How to Pick the Right Landscape Maintenance Service

Creating a beautifully landscaped garden or yard can change the look of your home and increase its curb appeal and market value. Making a great landscape requires the kind of expertise and experience that only a professional landscaping company will possess. People often try their hand at DIY landscaping to save money, but the results are never going to be as good as a professional job. Professionals also know how to stretch a budget and maximize the return on every dollar spent on landscaping. The other area where homeowners often slip up is landscape maintenance.

A beautiful and professionally created landscape needs to be maintained to keep it looking its best. Homeowners rarely, if ever, have the specialized skills required for landscape maintenance. Watching a lovely yard deteriorate because the maintenance is unable to keep it at its best is not just sad, it also creates a depressing atmosphere that affects everyone living in the home. That is why landscape maintenance is as important as landscape design and creation.

Landscape Maintenance – Finding the Right Service

The ideal course of action is to have a landscape designed, executed and maintained by the same professional landscape service. However, if that is not possible or if you have a landscaped yard and are searching for a landscaping company to maintain it, here is what you need to look for:

• Check testimonials from other clients to see how focused the company is on providing quality service and maintaining standards.
• Check on the qualifications and experience of the company and its staff. Do not hesitate to ask questions to get the information you want.
• Avoid companies that try to confuse you with jargon – they usually have something to hide. Go for the company that gives clear and direct answers to your questions.
• Check on the scope of the available services. Are they what you need? Can they be tailored to meet your specific requirements?
• Will the company do other work you may require such as patio landscaping or installing pavers?
• Check on the cost. Ask for a detailed breakup on any work that seems to be too expensive. A good landscape service will do this willingly. While cost is an important consideration, remember that compromising on landscape maintenance is compromising on the upkeep of your home and repairing a badly maintained garden is more expensive than paying a reasonable amount for proper maintenance.

Professional landscaping companies are generally eager to take up maintenance work. According to the National Association of Landscaping Professionals over 33% of them say that this is the fastest-growing area of service. Picking the right landscape service to maintain your yard is not something you should compromise on. Pick the best landscaping company in your area and enjoy your home without any maintenance hassles.

Tips to Planning for a Great Landscape

Your home’s external appearance is important. The use of a front or backyard depends on the homeowner – it could be a place to enjoy natural beauty, to have an outdoor kitchen for entertaining or to play football with the family. Whatever the use, planning the landscape to suit the use is critical.

The Planning Parameters You Should Not Ignore

• Know How the Garden Will Be Used: Open spaces rarely have only one use. One family member may want a quiet place to unwind while another may want to practice shooting hoops. Creating a landscape to meet the various requirements of the family is not easy and compromises may need to be made. What is important is to ensure that everyone has something that they want and that the various uses do not negatively affect the other–kids playing catch and crashing into the barbeque will make no one happy.

• You Probably Cannot Fit in Everything: Even with big yards, space is limited. Being out in the open usually leads to people forgetting the space limitations and trying to fit in too much. You may want a fountain, a pergola, a fire pit, an herb garden, lots of flower beds and more. But trying to cram too much into a limited space will create a landscape that is crowded, uncomfortable and not all nice to look at.

• Know Your Budget: Be sure of how much you can afford to spend on developing the landscape and how much it will cost you. Running short of money before the project is complete will result in the remaining work staying unfinished or being done to a lower standard than the rest of the garden. Either way, the result will not be what you were aiming for and the pleasure you get from the yard will be greatly diminished.

Also Read: Staying Outdoors While at Home

• Plan for Maintenance: Creating a beautiful landscape is one thing – ensuring it stays that way is another. Maintenance is going to be required and you need to not only have the budget in place but you will also have to devote enough time to keep the garden looking the way it should. A badly maintained landscape can often be worse than no landscape at all.

• What Do Local Ordinances Allow? Local ordinances vary greatly. In some places, you can do pretty much what you want within your property limits while in others there are restrictions and limitations to having a pool, an outdoor kitchen, a patio, etc. Your homeowners’ association may also have some rules in place that you need to know about. Being sure that what you plan will not cause problems with local authorities will save you the hassle and cost of making changes in the future.

• Get Expert Help: This is the key to creating a great landscape. A landscaping professional will be aware of all these points and many others that need to be taken into account when planning a landscape. He will be able to give you the landscape you want, at the cost you can afford and he will also continue to look after it in the future so that you can enjoy it without any worries.

Valuable Tips for Creating Beautiful Garden Landscapes

We all want a beautiful garden. Therefore, it is important that when you buy new plants for your space, you must make sure that they match with the landscape and add beauty. There are many aspects you should be aware of to get the best out of your investment.

While some gardens look completely haphazard, some are known to have an organized look. The main reason behind a haphazard garden is the failure of the designer in planning the garden properly. Here are a few tips that can help you create a beautiful garden.

Plan Properly
The garden landscape should be planned in such a way that it looks attractive and at the same time has the flexibility to change in the future. It is best to plant the plants in a manner that allows space for change in case a stump grinder or a mower need to enter for a building project or for your patio or porch. If you do not plan this in time, then you may be forced to remove the plants so that you have space for using such equipment.

Think of Creating a Focal Point
The garden’s focal point should be created in such a manner that it attracts visitors and family members and engages attention. While it should be distinctive, it must not look out-of-place. For instance, you can keep a beautiful garden bench and use it as the focal point. Refrain from using anything that is not connected to the garden. An oak tree or a body of water can be a good focal point too and can give a new dimension to the garden landscape.

Check the Curves
While it is a great idea to create curved flower beds or pathways in a garden, you should take care not to overdo them. Keep the space simple to make sure its geometric design stands out. If shapes are used too often, they may become common and nobody will notice them.

Highlight the House
The design you choose for the garden should always match with your house. In case your house does not have any architectural design, then soften the edges with a garden. However, make sure you do not overdo matching your house with the outer landscape. It should be done in a way that your house is not hidden by the trees in the garden. The right form of landscaping is one that highlights the architectural features of the house as well.

Choose Plants According to Locations
Whenever you choose a plant for a specific spot within the garden, think of the growth rate and the final size of the plant. If your selection is not based on such considerations, then you may end up making mistakes that will cost you in the future. You may have to spend a lot of money in making adjustments.
Most of all, make sure your space is comfortable and free of pests. To avoid any mistakes during your landscaping project it is best to hire a landscaping expert.

Source : http://blog.doolinglandscapeservice.com/2019/11/valuable-tips-for-creating-beautiful.html