75% of US adults think it’s important to spend time outdoors in their own yard. Many of those same Americans thoroughly enjoy the upkeep of their outdoor space. There’s a sense of accomplishment and pride in keeping the outside of your home polished to your liking. Each season does bring some challenges to the yard enthusiast, but it’s nothing a little ingenuity can’t handle!
First Things First
Planting flowers, placing out lawn fixtures, and choosing new outdoor furniture are the really fun parts of setting up and maintaining your outdoor space. Before you get to those fun parts, though, you need to perform regular maintenance for the outside of your home to keep it looking good itself. It’s important to have your gutters cleaned, for example, to prevent water damage to the front of your home. Check other hardware, like shutters and paint, and perform any maintenance to these things as well. All of these things take a bit of a beating during the cold months, so Spring is a good time to evaluate.
April Showers, Don’t Drown Your Flowers!
Ah, Spring. They call it ‘spring fever’ for a reason; it’s the time of year when everything starts reawakening. It’s hard to contain the excitement! Tulips, daffodils, and other springtime perennials are surely already a staple for your yard. After all, you don’t have to replant them every year, so they’re an easy way to beautify your yard for the season. Whether you go for perennials or choose a new flower arrangement for your yard each spring, you absolutely must make sure all of the rain showers during these months don’t flood your yard and kill your beautiful flowers. Moreover, the sopping grass and mud aren’t exactly pleasant (unless you’re a toddler, then it’s divine).
Branch Out; Pun Intended
Flowers are, indeed, beautiful, but they don’t have a corner on the market for good aesthetics. In fact, the more varieties of plants you have, the more likely you’ll maintain an appealing (and living) yard all year round. Evergreen trees are show-stoppers for winter months, for example. The plants themselves aren’t the only thing that can add interest to your outdoor space, either. Different plants can attract different birds, butterflies, and other small animals that add charm.
Ditch the Chemicals
Those charming, cute birds and pretty butterflies won’t come around if you’re treating your yard with pesticides, but that’s not the only downside to chemical treatments. Warding off pests with chemicals also rids your yard of beneficial insects, which can impact the health of your yard as a whole. Look into natural treatment options, and select some plants that are native, so they’ve already developed some resistance to local fauna. That way you’ll always have some thriving plants, even if the pests are difficult to reign from your roses.
When it comes to your lawn, you might wonder what you can do to protect it if you’re ditching the chemicals – after all, you’ll want it to look good all-year round. The answer is to switch from your current lawn to artificial grass. That way, the grass will always look great, you’ll never need to treat it, and you won’t even have to mow it either.
Your outdoor space is a special blend of nature and home. Every season does bring a challenge, but they each also bring their own unique qualities to behold and enjoy.
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