Your garden may be your pride and joy, but do you have time to take care of it? Maintenance can be a problem with busy work and family schedules. However, maintaining and caring for your garden can actually be accomplished with a little planning, and a few implements.
Lawn Care
Your lawn should be seen as a benefit to the planet. I hate it when people criticize lawns because the “use too much water”, etc. A healthy lawn lowers the ambient temperature, cooling the atmosphere. It holds water in the soil, rather than forcing it to run off into ditches. The blades of grass shade the soil beneath, creating an entire habitat for earthworms that breakup the soil and fertilize it. Proper lawn care includes fertilization without overdoing it. If you fertilize properly, the lawn uses every bit of the fertilizer, and there is no runoff. Also, when mowing, leave the grass a little longer as the summer progresses. It creates more shade, keeping the soil from drying out.
Shrubbery
Viney ground cover and shrubbery need to be maintained so that they don’t get out of control. If you prefer a natural look, selectively trim branches out closer to the center mass of the plant. If you want a box-hedge look, you cut straight down the sides and top.
Chipper
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Ok, this may seem to be overkill, but bear me out. When we moved onto our property, there were two sickly, yellow trees barely hanging onto life. The red oak out front was about to fall over, and the magnolia tree in the back yard was puny and skinny. Thirteen years later, what a difference! The oak is twice as tall as the house, and has red oak, live oak, and burr oak brothers and sisters, and the magnolia tree can be seen in all its glory from a block away. We now have over 20 trees on the lot, even after having to cut down 10 trees because of the drought. Combine this with cuttings from shrubbery, and we have a lot of debris.
All of this is to say – we need a chipper or a company like lawnmaster. If you have trees and shrubs that need frequent pruning, thinning, or removal, a chipper will go a long way to maintaining your garden.
Wheelbarrow
Perhaps the next most important thing you need to maintain your garden is a wheelbarrow. There are so many different types on the market today that it may be hard to decide which to get. Basically, try them out. Or, if you need to, try out carts. Remember, these carts and barrows are going to have anywhere from 50 to 100 pounds of debris in them when you are using them in the garden, so get on that you can maneuver. And, get one that won’t get a flat tire. Nothing is more frustrating than planning an afternoon of yard work – er – gardening, only to find that the wheelbarrow has a flat tire and everything has to be hauled by hand.
Lawn care, shrubbery maintenance, and proper tools, you can easily maintain your garden.