5 Quick Things You Can Do to Maintain Your Yard

Do you enjoy spending time in your yard? Maybe you have a BBQ area that’s perfect for entertaining friends. Perhaps you have your own private oasis with a hammock for relaxing. Whatever you use your yard for, keeping it clean and healthy is an important part of home maintenance.

Following proper yard maintenance makes your yard look nice — increasing your curb appeal. A clean, decluttered yard can also help protect your home from wildfires by limiting the inflammable materials available for a potential fire.

Keeping your yard in good shape can sometimes feel like an overwhelming chore, but a little ongoing maintenance will prevent your yard from becoming unruly and neglected. Follow this list of easy maintenance yard ideas that you can do in an afternoon to keep your yard looking great.

1. Give Plants the Right Amount of Water

This may seem like a no-brainer, but using the right amount of water for specific plants will help them stay healthy longer. A lawn full of bright green grass needs a different amount of water than a line of trees or a flower bed of desert flowers. Do your homework before you start watering to learn how much water each type of plant needs and how often they should be watered.

A few extra minutes of research will not only help your yard look great, but it can also help reduce the amount of water you use. Sticking to an irrigation plan helps you use only the amount of water you need. You may also want to consider installing timers on your hoses or sprinklers so that they automatically shut off when enough water has been applied.

2. Mow Your Grass

If you have a lawn, mowing the grass is usually one of the biggest parts of general yard maintenance. Lawns do best when they’re cut regularly. Regular mowing improves the density of your grass by stimulating growth and encouraging new grass to grow. A mowing routine also helps build stronger root systems for your lawn, which makes it more resilient to environmental changes.

3. Trim Trees and Bushes

A large shade tree is the perfect place to relax on a hot summer day. Unless, of course, the branches are at risk of falling off. Trim your tree branches regularly for the health of the tree and the safety of anything — or anyone — nearby.

Dead or damaged tree branches pose a serious risk of falling and damaging property or hurting someone. You can reduce the risk of a falling tree limb by trimming back unruly or dead branches before they have a chance to fall, which could mean avoiding the need to file a homeowners insurance claim.

Any bushes in your yard should also be trimmed. This helps your property look neat and tidy. It can also be good for the health of the bushes, as the branches won’t be competing with one another for sunlight and other nutrients.

4. Remove Weeds

Did you notice a lot of weeds in your yard or flower bed? Do more seem to keep popping up? Left unchecked, weeds can cause havoc on your lawn and other plants in your yard. A good weed removal routine will help take care of pesky weeds that take nutrients away from your plants. In addition, you’ll help reduce the spread of potentially invasive or noxious weeds that can damage natural ecosystems.

You can either pull weeds by hand or use a spray-on application that will destroy the weeds without harming your plants. A pre-season weed treatment could help reduce the number of weeds that grow in your yard before they emerge.

5. Clean Up Yard Debris

One of the most important yard maintenance tips is to clean up debris around your property. This includes plant litter like dead leaves and branches as well as wood scraps from your fire pit or lawn furniture spread haphazardly through your yard.

Debris removal doesn’t just make your yard look neat and tidy. Yard debris can be a major fuel source for wildfires, and even a small spark from a power pole or fire pit could start a wildfire. When you remove the debris from your property, you give a potential fire less fuel. This could slow the fire down and help limit damage to your and your neighbors’ properties.

Lawn and Yard Maintenance for a Healthier Property

Maintaining your yard isn’t just about improving the look of your property. It also helps keep your property healthy. Removing plant litter and debris can help reduce your risk of wildfire damage. By not over-watering plants, you avoid potential mold and diseases from too much moisture. Trimming back dead tree branches lessens the chance of a branch falling on your home.

Proper yard maintenance helps reduce the risk of these accidents. To further reduce risks to your yard and property, make sure your homeowners insurance has the coverage you need to protect your home. Talk with a Wawanesa agent today to learn more about homeowners coverage and make sure your policy provides enough protection.