Jeff Halper offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: Landscape Maintenance Can Make Your Garden Thrive Author: Jeff Halper Category: Landscaping Word Count: 744 Keywords: Landscaping Maintenance Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
A regular, well-thought-out landscape maintenance plan is the best way to protect your outdoor investment A beautiful yard says something about the homeowners. Whether subtle or dramatic, a well-kept, well-loved yard sends a special message. Just as important-from the street, a lovely landscape can make a house stand out, which is important when it comes time to sell it. After spending a lot of money on your landscape installation, it only makes sense to protect it and make sure it develops as designed. And that's where a landscape maintenance program comes in. The Green, Green Grass of Home Landscape maintenance begins with the lawn. In Houston, lawns typically need trimming weekly through the summer and bi-weekly in the winter months. Additionally, most Houston lawns need aeration twice per year, but since you really can't aerate enough, the more often the better. Winter rye is a great addition to a landscape maintenance plan by keeping your lawn beautiful throughout the winter. The local temperature range normally dictates that winter rye seed can be spread in early to late October. It is important to know, however, that rye grass has some real disadvantages. For example, the rye grass can compete with the St. Augustine grass (typically planted in Houston) for space and nutrition, which makes it very difficult on the St. Augustine in the spring. This struggle is particularly apparent in shaded area where grass already has a hard time growing. Other Key Components of a Landscape Maintenance Program - Shrubs, Ground Cover and Vines. As part of a thorough landscape maintenance program, hedges as well as other shrubs and bushes should be trimmed regularly to maintain the desired contours. Ground cover and vines should be edged to maintain a neat appearance. This regularly-scheduled attention will ensure that all elements conform to the overall plan of the landscape design. - Tree Maintenance. All small trees should be pruned as necessary. It is also a good practice in your landscape maintenance scheduling to do a deep root fertilization of these trees annually. - Flower Bed Maintenance. Flower beds need to be weeded weekly. It is also a good idea to turn the mulch every two weeks so that you keep the exchange of air and water flowing into and out of the soil. To optimize the growth and bloom cycles of seasonal flowers, they need to be regularly pruned and fertilized. Feeding and Protecting Fertilization and chemical treatments are the next important step in a landscape maintenance program as they provide a boost to healthy plants and prevent diseases and infestations common to the Houston area. Optimally, lawns need to be fertilized four times per year. All shrubs, ground covers and vines should be on a similar schedule. Azaleas and gardenias need to be fertilized in April and May, and acidified in February. Roses require fertilization in the spring, which needs to be continued every four to six weeks during the growing season. One of the most common diseases for lawns in the Houston area is brown patch, or "Rhizoctonia solani," which a basic landscape maintenance program needs to address. Routine fungicide treatment is the usual solution. Of particular note, roses need to be sprayed for black spot disease, the major enemy of Houston roses. Finally, your plants need to be treated chemically to protect against various insect infestations. Jack Frost Can Do Harm Even in Houston, Texas, it can get cold enough to require covering your outdoor plants. Be proactive when the thermometer starts dropping. When the temperatures get below 32 degrees for an extended period of time, you need to cover your delicate plants and tropicals. Remember not to use plastic. Instead use proper freeze cloth, which allows light, oxygen and water to pass through so that you can leave the plants covered for a few days without suffocating them. How Does Your Landscape Maintenance Program Stack Up? The services listed above are part of a good landscape maintenance service contract. But in addition to these basics, the really professional outfits provide extras, which include everything from identifying unexpected diseases and providing an estimate for treatment to treating all landscape elements, such as sculptures and statues, irrigation systems or landscape lighting, with particular respect. They will also be mindful of surface maintenance: walkways, driveways, patios and summer kitchens should be blown or raked free of debris during the landscape maintenance service. Swimming pools, ponds or outdoor water fountains that accumulate debris during trimming of shrubs or lawn should be cleaned as well. Jeff Halper has a passion for landscaping and landscape design, for more information about landscaping and gardening visit http://www.exteriorworlds.com ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
