months to give your lawns a better chance of gaining the nutrients that will make them hearty. Using a fertilizer that also contains some weed killer can also reduce your work by keeping the weeds in check. This combination of a well-fed lawn and a light herbicide will control most of the weed problems so that you can enjoy your home, gardens and lawns with your friends and family.

No building is complete without some grass, a few plants and some shrubbery to help enhance the quality of the building. The added value of curb appeal can make the difference when selling a house or increasing the value of a home. Any little bit helps and you do not always need a professional to do the landscaping for you. It never hurts to have some professional advice or a little bit of knowledge before you start ripping up your front yard, though. A few trees, some nice green grass and you will have it down pat before you know it. Who knows? Possibly you will consider it as a line of work that you might be interested in following. Below there are some basic frequently asked questions of landscaping so that you can get some idea of how landscaping is completed and how it might be simpler than you may think.

 


When should I hire a landscaper?

You should employ a landscaper if you do not have a a special ability to make plants grow and you are not going to have the necessary time to devote to getting rid of the prior planting as well as landscaping the new. There are certain steps that must be put into place to prevent the erosion of soil so it will require at a minimum a weekend of difficult work. Landscaper's are not inexpensive but you can find one at a reasonable cost contingent upon on how large the area is and how much labor you mean to do yourself. If you are going to maintain the area, you will spend less money as well.

If I am resolved to do the landscaping of my home myself, what are some designs as well as conceptions to help me?

There are many software programs out on the market currently that can help you create your own landscape. You will have to insert the shape of your yard and then pick from the type of terrain and climate you live in. The software can provide you with the suggested plants and shrubbery that is best suited for your yard. If you want manmade terrains or structures, you will wish to contact a carpenter for suggestions or a do-it-yourself website for directions.

How do I decide which type to plant?

The type of plant you select will depend on your climate and how much you want to water. It will also depend on how much sun that your receives throughout the day. Some plants thrive in the shade while others will wilt. For those people who live in areas that are prone to drought, they should think about planting hardy plants which need little water and really help to maintain the soil from eroding. Many people choose to have rock gardens as well as cactus if they happen to live in desert environments.

At what time is the ideal season for planting?

The ideal planting season is dependent upon what type of plant you wish to grow. Bulbs are best planted in the fall so that they have the necessary time to root within the soil. Other plants are best suited to planting in the months of the spring. Some plants will not produce flowers or fruits for one or two seasons later so you have to prepare for this. Trees will have to go through several years prior to them becoming substantial enough to provide enough shade or to produce fruit.

What will be the cost be to have my home landscaped?

 

Without knowing how large your yard is, what condition the ground is and what type of plants you want to place in your yard it is impossible to estimate how much it will cost. You can generally guess that it will be at at a minimum of around five hundred dollars and can quickly go in the range of several thousand dollars for plants that are exotic and features which are complex. You can get an estimate for the overall price from the landscaper.

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