How to Prepare Your Yard for Landscaping

Few things are more satisfying than a beautiful, professionally landscaped yard. In addition to making your home look put-together and neat, a landscaped yard gives you space to entertain, an area for the kids to play, and room for a garden or ornamental plants. Wouldn’t you like to wake up in the morning to a view of lush greens, beautiful hardscapes, and vibrantly colored flowers? If so, the following tips can help you prepare your yard for landscaping:

Make a Design Plan

Great landscaping starts with a good design plan. First, measure the space that you want landscaped. This helps you provide accurate information to your landscaping company and get accurate estimates.

You’ll also need to check if there will be potential hazards such as water and power lines in the area to be landscaped (contact your local utility companies to learn more about how to do this and which experts to call).

During this process, finalize your desired design, budget, and location. This will help ensure everything goes smoothly down the road. If you have moved into a home that has already been landscaped or decorated, now is the time to get rid of any hardscape or softscape features that don’t fit into your landscaping plan.

Prepare Your Tools For Landscaping

Now it’s time to assemble the tools you’ll need to maintain your lawn (if you don’t plan to install the landscaping yourself). To get started you’ll likely need garden shears, shredders, rakes, shovels, snips, garden gloves, cultivators, and a garden cart.

Experienced “do-it-yourselfers” can also check out equipment such as tillers, chainsaws, lawnmowers, and pressure washers. These can all help take the space to the next level.

Yard Cleaning 101

Prepare your yard by clearing away organic and inorganic debris, rubbish, and trash. The cleaner the slate to begin with, the easier the landscaping project will go down the road. What’s more, a clean, debris-free yard also gives your landscaping specialist more to work with and helps create a better finished product.  

Know What You Can and Can’t Do

You might want to go the DIY route to cut on costs or save on resources. However, landscaping isn’t always an easy job. While simple tasks like cleaning, shrub pruning, raking, fertilizing, soil tilling, and plant trimming are well-suited for beginners, more complicated things like overhauling a yard or installing a garden should be left to the professionals.

Remember: checking for underground electrical and plumbing connections is always a job for professional gardeners or contractors, due to the safety risk inherent with these duties.

How to Maintain Your Yard

Once your landscaping has gone in, you’ll need to maintain it to keep it looking its best. If you don’t have time to do the maintenance on your own, hiring an experienced gardener is a smart way to protect your investment.

If you plan to make yard maintenance a hobby, look into online landscape design classes and local gardening workshops. These are great places to beef up your knowledge and learn to keep your yard beautiful for years to come.