Nearly every home owner is always in search for the perfect landscaped yard that will make their neighbors get busy to maintain their own and keep up with the Jones with envy. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced gardener or a new homeowner, there are endless landscaping tips and tricks to you can use to create your landscaping dream. Here are a few professional tips to help you upgrade your yard, landscape and gardening skills.
Planting Tips and Tricks
- First, pick the right plant for the right spot in your landscape design and always make sure there is enough room for the new plant to mature.
- When potting flowers or plants in containers, always use a good quality potting soil. Your investment in a good soil will help them thrive.
- Give your plants the best start in their new home, always dig the hole at least twice as wide but no deeper than the root ball. After planting, you need to maintain a good moisture level during the first few weeks to ensure the new plant can establish its roots.
- To keep your plants healthy, remember to apply about one inch of water per week during the normal growing season.
- Note: It’s best to plant perennial plants in the fall, but if cannot make a fall planting, early spring with work well. Perennial flowers add a great deal of colors and textures to your landscape and will surely boost your curb appeal.
Mulching and Soil Best Practices
- When planting new areas in your landscape, make sure you till-up the soil and add compost which is a good organic material. Remember, the better you can make the soil, the better the garden or landscape plantings will grow.
- It’s best to apply mulches in the spring to help with weed control and maintain the plants moisture. Choosing an organic mulch like straw, shredded bark or good compost is best. When applying Mulch always applied at least 2-3 inches thick. Note: Avoid using non-organic products such as gravel or rubber mulch, as they really don’t add no value to the soil.
Pruning Basics 101
- In the Spring, it’s best to prune spring flowering plants shortly after they flower. However, for summer flowering plants, it’s best time to prune plants in late winter, or in early spring before they flower. The best landscaping tips for a Rose lover is Pruning.
- Make sure to prune azaleas in late spring or early summer after the plants blooms have faded, but do not wait too long as mid-summer pruning may affect the plant blooms for next year.
- When pruning boxwoods, homeowners should prune them in spring or summer and avoid pruning in late summer or fall because new growth needs time to harden off before the frost. Note: Hand pruning is best, but you can use shears if necessary.
Mowing the Perfect Yard
- When mowing homeowners should change their mowing directions often, so ruts do not develop in the yard. For example, mow moving in a vertical direction in the yard one week, then mow horizontally the next week. Note: It’s critical to mow regularly however, you only want to remove one-third of the height of the grass when mowing and to keep your mower blade sharp for best results.
- It’s recommended to use a mulching mower instead of bagging clippings. In doing so, your lawn will require 30 percent less fertilizer and the grass clippings return both nutrients and organic content back into the soil.
- It’s best to use a stick edger or weed eater to edge sidewalks, driveways and bed edges after mowing because the clean, crisp lines will enhance the appearance of your landscape. Note: Always make sure you wear proper safety protection for both your eyes and ears.
- Every year Aerate your lawn to help improve the growth of roots, and aid the penetration of water and fertilizer to the grass roots – your lawn will definitely appreciate it. Note: The best time to aerate is when grass is at the beginning of its active growing cycle – aerate late spring for warm season turfs and early fall for cool season turfs.
Landscape Pros in Manassas, VA hope you like and try our tips and tricks. Most importantly, it’s critical to plan your landscape design by putting your ideas down on paper and then follow your design plan. Having a good functional design leads to a beautiful garden, landscape and if you need help call the Landscape Pros @ 571.535.8622. It’s our goal to help you create the perfect outdoor living space.