A beautiful backyard boosts your home’s appeal and inspires a welcoming place for family cookouts, gatherings, or simple evening relaxation. However, maintaining the ideal yard requires some time and effort.
Below you’ll discover year-round backyard maintenance tips that you can observe regardless of the season. Stick to these essential tips, and you’ll be sure to enjoy a flourishing and thriving lawn throughout the year.
Trim Trees And Shrubs
Do you have trees and shrubs in your backyard? Remember to remove damaged or broken tree branches caused by ice or snow during winter. The best time to trim most perennials and trees is around early spring or toward the end of winter.
On the other hand, if you have summer-flowering shrubs such as roses or butterfly bush, prune them before any flower buds grow. The ideal timeframe for this task is during late winter or the beginning of spring.
However, if you have spring-flower shrubs like wisteria, azalea, or hydrangeas, it’s best to trim them once spring blooms fade out. If you need help in this area, you may consult experts from Tree Trimmer Service Corpus Christi.
Apply Fertilizer
Indeed, the soil in your backyard provides the grass with vital nutrients. However, take note that not all grounds can give the nourishment your lawn requires for the whole year. For this reason, consider applying fertilizer to enhance root growth, reduce weeds, keep grass thriving, and replenish nutrients shed when you clip the grass.
When choosing the right fertilizer, you must consider factors such as the area where you reside, the kind of grass in your yard, and the season you plan to apply the nutrients. Generally, it’s best to apply fertilizer when your lawn is rigorously growing.
If you live in the northern zones with cool-season grasses, apply fertilizer liberally in the fall and thinly during spring. The successful season for this type of grass is primarily during periods of spring and fall.
Alternatively, the growing season of warm-season grasses in the southern zones happens around the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Still, it may vary depending on your location. The rule of thumb is to apply the fertilizer when you see the grass transforming to a shade of green during spring.
Fix Grass Bare Spots
No doubt you don’t want to find any bare spots in your backyard. These patches not only ruin the appearance of your lawn but may also signal more significant issues. Hence, it would be ideal if you fixed bare spots in your garden, or else they’ll continue to expand.
Realize that bare spots may occur due to chemical burns, plant disease, heavy foot traffic, infestation, or drought. Before you start any restoring measures, identify the cause of the problem first so you can stop it from progressing.
For instance, if foot traffic is the source of bare spots on your lawn, search for another path to avoid traffic in that specific area. Steps you may implement include:
- Placing a gravel walkway
- Adding stepping stones
- Positioning a barrier to divert traffic away from that site
In case of diseases, harmful bugs, or insects causing the bare spots, you must identify the specific problem to determine a suitable treatment. Only when the treatment works can you start planting new grass.
Throw Away Debris And Leaves
Of course, cleaning the leaves in the backyard during the fall season doesn’t mean it’ll stay tidy in the next few months. Understand that other trees like oak may still discard leaves throughout spring and winter. You don’t have to remove every leaf you spot in your backyard since leaving a few leaves may help some wildlife and pollinators withstand the harsh winter conditions.
Just keep in mind to throw away excessive layers of leaves and debris. Storing any waste and dirt in your yard may trigger diseases and mold. In case you practice composting, you can mix those leaves into your pile.
Rake At The Right Time
Finally, one of the tools you should have in your backyard is a good old rake. The process of raking your lawn encourages air circulation through the grass, assists in germination, and minimizes plant diseases. Please take note, though, to rake the grass and ground when it’s sufficiently dry.
If you see your footprints stay on after walking, this means that the ground is still damp. With that said, only rake your backyard when your grass displays brown grass and dry soil. Raking your lawn when it’s wet or too dry may destroy healthy roots.
Takeaway
Overall, implementing year-round backyard maintenance is the key to a thriving and green garden. If you fail in nurturing your yard, unkempt grass can be prone to pests and lawn problems. Hence, see that you properly care for your backyard regularly to avoid encountering more significant issues.
