Summer is a popular time for prospective buyers to check out properties. If you are in the market to sell your home, seek to impress your neighbors, or just want to come home to a place you can be proud of, landscaping is your answer. Who doesn’t enjoy looking at property that is well-kept? With a bit of attention to summer landscaping, your place will catch the eye of anyone who passes by or enters the yard. Here are a few tips you can follow in keeping your yard “up to snuff.”
Water and Mow to Keep Your Lawn Green
Proper watering is essential to a well-kept lawn. Too much water turns grass yellow. Too little makes green grass brown. Clearly, this is a difficult balance to hit, so what do you do?
Inspect the lawn every two or three days. If the grass leaves do not flex or the soil is completely dry, it is time to water. Water for perhaps an hour, long enough for the water to soak into the soil but not so long that puddles form. If there are areas of your lawn that develop puddles while the rest of the lawn does not, add soil to fill in the low spots, then reseed the new soil.
If you let the grass get tall, remove no more than one-half of its height the first time you mow. If you have pets, be sure to mow before seed heads form. Mow regularly, but do not “scalp” the grass. If you take too much off at once, the remaining grass will have a difficult time recovering.
Pay Attention to Trees, Shrubs and Other Plantings
For curb appeal, keep plantings mulched. Leave some distance between your window wells and your mulched plantings so that the wells are easy to use. Also, do not plant too close to your home’s foundation because mulch retains moisture and attracts insects.
If you have kids or pets, choose natural mulch with no added chemicals or colors. Be sure that the mulch you choose is not toxic (for example, cocoa bean mulch is poisonous if eaten). Cedar mulch works well because it repels fleas and ticks.
If you want to prolong the flowering phase of your plants, consider “deadheading,” which means removing flowers after they have reached their peak. This technique causes the plants to form more blooms in an effort to produce seed. If, however, you and your family want a landscape that is friendly to birds, provide plants that produce edible seeds. No matter which way you decide to go, you can add curb appeal by making sure that there are plants in bloom throughout the summer, so make sure you check the growing length and season of a plant before purchasing.
Did you prune your trees and shrubs when spring came? If not, look at them to see if any need to be cut back so that they appear well-maintained and don’t crowd your home or create hiding places for unwanted intruders. Flowering plants and low shrubs that conceal your basement’s window wells add variety to your yard’s basic landscaping design.
“Curb appeal” has a different meaning to crooks than it does for the rest of the world. Summer is high time for crime due to the fact that it is the time of year that many families go on vacation or spend long hours away from home. Use your landscaping plan to deter burglary or vandalism.
Provide for Your Pets
If you have pets, an important landscaping feature to consider is a safe place for them to be during the summer. These are the months when doors often get left ajar, and an unfenced yard is an open invitation for pets to wander. A missing pet will quickly turn a festive occasion into one of tension and alarm. Choose a landscaping design that provides a spacious outdoor enclosure with shelter from the sun.
Add Window Well Covers for Safety
As well as providing a safe yard for your pets, having a safe yard for your children is extremely important. One way to improve the safety of your yard is by adding window well covers to each of your window wells. As well as providing a safe environment for your children, adding window well covers keep your window wells clean from yard waste. Rockwell Window Wells provides high quality basement window covers that can help to keep your yard safe.
Add Lights for Safety and Beauty
Next, consider outdoor lighting. Soft pathway lights that automatically turn on at dusk give a welcoming appearance. Motion detector lights at all doorways are helpful to homeowners as they create visualization and deter to burglars. If your yard has special features such as figurines, water features, or flower gardens, highlight them with soft spotlights. Solar lights are easy to install and require no wiring.
Relax and Enjoy Your Beautiful Yard
If you follow the suggestions in this article, your yard will be the envy of your entire neighborhood. Just picture you, your family, and guests happily enjoying an evening barbecue in your yard; kids laughing and everyone enjoying the special landscaping. Now that your property is less attractive to burglars and you don’t have to worry about pets escaping, you are free to fully enjoy the moment.