Whether you're a property manager or a homeowner, maintaining your landscape is an ongoing battle. And frankly, it's one that's best left to the professionals. The investment in quality landscape maintenance is always worth it.

But, if you're looking to take your landscape maintenance into your own hands, you're in luck. Today, we're going to share the best yard and landscape maintenance tips out there.

These yard maintenance tips will help you keep your entire landscape looking stunning week in, week out - season after season. And towards the end, we'll provide you with the #1 way to maintain a yard you're proud to show off - you won't want to miss this tip! First, let's start with a quick overview of why maintaining your landscape is so important.

The Importance of Landscape Maintenance

There are many reasons to maintain your landscape. First and foremost, a well-maintained landscape increases curb appeal - which is essential for homeowners and property managers alike. Whether you want to sell your home at the highest price or you want to attract shoppers to your store, increase tenant satisfaction at your rental property, or even win potential clients in your office park - maintaining a beautiful landscape is key.

But landscape maintenance also serves another important purpose: it protects your landscape investment. A well-maintained landscape lasts longer and looks better for the long haul. So, by investing in landscape maintenance, you're protecting your initial investment and ensuring that your yard always looks its best.

In addition to these key benefits, there are many other reasons to maintain your landscape. Below, we'll outline all the benefits of landscape maintenance so that you can see just how important it is.

• Increased Curb Appeal - This is important for homeowners, particularly those who want to sell their houses at the highest price possible. But, it's especially important for commercial property managers. Whether it's hotel landscape maintenance, apartment landscape maintenance, or shopping center landscape maintenance - keeping your property looking stunning is important for business.

• Protection of Landscape Investment - If you invested in a quality landscape designer in Alpharetta, you undoubtedly paid a pretty penny. And you obviously want to protect that investment and get the most out of it - which is why the maintenance of your yard is so important. If you don't follow the yard maintenance tips we provide below, you risk portions of your landscape dying, your hardscape becoming unusable, and having to pay a premium to fix the issue.

• Easier Yard Maintenance in the Future - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By taking the time weekly to implement a few key landscape maintenance efforts, you can prevent more intensive landscaping tasks in the future.

• Enjoy Your Yard to the Fullest - One of the main reasons people invest in professional landscape design is to enjoy their yard, kick back, and relax. But to truly enjoy all that your yard has to offer, you need to undertake routine maintenance.

The Best Yard & Landscape Maintenance Tips for Homeowners and Property Managers Alike

Now that we've gone over the importance of landscape maintenance, it's time to get into the nitty-gritty. Below, we'll share the best landscape maintenance tips - so you can get started on maintaining your landscape today. First and foremost, start with an in-depth understanding of your landscape and its unique needs.

Understand Your Landscape Before Creating a Maintenance Plan

So many homeowners, in particular, make the mistake of purchasing a home - or investing in new landscape - and just heading out with the mower or a bag of fertilizer and hoping for the best. But to unlock your yard's full potential, you need to do some research and come up with a more strategic, targeted maintenance plan.

First, take note of the different types of plants in your landscape. What is their ideal growing environment? How much sun or shade do they need? What kind of soil do they prefer - sandy, loamy, or clay? Once you have a handle on the basic needs of each plant in your landscape, you can start to create a more targeted maintenance plan that will help those plants thrive.

In addition to taking note of the different types of plants in your landscape, you also need to be aware of other important factors like climate, soil type, and topography. These factors will all play into how often you need to water your landscape, what kind of fertilizer you use (if any), and how often you need to mow your lawn.

By taking the time to understand your landscape, you can develop a targeted maintenance plan that will help your landscape look its best - without over or under-doing it. And this leads to our next landscape maintenance tip: coming up with a detailed landscape maintenance checklist so you don't miss any key steps.

Keep a Detailed Checklist With Weekly & Monthly Tasks

Once you have an understanding of what needs to be done to maintain your landscape, it's important to put those tasks into a detailed checklist. That way, you can ensure that all the tasks on your list are completed in a timely manner - and nothing falls through the cracks. And this particular yard maintenance tip is so important that we actually wrote a separate blog post all about it.

Your landscape maintenance checklist should include both weekly and monthly tasks. For example, watering and mowing would be considered weekly tasks while edging, pruning bushes, and fertilizing would be considered monthly tasks. Of course, this will vary depending on the unique needs of your landscape - but you get the idea. There are also seasonal tasks to take note of - like adjusting your irrigation schedule, winterizing garden beds, seeding fresh grass - and more.

The point is, you have a lot to keep in mind when maintaining your yard - especially if you have a robust landscape layout. By keeping a detailed landscape maintenance checklist, you can ensure that all the key tasks are completed - and your landscape looks its best.

