Enhance Your Homes Curb Appeal With Tips for the Lawn
Most everyone has heard the phrase “curb appeal” in referring to one’s first impression of a home. People take only an instant to decide if a house is worthy of their time and attention by checking out how things look on the outside when they first arrive. One of the best ways to make sure that your home has a strong and inviting curb appeal is by making sure that the lawn gets good lawn care.
While that can sound easy enough, sometimes getting the back and front lawn to look beautiful, immaculate and attractive can be a daunting task, especially if there have been some problems with the health of your lawn recently. Below is a collection of lawn care tips and suggestions that can help you cultivate a lawn that draws people to your home, welcomes them, and gives your curb appeal a real boost.
Tip One: Have the soil tested so that you know what kind of fertilizer you should add to the lawn area to provide the grass with proper nutrition. Local agricultural extension agencies often offer this service for free or at a very low cost.
Tip Two: Have a regular lawn maintenance routine that includes fertilizing three to five times every year. Make sure this is done on a regular schedule and is the right kind of food for the grass in your garden lawn. The extension agency can also help you with information in this regard as it relates to your local area.
Tip Three: When undertaking lawn mowing during the heat of the summer, cut it at the maximum height your lawn mower allows. This helps keep the grass from drying out as fast and even provides shade to the ground which helps prevent the loss of moisture. This will help conserve water and it will also help the lawns to crowd the weeds out. During the cooler and wetter times of the year you can set the lawn mower to cut lower according to your preferences.
Tip Four: Water about one to one-and-a-half inches once a week. When you water briefly every day, you are encouraging your lawn to develop a shallow root system. Watering only once a week helps develop nice deep roots which can better withstand hot, dry summer weather.
Tip Five: Aerate at least once or twice every year. This also helps promote lawns with deep root systems and helps the water and lawn food to get past the surface and down to the roots where it does the most good. Aerating also helps undo the effects of soil compacting, which is a particular problem if you use a riding lawn mower to help with your lawn maintenance.
Tip Six: Keep the blades of the mower good and sharp. Dull blades actually rip the ends of the grass blades and cause a ragged look and contribute to browning at the ends. Also, you should do your lawn mowing in different directions each time you mow. This helps avoid ruts and soil compaction problems.
Tip Seven: Watch for signs of dead areas. Such dead patches can be an indication of an insect problem or disease that is attacking your home and garden lawns. When you see this, you should not treat the problem until you know the cause. Your local extension agency will be a great help in this case also.
Tip Eight: Control weeds with the use of quality herbicides. You can do this separately or look for a fertilizer that also contains weed control components.
While this is not an exhaustive list of lawn care tips, it should be sufficient to help you immediately make some improvements to the overall look and health of the lawn area that is such an important part of your home and garden. As you diligently apply these lawn maintenance tips you will be able to enjoy your front yard more and at the same time know that the curb appeal has improved as well.
No building is complete without some grass, a few plants and some shrubbery to help enhance the quality of the building. The enhanced curb appeal as well as the added value can make the final difference when selling a home or adding to the over all value of the house. Any small amounts help and you don’t have to always use a professional to complete the landscaping for you. There is no downside to get some advice from professionals or some knowledge prior to you beginning tearing up your front yard. A few trees, some nice green grass and you will have it down pat before you know it. Who knows? Maybe you will consider it as a career that you may be interested in pursuing. 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.
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Can I do my own landscaping?
Yes, you can do your own landscaping if you have a little information on how to do it and if set aside the time to do so. You will be getting your hands dirty. Plus you will need to have knowledge of what plants are the best for your terrain. If you are creating man-made structures for instance decks or ponds, you will needs to have some carpentry as well as plumbing skills. You will also have to know how to upkeep the pond since the last thing you need after putting in all that work is to produce a body of water loaded with mosquito larvae and algae.
Perennials and annuals – What makes them different?
Both are, certainly, plants although the difference is in the time span in which they last and how often you need to plant them again. Annuals must be replanted eash year. Examples of annuals are any type of vegetable, sunflowers as well as flowers such as violets. Perennials are plants that will renew themselves. They include trees, bulb plants such as lilies, tulips and also include roses as well as other sturdy plants that go dormant during the winter months. The majority of ornamental grasses are thought to be perennials.
Whats the best way to decide on the kind of plant to use?
The kind of plant you choose will be dependent on your climate and the amount of water you want to use. It will also depend on how much sun your yard gets during the day. Some plants thrive in the shade when others will wilt. For those individuals who live in drought prone areas, they should consider planting plants that are hardy that require small amounts of water and really help maintain the soil from eroding. Many individuals choose to have rock gardens and cactus if they happen to live in desert climates.
At what time is the ideal season for planting?
The ideal planting season is dependent upon what type of plant you want to grow. Bulbs are best planted in the fall so that they have the necessary time to root within the soil. Other types of plants are more suitable to planting in the months of the spring. Some plants will not produce flowers or fruits for at least one or two seasons later so you need to prepare for this. Trees will need to go through several years before they become large enough to furnish the right amount of shade or produce fruit.
How much will it cost to landscape my home?
It would be virtually impossible to get an accurate estimate without knowing how big your yard is, what the overall condition of the soil is and finally what kind of plants that you are looking to plant in your yard. You can take a general guess that it will be at at a minimum of around five hundred dollars and can quickly run upwards of several thousand dollars for exotic plants and intricate features. You can get an estimate for the overall price from the landscaper.
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