Landscape Maintenance Checklist Template: Weekly & Seasonal Tasks Keep Your Yard Stunning

Feb

It’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about all the landscape maintenance you have to do week in, and week out. From simple measures like mowing, blowing, and edging to more robust fertilization and irrigation scheduling, pruning, mulching, and weed removal - this is a lot to juggle. Moreover, you have to remember essential tasks that come less frequently - such as every month or every season.

But, it becomes far less daunting when you simplify things with a landscape maintenance checklist template like the one we’ll provide you today!

With a simple checklist, you can go step by step - crossing off each task as it’s completed. This not only helps you remember each pivotal step in maintaining your landscape. But, it also provides you with a sense of accomplishment as you finalize the checklist.

At Michaelangelos, we’ve earned the reputation of the #1 choice for a residential landscape company in Alpharetta, GA. And if you’re a real estate investor or property manager looking to keep your premises looking stunning all year long, we even offer commercial landscape maintenance in Alpharetta and the surrounding areas. While the best way to keep your property looking amazing is to let us handle it for you year-round, today, we’ll share a simple checklist you can follow for landscape maintenance if you’re more of the DIY type.

First, let’s explain what a landscape maintenance checklist is. Then, we’ll provide you with a detailed weekly landscape maintenance checklist - along with checklists you can follow for each season.

What is a Landscape Maintenance Schedule Checklist?

A landscape maintenance schedule checklist is a tool used to ensure all landscape maintenance tasks are completed in a timely and efficient manner. This type of checklist is usually created by landscape professionals and can be customized to fit the unique needs of any property. That means you can take the landscape maintenance schedule checklist we provide today and tailor it to your unique yard.

While there are many software programs that can create landscape maintenance checklist templates, we recommend using a simple Excel spreadsheet or even just a pen and paper - this old-fashioned style of a checklist is our personal favorite. Of course, when we come out to perform our service at a property - we use far more intuitive checklists, but this will work for your needs.

Whatever you do, it's important that you can take your checklist with you - whether that be in your back pocket or on your phone. And, you need to be able to make on-the-fly alterations to the checklist as necessary.

Now with that out of the way, let’s get into the nitty-gritty and provide you with a detailed weekly landscape maintenance checklist. Of course, if you don’t have time for weekly tasks - no problem. We’ll also provide landscape maintenance checklists for monthly tasks, seasonal tasks, and annual tasks.

Weekly Landscape Maintenance Checklist Template: Step by Step Guide for Yard Care

The beauty of hiring a landscape maintenance company is you don’t have to worry about all that we’re about to discuss. This alone makes landscape maintenance worth it, in our opinion. And the fact of the matter is that there are countless other benefits of commercial landscaping- which apply to homeowners, too. However, if you’re looking to do this yourself, here are a few things to keep on your checklist:

Mow the lawn using a sharp blade set at the appropriate height for your turfgrass species. For cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue, that’s about ¾ to one and ¼ inches. For warm-season grasses like zoysia and bermudagrass, aim for one to two inches.
Edge along sidewalks, driveways, and flower beds using a string trimmer or edger. This is incredibly important - as mowing without edging looks very unprofessional. If you want your lawn to look sharp, don't forget to edge. And then, add the clippings to your mulch pile - if you have one
Remove debris like leaves, twigs, and sticks from the lawn using a rake or leaf blower. This too can be added to your mulch pile. You want to make sure your hardscape is clear, too - and a leafblower makes this much easier than raking.
Check the irrigation system for clogs, leaks, and broken heads. Adjust sprinkler heads as necessary. On a more advanced level, you can take note of the lawn conditions - adding watering time to zones that look to be struggling and cutting back on areas that may not need quite as much water. We'll talk about adjusting irrigation based on seasonality later on.
Fertilize the lawn according to the manufacturer’s directions - typically every six to eight weeks during the growing season. You may consider using weed-and-feed if you're struggling with clover, crabgrass, or other weeds in your grass. Speaking of weeds...
Weed the landscape as necessary. By pulling weeds as you see them weekly, you can make quick work of this task. If you let weeds accumulate over the course of a month or two, you'll spend far more time on your hands and knees pulling the, out. You can also consider going by weekly with weed prevention spray in high-risk areas.
Prune the landscape as necessary. Whether you've got ground cover that's extending beyond its boundary or you want to keep your shrubs in check, you can trim them up each week as you see fit. It's unlikely you'll have to prune the same bushes week after week - but going by weekly and taking note of growth will help you determine when it's time to prune. This can also be done on a seasonal basis - which we'll discuss later on.

