Landscape Maintenance
Here is a landscape maintenance to-do list:
First and foremost is providing enough moisture to the roots to establish your new planting in the landscape. Once established, they will need enough water to keep them healthy and able to combat the stresses of extreme temperatures, disease, and pests.
Weeding: Weed removal may not be in your top ten list of favorite things to do, but weeds detract from your beautiful landscape and rob the soil of moisture and nutrients that your desirable plants require.
Mulch: To retain moisture in your soil and keep weeds to a minimum, maintain a 2-3″ layer of mulch. Mulch moderates the earth’s temperature, and as it degrades, it enriches the soil.
Trimming: When to prune? How to prune? Knowing the nature of your plant before picking up the pruners is essential. Trust your horticulture professional to care for your landscape investment.
Colorful impact: Add annuals. Deadhead, stake, and divide perennials as necessary to keep the color coming, year after year. Plant bulbs in the fall for the first spring color.
Fertilize: Plants get nutrition from the soil, both the native soil and the soil and amendments are added when planting. Your plantings must receive supplemental nutrition from time to time. We recommend a soil test to determine which nutrients are missing from the soil before applying. But an alternative would be an excellent slow-release fertilizer applied in the spring and released over the growing season.
Maintain your hardscapes: One of the simple problems, washed-out jointing sand, can cause significant issues if not correctly refilled. Problems include weed growth, insect damage, and reduced stability in the installation. Look at edge restraints from time to time. Troweled concrete, in time, will begin to fail, thus causing paver “creep” and “wave,” and if not remedied quickly, could lead to a cascading failure with a large repair bill. Flexible plastic edge restraints are my recommended alternative to concrete, especially with Michigan’s constant weather fluctuations. They may cost a little more, but the savings will come in not having to repair a driveway or patio.
If all this sounds daunting, allow me to plug our garden maintenance program. Our program takes care of your landscape and is tailored to your requirements. It includes a spring clean-up to get the landscape off to a great start, including a fresh edge between the lawn and landscape beds for a clean, sharp border; we return mid-summer to make sure everything is looking good, make adjustments, prune and deadhead; and we prepare the beds for winter with our last visit in the fall.
Our employees are skilled horticulturists who want to bring out the best in your landscape. You already have a lot on your plate, but we can help.
