Maintaining a beautiful yard is a great way to not only add value to your home, but enjoyment for your entire family. Having a lush, green yard, healthy shade trees and beautiful flowers gives your family a place of natural beauty in which to spend time outdoors.
However, ensuring that your yard is healthy and well maintained is not always easy. Here are five important tips to help ensure that you are able to keep your yard beautiful all year long.
Aerate Properly : Aeration is a vital consideration for any lawn, and offers significant benefits. It allows water, air and fertilizer to penetrate deeply into the soil, fostering better growth and healthier grass. Make sure that you aerate your lawn in autumn or early winter before the soil freezes. You can also aerate in spring.
Leaves and Pine Needles: Leaves and pine needles will accumulate throughout the year. It’s essential that these are raked up as soon as possible. Moreover, do not leave them piled in your yard or flowerbeds, as they will compact the soil and kill the grass or other plants beneath them. It’s best to remove leaves and pine needles from your yard on a regular basis (once every two weeks or more frequently if necessary). You also need to make sure that they are fully removed before the onset of winter.
Treat Moss: Moss will grow in your yard if conditions are favorable. For instance, if your soil is compacted, moss can easily begin growing. Other conditions that help moss get a foothold in your yard include poor drainage and high acid levels in the soil. You can prevent moss from growing by ensuring that your lawn drains properly, that you aerate it each year and that you put down lime to help combat acidic winter rains. If moss does begin growing, there are several options to help you get rid of it. However, it’s better to take care of the problem before it starts.
Fertilize: Fertilizer is an essential ingredient for a healthy lawn, beautiful flowerbeds and an overall healthy yard. Make sure that you fertilize in the spring, as well as in the autumn or early winter. Do not over fertilize your lawn, though, as this can lead to disease and can also help foster the growth of weeds. Make sure that you are using a fertilizer with the right balance, though, or you will not see the results you expect.
Cleanup: Just as you have to remove leaves and pine needles from your yard, you’ll need to clean up other debris. Summer and winter storms can strew branches and limbs around your yard, and it’s important that these are removed promptly. Leaving them in place for just a short time can compact the soil and kill the grass beneath them. Remove dead limbs and other debris from your yard as soon as possible – the day after the storm is ideal.
