How to Clean Your Yard

How to Clean Your Yard

Cleaning your yard should not be a complicated process that will cause you grief every time you go outside. You can turn lawn care into a fun exercise that will allow you to improve your lawn and the value of your home. When cleaning your yard, try the following things to get great results. 

Yard Lay Out

Don’t start cutting your grass without first considering how your yard is laid out. There are spots on your lawn that will not grow grass, and there are other spots that would look better if they were to have a flower bed. If you go through parts of the yard that have very thick grass, this shows you that you can make the lawn look even better than it looks right now. There is some hope, and you can use that hope to start planning how your lawn will look. 

Cut Everything

You should move your lawn so that you can see the lay of the land, understand where you have tree roots sticking out, where you have weeds growing, and where the grass is very thin. When the grass is very thin, you can plan to fertilize and nurture the grass back to good health. If you find some lush spots in your lawn for flowers, you can make a tiny rock enclosure that will protect that garden. Cut everything, then move on to the edges and planting.

When you are cutting the whole lawn, you must ensure that you have set the lawnmower to a moderate height. You want to the grass to look nice while you are setting up the lawn, and you do not want to cut it so much that it looks dead.

Edging

Edging the whole lawn will help clean up any weeds scattered around the property. If you are edging your lawn once a week, you can get rid of weeds that make the lawn look unkempt. Plus, you can see how tall the grass is actually growing. You want to have the grass rise above the curb just a little bit, and it is easier to see the ratio of curb to grass when you have appropriately edged. 

Planting

You can plant flowers or bushes around your lawn in any location that you like, but you need to know that those spots do not get too much sun. Fertilize brown patches in the lawn and set aside for gras. If the grass is already in good condition, you can trim it down in favor of flowers. Looking to plant bushes? The grass will die out when the bushes cover them up. If you would like to plant a tree, you need to consider how close the tree is to the house, how big it will get, and how much grass will sit under that tree. 

When you plant bushes and flowers under a tree, you must choose something that does not need a lot of sunlight. Some plants will thrive under trees, but you need to do your research before you finish planting. Most people who put plants under a tree assume that they do not need to do much to those plants. You still need to water and trim those plants. Plus, you need to cut the trees to ensure they are not choking out other plants in the yard.

Trees

When you have existing trees in the yard, you need to trim the trees, ensure that they do not get too tall, and be sure to clean up leaves when they begin to drop in the fall. Trees on your lawn can become troublesome because large branches will start to fall over, and long branches could even touch your house. You might have trees that sway a little bit too much in a storm, and you may need to have dead trees taken down.

Cleaning up your yard requires that you first remove all the fallen branches from the area. Next, you need to remove all branches that seem to be dying. Tree limbs that droop too close to the ground are a hazard that could damage your home in a storm, or fall on someone when they are walking across the lawn. 

If the tree is getting too tall, you should have an arborist trim the top of the trim to keep it in check. When this happens, you can control how much space the tree covers in your lawn. For the most part, a large tree should have its own space that is a few yards from the house and separated from any gardens or flower beds you have planted.

Leaves get wet in the fall and must be raked. Wet leaves create a mulch that cover up your grass. When this happens, some of your grass will die because the grass does not get any nourishment at the end of the season. When everything grows back in the spring, these little patches will be brown or completely bald. 

A final important note about trees. Dealing with trees can be dangerous, and you should not attempt to climb a tree and cut down a branch yourself. If you think that part of the tree is out of reach, you should leave it to a professional for your own safety. 

Weekly Maintenance

The best plan for lawn care involves weekly maintenance. Go into your lawn once a week to clean up the space, cut the grass, and check on your flowers/bushes. You can check on trees that you heard swaying in the wind, and you can return the garden to normal that day. If you allow your lawn to grow too much, you will see weeds and non-native grasses begin to grow and get in the way of all the things that you have planted.

