Spring is approaching faster than you think. If you have a green thumb, you’re probably itching to get your hands into some fresh soil and get your landscape ready for the growing season. After all, not only is a beautiful landscape great for entertaining, it can also increase your overall home value.
Unfortunately, even the gardeners with the greenest of thumbs can struggle to keep their landscape healthy and thriving. In the hustle and bustle of every day life it can become all to easy to forget your landscaping duties. Forget to water your yard too often and your lush, green lawn will wilt and wither away. Add the wrong plant to your backyard and you risk creating an infestation.
However, not all hope is lost. Local professional landscapers, like K&D Landscaping, Inc., want to see their community continue to grow and are happy to share some of their landscaping knowledge. By following such advice, you can create or maintain a healthier landscape.
Read on to learn about five yard landscaping mistakes you must avoid.
1.) Overwhelming Your Trees With Mulch
Mulch is a great way to control the soil temperature around your tree. It’s also an efficient way to keep your trees moisturized. However, this only happens if mulch is applied correctly.
Far too often homeowners become overzealous and pile way too much mulch around their new trees. Unfortunately, mulch works best if it is applied loosely. Tightly packed mulch can actually suffocate your trees. It can also attract invasive insects and create rot.
So before you add that mulch, remember to follow all of the proper application techniques. Your trees will be much happier with the right amount of loosely applied mulch than buried under a crushing mountain of mulch.
2.) Building Near Trees
Speaking of trees, you might want to reassess where you plan to build your outdoor kitchen or in-law suite. If there are any large trees nearby, you could be facing a giant construction headache.
Don’t feel discouraged if there are larger trees near your planned building zone. There are a few ways you can get around the problem. First, you could simply change your intended structure’s location to avoid the trees.
However, if you have your heart set on your current location you can still build there. Just make sure that none of your construction doesn’t touch any tree roots.
While avoiding trees may not seem that important at first it can make all the difference when the next storm hits. After all, you don’t want to wake up after a particularly strong storm to discover a fallen tree through your roof.
3.) Planting The Wrong Plants
One common mistake many beginning gardeners make is selecting the wrong type of plant for their yard. While some plants to well in a particular climate, they can be invasive pests in others. The last thing you want is for your new plant to take over your landscape.
Luckily, you can avoid this headache by consulting a professional landscaper before you begin planting. You can also visit a local nursery to see if they have any handy planting guides available.
4.) Using Way Too Much Gravel
Drought resistant landscape are becoming very popular in landscape designs, especially in California. These types of landscapes incorporate landscaping elements like native plants and gravel to help homeowners conserve water and money, all while still having a beautiful landscape.
However, there is such a notion as too much of a good thing. If you add too much gravel to your landscape you can end up damaging most of your plants. When it comes to heat, gravel doesn’t reflect it, it absorbs it. Adding too much can gravel can end up baking your plants.
In addition, gravel that gets into underlying soil can make it hard for nearby vegetation to absorb rainfall. This will also make it harder for you add new plants.
5.) Poor Landscape Design Planning
It can be tempting to dive right into a new landscaping design but you’ll save yourself a lot of stress by taking the time to properly plan your landscape design. There are many factors you need to consider before finalizing your design, such as what plants will do best in your area’s climate, what you want to use your landscape for, and more.
Make sure you take the time to research all of the important steps you need to ensure you create a landscape that is both beautiful and practical for your lifestyle.
Need Some Extra Help?
Feel like you don’t have enough time to give your landscape the attention it needs? Consider reaching out to a local landscaping company. They can easily help you maintain the landscape of your dreams. Then you can spend the time you would have used caring for you yard to actually enjoy your yard.