For homeowners, their landscaping is often a source of pride. There can be real joy in creating a beautiful, natural, and serene garden environment that you can escape to any time you like. Not only that, but landscaping helps increase kerb appeal, which is important if you ever plan to move house. But one thing you may not have given thought to is how important lawn care is to your landscaping efforts. You truly can’t have one without the other. Here’s a look at some of the reasons why lawn care plays such an essential role in landscaping.
What Is Involved in Lawn Care and Garden Landscaping?
Lawn care is a much more involved process than many people think. It’s more than just keeping the lawn cut to a healthy length; it is about making sure it has enough nutrients and water, as well as getting the sun/shade balance right, removing moss and thatch, aeration, drainage, pest control, and more. It can feel a bit overwhelming, especially for those who aren’t knowledgeable in the area of lawn care.
As for what’s involved in garden landscaping, this comes down to how many gardens and plants you have, how intricate they are, how high or low maintenance the greenery and foliage is, and the rate of growth. Some of the basic steps of what’s involved will include regular watering, trimming/pruning, topping up soil levels and making sure the garden has the necessary nutrients (fertiliser may be needed).
Within each category – lawn and garden landscaping – some specific steps and products should be used based on the season.
The Importance of Lawn Care
The simple fact is that lawn care can be time-consuming and requires a variety of steps and products. Homeowners may question if all that work is necessary, and besides kerb appeal, what does it matter?
The importance of lawn care spills over into all different areas. This can include:
- Keeping pests (unwanted bugs) under control and not allowing them to destroy the lawn
- Making sure the lawn isn’t starving for nutrients, as this will also affect any trees and shrubs that are planted on the property
- Making sure the lawn doesn’t go dormant due to dehydration
- Keeping weeds under control and not allowing them to take over your property
- Creating a sense of greenspace not just for your home but the neighbourhood and community
- Contributing to oxygen levels
Lush lawns can also act as a natural air conditioner, which is important in the summer. They will absorb rainfall and snowmelt, which then protects any structures from flooding. This is just a small list of the many ways that well-maintained lawns benefit your garden landscaping, your home, and the community at large.
The Importance of Landscaping
Just as lawn care is important, these same benefits spill over into landscaping. In reality, the two go hand-in-hand. They thrive off each other, so a healthy lawn can lead to healthy landscaping and vice versa. Where things differ is the steps you take to achieve healthy and beautiful landscaping. It is much more about trimming, pruning, not over-crowding shrubs and bushes, being mindful of soil and sun/shade conditions, and working with the natural elements in your garden.
Some of the more specific ways in which landscaping plays an important role are as follows:
- Garden landscapes can help prevent erosion and run-off, both of which can be very destructive
- They absorb rainfall
- They give pollinators such as bees a healthy and thriving habitat
- They improve air quality
- They can help absorb noise (lush and large garden landscapes do the best job)
Rather than seeing garden landscaping and lawn care as separate things, it’s time to look at them as a joint effort and give each the attention they need.
