Spring is here and every home owner wants a beautiful yard. With a little work, education and planning, you can turn your yard from drab to fab this spring and up the curb appeal of your home. Below are 6 tips to get your yard looking fabulous.
1. Keep up with your grass maintenance
Mowing your lawn often and at the right height is key to healthy grass. No one likes yellow, crispy grass. Raising your blade in the summer helps to ensure your grass isn't so short that the sun will fry it. In the first few cuttings in the spring and the few last cuttings in the fall, you can lower your blade to ensure that the sun is hitting the crowns of the grass to promote growth. Fertilize your grass in early spring to jump-start root development. Fall fertilizing will help to repair summer damage and spur the root growth that goes on for several weeks even after the top growth stops, helping grass to survive the winter. Light fertilizing in between helps to maintain healthy growth. It's important to ensure your lawn is getting enough water, especially when there isn't much rain. The amount of water your lawn needs will vary, so make sure you are attentive to the weather and signs that your lawn is ready for a watering.
2. Schedule at least one aeration session per year
Aerating (the process of removing small plugs of soil from your lawn) produces multiple benefits for your lawn. Aerating improves air-to-soil interaction, allows water & fertilizer to penetrate the soil deeper & easier, reduces soil compaction and opens space for grass roots to grow. You can rent an aerator from a rental centre and take a DIY approach or hire a professional to come in with their own equipment. Spring or fall is the best time to aerate and aeration can be done 1-2 times a year.
3. Stay on top of weeds
Weeds are common and unfortunately almost un-avoidable. De-weeding your lawn and flowerbeds is an important step to keeping your yard looking polished. This is something that you can easily do yourself or hire out if you prefer. For small patches of weeds just pull or dig them out, making sure to get all the roots so the weeds can’t grow back. If you have a weed-infested lawn consider applying a chemical or organic herbicide, but make sure not to apply herbicide if you’re seeding your lawn.
4. Ensure your yard has proper lighting
There are three main types of yard illumination; safety lighting to deter unwanted guests and improve navigation, landscape lighting to accentuate garden features, and accent lighting to put the focus on the hardscape. Ultimately, you’d want a mix of all three types to achieve different lighting levels for different needs and yard features. Within each of these categories, you will find a variety of lighting choices to suit every budget and style.
5. Plant both annual & perennial flowers
Annual flowers grow for one season then die with the onset of freezing weather. The above ground portion of perennial flowers die off in freezing weather, but the plant returns from the base and rootstock the following spring. Perennials give you the most value for your money as they return each spring, but annuals can give your garden a new look each year depending on what you choose to plant. It can be beneficial to plant a mix of both, because while perennial flowers will come back every year, there’s usually a gap between when they bloom so you can fill those gaps with annuals to keep your garden booming beautifully.
6. Install a nice looking fence or re-stain and repair your existing fence
If you have a fence that is looking a little dull, but ultimately still has lots of life left in it, you can easily and inexpensively give it a face lift by power-washing, re-staining or repainting it. This is something you can easily do yourself or hire out. If your current fence is at the end of its life, replacing it with a brand new fence can make your yard look oh so polished and updated. Either way, your fence has a great deal of influence on the curb appeal of your home so it's an important thing to keep looking nice.
You get what you put in when it comes to your yard. Whether you are a do it yourself kind of person or a hire out kind of person, keeping the above tips in mind can help you to achieve the yard of your dreams this spring and summer. If you have any other tips, please feel free to share! And if you have any questions about upping the curb appeal of your home or real estate in general, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Yours Truly,
The Condo Confidential