Irrigate & Fertilize Strategically to Save Money While Perfecting Your Landscape

Another important landscape maintenance tip is to water and fertilize your landscape strategically. And again - this tip sort of goes back to the first one: understanding your specific landscape. Certain varieties of grass will need more water and fertilizer than others. Know your variety - and maintain it accordingly.

One key takeaway from this landscape maintenance tip should be to water deeper, and less often. You can adjust your cycles to water each zone longer - and eliminate a day from your schedule. This will save you money while creating healthier, happier grass. It encourages deeper root growth which creates a more drought-resistant yard during hot summers. You should also be sure to monitor conditions in your yard and adjust cycles accordingly. Your grass will tell you when it needs more - or less - water.

In terms of fertilizer, it's important to use the right type and amount for your particular landscape. You don't want to overdo it and end up damaging your grass or plants. But you also don't want to under-fertilize and have a lackluster landscape. It's a delicate balance - but one that can be easily achieved with a little trial and error (and some expert landscape maintenance tips).

And lastly, make sure you're using the right type of fertilizer for your landscape. Different types of fertilizer contain different nutrients - so you'll want to use one that contains the right mix of nutrients for your particular landscape. For example, if you have mostly shade-loving plants, you'll want to use a fertilizer that has a higher percentage of nitrogen since that helps encourage leaf growth.

Keep Your Yard Waste & Create a Mulch Pile

If you have a lot of landscape waste - like leaves, grass clippings, and twigs - it's important to find a way to dispose of it properly. Sure, you could throw it away. But, why do that when you could make your yard waste work for you? One of the best tips for landscape maintenance is to actually keep that yard waste and create a mulch pile.

A mulch pile is essentially just a big pile of organic matter that will eventually break down and turn into nutrient-rich compost. This compost can then be used to fertilize your landscape - which means fewer trips to the store for store-bought fertilizer. Moreover, this is completely organic fertilizer - no additives whatsoever (unless you want to create a "super soil" mix - but that's a discussion for another day). And it's a great way to reduce waste since you're reusing materials that would otherwise end up in the landfill.

To create a mulch pile, simply find an out-of-the-way spot in your landscape - like the corner of your property - and start piling up your landscape waste. Once you have a big enough pile, cover it with a tarp or something similar to help speed up the decomposition process. Every few months, turn the pile so that the material on the bottom has a chance to break down.

After a year or two, you should have some rich compost that's perfect for fertilizing your landscape. You can use it around trees, shrubs, flower beds - anywhere that could use an extra boost. Just be sure to spread it around evenly and water it well after application. 

The tips we’ve shared thus far are all worth implementing - but the best yard & landscape maintenance tip of all can be found below…

Invest in Professional Landscape Maintenance

Last but not least, one of the best tips for landscape maintenance is to invest in professional landscape maintenance. Yes, this yard maintenance tip will cost you a little bit of money each month. But, the time you'll save and the improvements to your yard are more than worth it.

Professional landscapers have expertise and equipment that you don't - which means they can get the job done quickly and efficiently. They also know how to properly maintain your landscape so that it looks its best all year long. If you've got a robust landscape and you've tried maintaining the yard yourself, you know how time-consuming and complex it can be. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about it ever again?

If you live in Alpharetta, Georgia, or the surrounding areas, we can help you achieve peace of mind while achieving a stunning landscape you're proud to show off to guests. Your yard will be the talk of the neighborhood. Michaelangelo's is the #1 landscape maintenance company in Alpharetta, GA. We're experts at both residential landscape maintenance and commercial landscape maintenance - so we can help with any size property.

Our full-service landscape maintenance plan includes 46 visits a year. We do everything necessary to keep your landscape and hardscape looking stunning year-round - from the basics like mowing, edging, and blowing, to more robust measures like shrub pruning, ornamental pruning, turf & lawn fertilization, ground cover pruning irrigation monitoring, weed removal, and a whole lot more. Homeowners trust us with their yards, and so do business owners. Our commercial services range from townhome landscaping, small office building landscaping, industrial landscaping, and everything beyond.

Reach out today to schedule your first visit and discover your landscape's full potential through Michaelangelo's landscape maintenance!

Final Thoughts on the Best Landscape and Yard Maintenance Tips

We've shared the top five landscape and yard maintenance tips we have with you today. Hopefully, this article helps you unlock the yard of your dreams. But remember - the fifth and final tip we shared today trumps all else. If you’re still on the fence about if lawn care services are worth it, read our related article discussing the benefits of commercial and residential landscaping. 

If you simply make the investment in premium landscape maintenance, you needn't worry about your yard ever again. You'll be able to fully enjoy it, and get more of your time back. And if you're in the Atlanta, Georgia area, don't hesitate to get in touch with us today!