That's really it - this weekly landscape maintenance checklist will help you organize your work and keep your yard looking stunning week after week. However, there are also things you'll need to do throughout the yard that come less often - like ornamental tree pruning, irrigation adjustment, lawn seeding, and more. So - let's move onto our seasonal landscape maintenance schedule checklist.

Seasonal Landscape Maintenance Checklist: Tips for Keeping Your Yard Looking Great All Year Long

Simply following the weekly landscape maintenance checklist above is a great start. But, to help you adjust to the seasons, we want to provide some information down below. Adjusting your checklist based on seasonality will help you keep your efforts as targeted as possible - and your yard will flourish year round as a result. Let’s start with some spring recommendations.

Spring:

Get the irrigation system up and running. This includes flushing out the lines, checking for leaks and clogs, and making sure heads are properly positioned. As the weather transitions out of winter, you may still get occasional spring showers - so you may not need to water too frequently or too intensely.
Install annual flowers in beds and pots around the landscape. Be sure to deadhead spent blooms throughout the season.
Fertilize landscape beds and add fresh mulch as necessary.
Apply pre-emergent herbicide to prevent crabgrass and other weeds from germinating.
Fertilize cool-season grasses like bluegrass and fescue according to manufacturer’s directions. This is also the best time of year to apply fresh seed to areas that have died off from the winter. You may not necessarily need to do this if you had a mild winter.

Summer:

Water landscape as necessary - paying close attention to areas that may be struggling in the heat. As summer ramps up, you'll likely need to adjust your irrigation schedule accordingly. For example, some yards need just 2-3 days in the start of summer - but by august, they're watering 4 times a day minimum. You may need to add extra time to your cycle, too. Your yard will tell you everything you need to know - watch for slow growth in certain areas or discoloration.
Fertilize warm-season grasses like zoysia and bermudagrass according to the manufacturer’s directions.
You'll be mowing your yard weekly at this point in time, and you'll probably want to set your blades a bit lower due to the increased sun exposure causing explosive grass growth.
Mulch landscape beds to help retain moisture and prevent weeds from germinating.

Autumn:

Fertilize cool-season grasses one last time before they go dormant for the winter.
Apply post-emergent herbicide to kill existing weeds.
Aerate and seed the lawn if necessary. This is typically done every two to four years, depending on traffic levels and soil conditions.
As leaves start to fall, you'll need to rake more frequently. There will be a certain part of autumn where you'll want to blow and rake weekly.
Dial back your irrigation. As the heat cools down - and the autumn rain starts to come, you can water less frequently - and less intensely.

Winter:

Prune ornamental trees, shrubs, and bushes as necessary. Pruning for winter helps ornamentals, in particular, survive freezing temperatures.
Remove leaves from landscape beds and lawn areas. You can either rake them up or use a leaf blower. Be sure to remove any debris that has accumulated over the fall and winter months.
Check irrigation system for leaks and make repairs as necessary. At this point, you’ll shut your irrigation system off altogether. Drain hoses and bring them indoors to prevent freezing.
Cut back perennials that have died back for the season. This will help promote new growth in the springtime.
Apply fresh mulch to landscape beds. This will help keep your plants warm throughout the cold winter season. Depending on your area, you may need to take further preparation to winterize your garden.

Final Thoughts on Your Landscape Maintenance Schedule Checklist

There you have it - we've provided a simple yet detailed weekly landscape maintenance schedule checklist. And, we've also provided seasonal-based landscape maintenance schedule checklists. With these resources, you can keep your yard looking its best year-round.

However, if you're in the Atlanta, Georgia region and want to lean on the help of the experts at Michaelangelo's reach out today. We're the #1 choice for Alpharetta landscaping services. Our service is incredibly affordable - for about $500/month, you get 46 visits throughout the year consisting of mowing, edging, shrub pruning, ornamental pruning, ground cover pruning, turf & lawn fertilization, leaf removal, irrigation monitoring, weed removal, and a whole lot more.

While homeowners around the area trust us with their yards, we also offer commercial landscaping. From office park landscaping to apartment landscaping, hotel landscaping, townhome landscaping, shopping center landscaping, industrial landscaping, and any other property imaginable.

Learn more about our full-service landscape maintenance by reaching out today!