9 Landscaping Tips for Summer
April 14, 2020When you own a home, landscaping and lawn care are part of maintaining your home and making sure the exterior looks great. Your lawn and your landscaping can take a beating during harsh winter weather and during the high heat of summer. Here are landscaping tips for summer to help keep yours looking great:
1. Get Ideas and Do Some Research
If you want to refresh your landscaping for the summer, winter is a great time to start thinking of ideas. But, you can come up with ideas at any time. Having an end goal in mind can also help you come up with ideas. For example, if you want an elegant retreat in your backyard, there are certain landscaping ideas that can help create it. Doing a little research is never a bad place to start.
Not only does this give you some inspiration, but it also allows you to understand more about what is going to be involved in making your idea a reality and in avoiding landscaping mistakes. Consider a fountain or a pond, for example. In theory, it seems pretty straightforward. However, if you want it to look good and function properly, it’s always better to know what goes into it before you get started.
While you’re looking for ideas, you might also want to spend some time looking into what your planting options are. This can be a great way to upgrade your landscaping, which is one of the summer outdoor decor ideas. Specifically, find out what options are most viable for your climate and region. There’s nothing worse than spending the time, effort, and money into creating a stunning landscape, only to find out that what you planted can’t survive in the climate you live in.
2. Set Your Budget
When dreaming up what you want your landscaping to look like, it can be easy to get carried away. Walking into a greenhouse or nursery can be hazardous to the health of your bank account if you don’t plan ahead. It can be a little too easy to go overboard when it comes to picking up new plants and other goodies for your landscaping projects.
When you start to set your budget, you’ll also need to keep any tools you might need for the project as well, especially if you’re doing hardscaping projects, or anything involving a lot of digging. While having a budget planned might not necessarily serve as a hard and fast spending guide, it should help to at least rein your spending in and keep you focused on what you need for your landscaping plans.
3. Plan for Growth and Plant Accordingly
After doing some research, and setting a nominal, if nothing else, budget plan. You’re just about ready for planting. While you might be eager to get out the shovel on the first nice day you have, it’s recommended that you stick to the planting guide. Not only will you get better, more immediate results, but you’ll also increase the life and well-being of your plants exponentially.
Another thing to keep in mind is the growth of your plants. Not only will you need to be able to access your plants to maintain their health, but they’ll need some space to grow as well. In addition to having room for your plants to grow, you’ll also need to have space for pedestrians and other landscaping needs. There’s nothing worse than trying to tend to the landscaping and having to pause to push back some overflowing flora.
4. Mow in a Way That Promotes Lawn Health
You always want to mow your lawn when it is dry and not wet. In addition, you want to ensure that you are not mowing the grass shorter than 2.5 inches. The grass should be cut somewhere between 2.5 and 3 inches.
By not cutting the grass so short, you are providing the grass and ground with more insulation to fight the summer heat. At the same time, you’re also reducing the overall water loss from the soil. This helps to create an environment more resistant to environmental stress, lawn disease, and insects.
In addition, unless there is a lawn disease, leave the grass clippings after you mow, as these provide nutrients, moisture, organic matter and nitrogen to the lawn and soil. If you live in a community with a homeowners association, make sure you check the policies on this. Depending on your HOA, you may not be permitted to leave grass clippings in your yard.
5. Make Sure You Have Proper Irrigation
One of the landscaping tips for summer is to make sure your yard and plants are properly irrigated. Each week, you should water your lawn early in the morning – around 5-6 a.m. – several times and your lawn should receive at minimum one inch of water per week. The reason that watering should be done so early is so that there is less stress on the lawn from the sun.
Avoid watering late at night, as this can cause fungus to grow on the lawn overnight. Remember that deep soaking will allow for deeper and better root growth while creating a lawn that is less susceptible to heat and drought damage. Proper irrigation can help make sure water goes where it should and doesn’t collect or flood where it shouldn’t.
6. Don’t Forget to Fertilize
Ever wonder how those lawns keep that deep, lavish green color during the summer? It’s because of lawn care products that are high in nitrogen, which promotes that deep color as well as growth.
Make sure that all pets and children are kept off the lawn for a little while after fertilizing the lawn to avoid tracking it inside your home. Fertilize your lawn every few months to ensure your lawn looks great all year.
7. Have a Plan for Pest Control
Pests aren’t always a guarantee, but you still want to have a plan in place to prevent infestations in your lawn. A variety of lawn pests can lead to annoying infestations that can also kill and destroy your landscaping, which is why having a plan for controlling them is one of the landscaping tips for summer. Figure out what pests can be common to your area and the landscaping features you have and create a plan for pest control from there.
Also, make sure whatever pest control you use gets rid of the pests while protecting the pollinators. Bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies are essential to the overall health of your garden, so you don’t want to inadvertently hurt or kill them while trying to get rid of other pests.
8. Keep an Eye Out for Weeds
Although weeds are not insects, they can still be considered pests. Not only can they be unsightly, but they can also steal nutrients and moisture from your grass and other plants. If weeds are permitted to grow unabated, they can damage or kill your plants and grass over time. So, keep an eye out for them and remove them as you see them.
If you’re starting a new garden bed, you can also prep the area with a pre-emergent herbicide to pre-emptively kill weeds before they become a problem for your new landscaping. You’ll still want to watch for any new weeds that may grow, but you’ll at least be starting with a weed-free foundation.
9. Do Regular Cleanup
A neat and tidy yard is one of the summer landscaping ideas, which is why another one of the great landscaping tips for summer is to do regular cleanup. A great way to keep an eye out for weeds and maintain your landscaping is to clean up regularly. Block out some time and take a slow walk around your property, especially after storms have come through. If you have trees, check for dead hanging limbs that need to be cut away and pick up any that have fallen to the ground.
Prune and trim trees, bushes, and plants that might be too close to your house or could interfere with any function inside your home like the AC condenser. In addition to other types of weeds, also check for vines near your home. Although they can be pretty, vines growing on your house can trap moisture against your house and also give insects and pests another way to find their way into your home.
If you constantly find yourself cleaning up vines, you can install a garden trellis. Not only do these come in a variety of sizes and styles, but they can also provide a place for vines to grow and keep them away from your foundation and the side of your home.
These are just a few landscaping tips for summer. Just remember to have fun! Landscaping and gardening are a great way to enjoy the outdoors and add some natural beauty to the lands around your home. Pick your plants to accentuate and compliment the exterior of your home and you’ll be left with some lasting natural beauty for years to come.