If your grass is not that tall at the end of the warm season, you can stop cutting the grass in favor of pulling weeds. You might need to start pulling your flowers inside because they will not survive the cold, and you need to start trimming back your shrubs and trees so that you do not have dead leaves and branches falling on the ground all the time. 

Should You Hire Someone?

You might want to hire someone to clean up the lawn for you because you do not have the time, energy, or equipment to do so. A cleanup of your property is worth your time and money because you do not need to spend days or weeks clearing everything out. When the land has been cleared, you can begin mowing the grass, planting, and trimming the trees. This is a much easier process if you start with a nice lawn that has been cleaned professionally.

When Do You Take Down Trees?

When you realize that a tree is leaning too much in the wind, making creaking sounds in the night, or shedding all its branches, you need to call a tree service or arborist. An arborist is a trained professional who knows how to diagnose tree diseases, and they can tell you what to do with the tree. The arborist can take down the tree if needed, and they can even grind the stump for you.

If you have decided that the tree needs to come down, you can hire a tree service to chop down every tree for you. A tree removal service will dispose of the tree on your behalf, or they will shred the whole tree so that you have access to wood chips for planting and mulching. 

How Often Should You Water Your Lawn?

Water restrictions are common during the hottest parts of the year because municipal water systems cannot support all the demand for watering and household water needs. When you are watering your lawn, you should plan to water for about an hour to ensure that the moisture has been dispersed properly throughout the lawn. 

Watering your lawn helps you keep the space clean because you can easily see the weeds you need to pluck, and the grass will grow healthy enough that you will not see any bald spots on the grass. However, you must make sure that you have removed your sprinklers, hoses, and garden tools from your lawn because they make the area look messy. You want to present an excellent image to everyone who passes by.

Cleaning Up After A Storm

After a storm, you should remove any leaves and branches that might have blown onto it. Winds can cause damage to your plants or shrubs, and you must check on each plant to ensure that you do not need to trim anything that’s broken. 

The trees in your yard should be carefully trimmed because branches break/weaken during a storm. You might not have noticed at first, but a broken or dead branch will start to droop towards the ground while everything else on the tree will look perfectly healthy. Cut down the branch yourself or hire someone to remove it safely. 

What Does Lawn Cleaning Do For Your House?

Lawn cleaning helps you keep your house looking beautiful because you are preventing future damage to the home. Tree branches, vines, and shrubs that are touching the house can be removed so that windows are not broken or the paint is not scratched. When you have trimmed dead branches and picked up leaves, these things cannot carry and land in your gutters or on your roof. Gutter and roof leaks are often caused by standing debris that gets in the way. 

Lawn cleaning will help prevent any bugs from taking hold of your lawn because they will not have any many places. Plus, you can plant flowers that will attract bees and butterflies. This is a lovely thing to have on your property that is wonderful to look at every day. You could become the family that always have butterflies in the lawn, or you could be the family that has an exquisite vine growing up the side of a tree.

Lawn Cleaning Improves Your Home’s Value

Lawn cleaning will improve your home’s value because it makes the property look more beautiful. A nice-looking property has a higher value because people perceive it to be more appealing when they drive by. If you are not cleaning your lawn, the perceived value of your home drops over time because the house does not look as beautiful as the homes around it. When you hire a professional to do a lot of extra work to the lawn, you will increase the value of the house that much faster. If you are doing the work yourself, you must ensure that the work you did looks beautiful from the street.

Final Thoughts

Cleaning your lawn should be a top priority when it comes to caring for your home. Your yard gives everyone their first impression of your home, and you should try to get outside every week to keep the space tidy. You can hire a professional to help you with the lawn if you do not have the time or expertise to do it yourself. You can get someone to clean up the yard for you so that you do not need to do it, or you could turn your property into a labor of love that has flowers, shrubs, and plants that you are looking after every day. Cleaning your lawn is simple when you use all the steps above to get excellent results.

Sara Butler

Sara Butler has written scores of articles for Lawn Love -- everything from how to revive your dead lawn to how to start to lawn care tools every homeowner should have.