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How Landscaping Experts Can Help You This Fall

As most quickly become aware when they try to tackle a landscaping project on their own, landscaping can be as difficult and confusing as a home remodeling project. And then there’s the maintenance! A multitude of elements goes into the design and installation of a new landscape — more than many are prepared for. Many may find themselves in over their heads. Instead of dealing with all the stress involved with landscaping design and maintenance, consider hiring a professional. Here are just a few of the things a landscaping expert can do for you:

Design and Plan Your Landscaping

Many find themselves unprepared for how involved the process is of designing a new landscape. Homeowners and businesses often don’t know the sheer amount of decisions required of them. Furthermore, most have a hard time figuring out which plants look best together, and in which section of their yard certain plants should be planted. Hiring a landscaping professional from Chapel Valley removes this stress. We’re highly trained in coming up with and executing perfect landscaping design plans that will have your yard looking breathtaking in no time.

Choose the Right Plants for Your Landscaping

Each unique landscaping project depends on the environment surrounding the home or business and the amount of space available. Designing around these parameters requires an in-depth knowledge of plants and ecosystems. You must choose plants that will not overcrowd a yard and that will survive in the climate. Landscaping design professionals have an in-depth knowledge of what plants work best in certain sized yards and in specific climates. This will ensure that your home’s new landscaping is not only beautiful but also is perfectly proportioned and healthy.

Budget Your Landscaping

Another factor many homeowners or businesses are not aware of is the cost that can be involved with designing a new landscaping project. This is one of the areas in which a professional landscaper can be the most helpful as they will know what can be done for a yard with a specific budget. Based on the amount of money you must spend landscaping your yard, a professional landscape designer will be able to create the perfect budget-friendly design for your home.

When landscaping, the decisions that must be made can be overwhelming, particularly for those who do not have much experience. Remove some of this stress by hiring a landscaping pro to design and maintain your yard.

Fall Landscaping Chores

When temperatures cool, you may think that landscaping maintenance comes to a standstill.  While chores aren’t as abundant as those of the spring and summer, fall and winter garden tasks are equally important to the health and beauty of your landscape. As long as the soil is workable, you’ve got chores in the autumn and winter garden. Don’t worry, though, our landscaping experts are here to help.

Cleanup from summer

Fading plant material must be removed. Pests and diseases can thrive in the flowerbed, lawn, and garden, reappearing next spring to create an unhealthy situation.

Ready the Soil for Next Season

It’s best to take a soil test instead of guessing what the garden needs and wasting money on unnecessary amendments. Unneeded materials do not improve the health of the garden and in some cases may damage the soil.

Autumn is the best time to amend the soil. Organic compost, sulfur, and lime may benefit your beds. Amending the soil now gives the materials a chance to settle in and incorporate before spring plantings. A landscaping expert from Chapel Valley will know exactly what your soil needs this fall.

Mulch

An attractive mulch for vegetable and flower beds helps protect perennials and gives your landscaping a finished and put-together look. Mulching protects trees and shrubs from winter freezes that can damage the root system.

Pre-emergence weed control, applied now, provides a jump-start on eliminating annoying competition for your grass and blooming plants.

Planting and Pruning

If you have a vision of new foliage in the spring, you need to plant new trees and shrubs in autumn. This allows time for a healthy root system to develop while the foliage is dormant and not in competition with the roots. We can plant at any time the ground is not frozen.

You’ll also need to prune existing trees and shrubs during the dormant period. We know the plants and we’ll make sure we do not remove the wood on which next year’s flowers and fruits grow.

It’s not too early to design the spring planted garden. Many spring-blooming bulbs should be planted in the fall. Our expert designers will create the garden of your dreams.

Leaf management

With fall comes beautiful leaves on the trees and eventually on the ground.

You have three choices with your residential landscaping and those leaves. If you leave them on the ground, your neighbors might be upset as your leaves blow into their yards. Your lawn will start to die because the leaves will hold water and start to create rot. They also block the sun from getting to your grass. You will start to notice bare spots where the leaves were the thickest.

You can rake and dispose of them yourself, but it’s a ton of hard work. You can hire quality landscaping that includes leaf removal. We’ll remove the leaves after the trees are bare. At the same time, we can inspect your lawn and ensure it is healthy.

Fall is coming, and if there are lots of trees in your yard or near your yard, the leaves are coming too. They are beautiful and will be beautiful in your yard.

But, before they fall, contact us and let’s talk about the best time to remove those leaves before they start hurting your lawn.

Plan to Protect Your Landscaping for Winter

It’s no secret that Old Man Winter and Mother Nature can really mix it up. When those two have their infamous rows, landscaping in Maryland and Virginia can really suffer the consequences. Good thing there are actions homeowners and businesses can take to help protect their properties’ vegetation. One of them is to invest in some effective, efficient coverings.

We know that many well-meaning newscasters and old-school gardeners often suggest covering plants with bed linens at the first signs of a hard freeze. However, that is not something our landscaping pros recommend businesses do for two reasons. One, it just looks tacky and two, it isn’t always effective. That’s because bed linens are not waterproof. Consequently, they’ll absorb water, which can alter the temperatures around the plants in negative ways.

We should also mention that there are blankets that won’t absorb water but you won’t find them in the bed linen aisle, or even the store that sells bed linens. They’re more likely in stores that sell home improvement, hunting, or survival gear. Most people know them as aluminum space blankets. They’re typically made from waterproof or water-resistant materials that have at least one reflective side. The reflective side, if positioned to face towards the plants, may help trap the warmth that inherently gets absorbed by the soil during the daylight hours.

Other people may recommend using clear plastic coverings instead, which could work. However, the plastic must be applied in a certain way. Otherwise, it could cause the plants to freeze in spots thereby leading to irreversible tissue damage. The list of clear plastic covering systems that may work includes, but doesn’t end with, reinforced cold frames and ready-made tunnels. Most of them involve concrete reinforcing mesh, wooden two-by-fours, and rolls of thick, polyethylene plastic.

Lastly, we often like to suggest that homeowners and businesses consider using floating row covers to protect areas of their landscaping. The covers are generally best used in areas where there are ground-level or raised flower beds. To learn more about them and other covers that may help protect landscaping throughout the cold months ahead, please contact us today.