Landscaping

As you go through your routine of driving to the work or the store and walking in the evenings, look at existing plantings for what type of look you want. There are dwarf varieties, thin leaved varieties and taller varieties. The leaves can be deep blue/green, green or varigated with white stripes amongst the green stripes.

Once you have chosen a favorite type of Liriope you can start with site selection and preparation. Liriope can grow in full sun to full shade. If you do not currently have plantig on the site, then go ahead and start planting the Liriope about 4 inches apart. If you do have grass or another groundcover you will want to start two weeks ahead of time and spray with Round Up or another herbicide, wait a week and spray again. Follow directions on herbicide.

After you have planted, mulch with a few inches of mulch to keep the weeds between the Liriope plants down. Eventually the Liriope will take over the area and weeds between the plants will not be a problem and mulching will no longer be needed.

The first summer after planting you may need to water if they begin to droop in a dry period. After the first summer they should be very drought tolerant.

Once a year they need to be trimmed. It is hard to give a date on the calendar when this should be done because the weather varies from year to year. Instead, time the trimming of the previous years growth with the blooming of the Forsythia. When the bright yellow Forsythia begins to unfurl its first few petals, trim the Liriope. If the area is completely covered by Liriope then just run over it with the lawnmower. If the Lioriope is still in it’s first few years and there is much that you do not want to pick up, use heavy shears or clippers to trim by hand.

If the Liriope gets so thick that it begins to choke out the center, just dig out the center and random sections throughout the bed. Fill the holes with dirt and the Liriope will soon fill in the old sections with bright, new growth.

Beautiful lawns look thick, smooth, and even. Lawns that have been infiltrated with weeds are generally think, rough, and uneven.

Dandelions are the worst weed because they grow so much faster than grass. In addition, they spread easily and quickly.

However, these qualities are not limited to dandelions. Weeds in general can reproduce throughout all seasons of the year.

This means that even though you may stop watering your lawn with the raining season, you cannot stop taking care of the weeds in your lawn. They are a constant problem that will always need to be taken care of.

Due to this constant concern and care that is needed, many people simply give up when trying to keep weeds out. Some people do not realize that this is a year round task and stop taking care of the weeds when they stop other lawn care activities.

Watering, fertilizing and other lawn care activities are all done on a regular basis which indicates that weed removal should also be done on a regular basis. It can be difficult to remove weeds once they are large and thick.

If you remove weeds on a weekly or daily basis, it will be a much easier task. There will be much fewer weeds to remove each week and they will be much smaller as long as you stay on it each week.

Some people simplify the task even further by using a chemical mixture that kills weeds and fertilizes grass. This mixture is spread over the lawn.

There are also several mixtures that only kill weeds. There are two types of this kind of mixtures.

There first kind is pre-emergent weed killer. Pre-emergent weed killer is designed to kill weeds before they germinate and come up.

The second kind of weed killer is post-emergent. Post-emergent week killer is designed to kill weeds that have already grown out of the ground.

However, many of these weed killers are designed to target a specific type of weed. All too often the wrong kind of weed killer is used on the wrong kind of weed.

This creates a lot discouragement and frustration among those who keep pursuing an ideal lawn. It is important to do research to find out which kind of weed killer is the best for its price.

In addition, you will need to research which kind of weed killer is the best for which kind of plant. Keep in mind that after a while of using a specific kind of product the weeds may become accustomed to the killer.

As a result, the killer will not be as effective anymore. When this happens you will need to do more research to find another weed killer that will work effectively.

When you select a weed killer, you will want to make sure that you follow the directions carefully. These weed killers can be quite poisonous and dangerous if you misuse them.

Most of the time you will want to apply some weed killer in the Spring to get all of the winter weeds. In most areas, the proper time to apply your first application of weed killer is sometime between February and April.

Slightly later you will want to apply a pre-emergent weed killer and fertilizer to prevent the Spring weeds from popping up. Make sure that you apply it several days in advance of when you expect the weeds to come in.

Most weed killers suggest 30 days in advance. This will make sure that you get everything before it comes up.

In general, most weeds in most areas come up between March and May. As a result, you will want to make sure that you want to apply weed killer before February.

Make sure that you follow the directions on the weed killer. In this case, more is not better, even if the proper amount does not seem to be working correctly.

You will need to apply a second coating of weed killer about sixty days later. Of course, the number of applications you will need to apply will depend on which weed killer you will be using specifically.

As you take care of your lawn, you will be able to maintain a smooth, beautiful lawn. In addition, it will stay smooth when you mow as the weeds will not grow faster than the grass.

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For a do it your self lawn you ned three pices of equipment, lawnmower, spreader and edger.  You can look for any of these in the classified ads in your local paper, Craig’s list for your area or at a local thrift shop.  At a second hand store you may not be able to start the lawnmower or edger so be careful to budget in cost of repairs and keep the purchase cost well below that. 

Fertilize with a generic brand of product from your garden center only twice a year.  The spring treatment during the time that the Forsythia is in bloom will include a fertilize with a crabgrass preventer.  The second treatment is during the heat of summer with an insecticide that kills grubs.  Other applications are intended to keep the grass a stunning color green, that was nice when house prices were inflated, but not as necessary during the recession!

If you are overseeding or planting seed in your lawn, Use the new ‘water saver’  and/or drought tolerant brand of grass seed.  This will keep the summers water bill lower.  Also to help with watering, add rainbarrels at the bottom of the drainpipes from your gutters, you can then use this to water the lawn if a coupld weeks go by without rain.

For the garden, think about the recurring annual costs that you could avoid.  Cosider placing maintenance free groundcovers in areas that you used to mulch.  Make sure you use those that thrive in sun (Liriope) in sun and those that thrive in shade (Pachysandra) in the shade.  You may need to continue to mulch the first year or two but eventually the ground covers will take over and you can eliminate your annual mulching cost.

Replace the annuals wtih perennials, use some of the groundcovers in the pots on your patios.  Place Perennials that are drought tolerant such as ornamental grasses, vinca, lambs ear, butterfly weed and others.

If you usually buy transplants for your vegetable garden, invest time instead, and make seedlings from seeds.  Start seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost date. 

Partner with your neighbors to keep the costs down!  We are all in this together!  Can you share groundcovers or split and share perennials?  If you have a small lawn, split bags of the two applications you are going to put on the lawn. 

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