Summer is back and it’s the perfect time to refresh your landscaping after the cold winter season. After a harsh winter, your yard could be looking a bit rough. With a little TLC, though, it can be good as new all over again. Whether you need to replace plants that didn’t make it or want to do a complete overhaul for a new look, the sky’s the limit. Today, we’re talking about how to refresh your summer landscaping to breathe life into it and enjoy your yard all season long!
Refreshing Your Summer Landscaping
We’ve made it through the cold winter and are ready to enjoy being outdoors again. Did your landscaping come out of the cold months looking a little worse for wear, though? It’s okay! Learning how to refresh your summer landscaping has tons of possibilities that will spruce up the look of your home and have you in love with your yard all over again.
To give your landscaping the love it needs to return to its former glory, think about these ides for how to refresh your summer landscaping such as:
- Planting trees
- Doing a spring cleaning
- Adding new mulch
- Staying on top of weeding
- Replacing dead plants with new, vibrant ones
- Repairing hardscaping or add a new patio
- Adding a water feature
- Keeping up with watering your lawn and garden
Planting Trees in Your Yard
Kicking off our ideas for how to refresh your summer landscaping is to plant some trees! Adding trees to your front yard landscaping ideas is a great way to boost curb appeal. In the backyard, choosing the best trees to plant in Upstate NY can provide you with shade and make excellent landscape privacy ideas for a more cozy, quiet space.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget about landscaping around trees! Instead of leaving the base of your trees empty, use the opportunity to create beautiful landscaping designs for a polished look.
Spring Yard Cleanup
Before the summer months hit, following a spring yard cleanup checklist is an ideal method for how to refresh your summer landscaping. After all, your summer landscaping won’t look its best if it’s still damaged from the winter months.
Spring cleanup services make the whole process even easier so you don’t have to lift a finger! Landscape professionals (like us!) can take care of pruning back dead branches and shrubs to make way for new growth, clear leaves and debris from your yard, and ensure your lawn is ready to shine this summer.
Adding New Mulch
What’s the big deal about mulching your landscaping? Not only does mulch help with water retention in the soil, suppresses weed growth, and protects against some pests, it’s also a super easy method for how to refresh your summer landscaping in a snap. Mulch comes in all kinds of forms from organic materials like wood chips, bark trimmings, and pine needles to inorganic materials like rocks. Also available in a wide range of colors, mulching your landscaping is sure to help it pop all season long.
Stay on Top of Weeding
The battle against the weeds is never over, unfortunately. However, keeping on top of weeding is one of the best ways for how to refresh your summer landscaping this year. If you stay on top of this summer lawn maintenance task, it’ll stay much more manageable, taking up less of your time so you can enjoy your outdoor spaces, instead!
In addition to staying on top of the weeds, you may also consult a landscaping professional to see which weed control methods are best for your yard. Starting early is the best way, so get to it as soon as you can.
Replace Dead Plants and Flowers
Sadly, not all of our beloved plants and flowers will make it through the winter. This is especially true of landscaping in Albany, Saratoga, Colonie, Schenectady, and the Capital Region due to typically harsh winters. Instead of mourning the loss of your favorite perennial that just didn’t make it, consider it the perfect opportunity for how to refresh your summer landscaping with new plants and flowers!
When you’re choosing new additions as backyard flower garden ideas or to spruce up the curb appeal for your house, consider plants that will thrive in your area most easily according to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. Native local plants and flowers will grow most easily and give you the best looking landscaping around. Additionally, consider choosing plants that will provide blooms at different points in the year so there’s always something eye-catching in your landscaping to make it pop!
Repair Hardscaping or Add a New Patio Installation
Next up on our list of ideas for how to refresh your summer landscaping is to repair any damaged hardscaping or add something new like a patio installation. The rain, snow, and ice from the winter months may have left some marks on your hardscaping. Even regular wear-and-tear over the years could lead to them looking dull or broken. No time like the present to swap these out and breathe new life into your hardscaping!
Don’t need to repair any hardscaping but want a show stopping backyard makeover idea? Adding a new patio installation is a great way to go. Perfect for backyards of any size, a patio makes a calming space to relax solo or the ideal backyard design plan for entertaining friends and family. Don’t forget to add new landscaping to your patio installation to complete the look.
Adding a Water Feature Installation
Speaking of having a wow factor in your landscaping, next on our list of methods for how to refresh your summer landscaping is adding a water feature installation. Not only do water feature installations add value to a home, but they come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and designs to fit your style and budget. Whether you want it to be a statement focal piece to your landscaping or have it look as if it simply sprang up naturally from the ground, water features are low-maintenance landscaping additions you won’t regret.
Bonus Tip: NVS Waterscapes, a division of NVS Landscapes, will work with you to build the water feature installation of your dreams! From garden ponds to backyard fountains, we’ll bring your vision to life and have you fall in love with your backyard all over again.
Watering Your Lawn and Garden
It sounds simple enough, but the last item on our list of how to refresh your summer landscaping this year gives many homeowners trouble. Experts have stated that a whopping average 8 out of 10 homeowners water their gardens incorrectly. In fact, having that many homeowners not knowing how often you should water a garden also contributes to wasting over half the water they use.
Find yourself asking the question, “how often should I water my garden?” The general rule is that your garden should get between one and two inches of water each week. As any Capital Region landscape professionals will tell you, however, another important factor is how often to deliver that water. Many homeowners think they need to water their plants every other day for a short bit in order to keep them hydrated and healthy. That actually may be disastrous for your backyard and front yard landscaping!
Frequent, shallow watering causes a plant’s roots to grow near the soil surface, where they can quickly dry out and become victims of hot summer days. Deep watering once or twice a week (depending on local weather) is the way to go and encourages deeper, stronger root growth.
Finding ways for how to refresh your summer landscaping can be easy. From spring cleanup services and replacing dead plants to adding a water feature or patio installation, there are tons of ways to spruce up your yard and have it back to its prime. The best place to start is with a landscape planner online. Once you’ve thought about your plans and budget, contact us and we’ll have the best landscape professionals in Albany, Saratoga, Colonie, Schenectady, and the surrounding areas there to breathe life back into your yard once again!
Want some more tips and inspiration on how to refresh your summer landscaping this year? Check out these resources: