Landscaping is an art, and it begins with design. Your initial sketches and maps will help turn your dream into reality. However, there are a few things you should consider as you work, so your dream doesn’t turn into a nightmare once it’s finished.

1. Pets

If your family includes animal members, you should consider their needs as well as your own. Will there be certain areas off limits? Are the plants you intend to grow safe for dogs and cats?

2. Children

Playing outside helps kids grow strong and burn off sugar rushes. Think about how kids in your home will play in your landscaped space. Playground equipment should be part of your design, and make sure there are no hazards like unfenced water features small children could find.

3. Company

Do you like to have extended family over, throw dinner parties, or keep an open door for friends? Your landscape design should reflect that. Be sure to consider secondary points of entry. For example, if your neighbors often cut through the yard to join the party, planting a thick hedge between your lawns would be a poor design choice.

4. Entertaining Style

How you entertain is just as important as how often you have guests over. Do you like movable lawn chairs or a permanent outdoor dining feature? Patios, gazebos, and spaces big enough for your favorite party tent deserve high priority in your design.

5. Greenspaces vs. Garden

A crowded cottage garden with little paths between packed beds of flowers, herbs, and vegetables may be charming, but is it what you need? If you have pets, children, or large parties, it’s a good idea to maintain a little lawn. Consider these elements in your design, and play around with the balance.

6. Your Local Zone

Your planting zone matters more than many people realize. Unless you plan on moving a lot of greenery indoors during the autumn and winter, you simply can’t plant hibiscus bushes in a northern state. Your landscape plans will only flower as expected if the climate doesn’t kill the main attractions.

7. Water Access

It’s a good idea to scout the outside of your house and map spigots, cisterns, and any other water source on your landscape sketches. Many gardeners weep over planting the centerpieces of the design far away from an easy water source. This means you or your landscaping crew will be wrestling with long hoses or endless water cans forever.

8. Trees

When designing a landscape, remember that certain features will not remain their original size. Trees can outlast you and your design. While you can add annuals and movable fixtures around small trees, keep in mind the shade will expand and the ground will become bumpy with roots over time. 

9. Drainage

How does water move over your property? If you’re moving earth as part of your design, remember to channel it away from your home to avoid flooding. If you live in a close neighborhood, you may have to follow strict run-off guidelines, too. Don’t forget to scout the grounds when it rains. See where standing water gathers, and avoid filling those areas with fragile plants.

10. Features You Want to Hide

Do you have a road behind your house? Maybe you can’t stand the old shed where you keep your gardening tools. When you have an ugly feature you’d like to hide, utilize your landscape design. Trees, hedges, mounds, and lattices with growing vines all provide excellent solutions to various eye-sores.

11. Balance of Annuals and Perennials

Change is good, but replanting all of your flowerbeds every spring can be exhausting. The best route is a mix of annual and perennial plans. The perennials provide a mainstay layout, and if you need a change of pace, you can always pick new annuals in the spring.

12. Indoor Shade and Sunlight

When you plant trees or design tall features like a wall or hedge, consider how they will affect indoor light. Will that garden wall block all the afternoon sunlight from the kitchen? When that tree grows, will it block the view from the upstairs bedrooms?

13. Preferred Ground Covers

Grass is no longer the only lawn option. Moss lawns are rising in popularity, and they’re especially good for poor soil grass struggles to grow on, small spaces where lawnmowers don’t fit, and eco-conscious homeowners. 

These considerations are all about fit. Advance planning helps ensure the landscape you design matches not only your goals but also your lifestyle. That way you can enjoy your hard work for years to come without regrets.

Replacing Your Oil

You should get the lawnmower's oil changed after you have used it for the first five hours of work at the mowing season's beginning. After this, you should get an oil change for your lawnmower each time you have used it for 50 hours. You should give the lawnmower's engine at least one minute before you check the oil. 

Swapping Out Your Air Filter

You should have your lawnmower's air filter replaced at least once per mowing season. It is better to get your lawnmower's air filter replaced during the spring, regardless of the size of your lawnmower. If you are not sure what kind of air filter your lawnmower requires, feel free to ask us and we will tell you. If you are using your lawnmower in dusty conditions, you should replace your air filter more frequently. 

Replacing Your Air Cleaner

You should have us replace your lawnmower's air cleaner once a mowing season at least. We can also help you figure out what kind of air cleaner your lawnmower requires if you are not sure.

Replacing Your Spark Plugs

You should make sure to get your lawnmower's spark plugs replaced as often as the lawnmower's manufacturer recommends. Generally speaking, however, you should let us replace your lawnmower's spark plugs at every mowing season's beginning, preferably in the spring. You should also call us to replace your lawnmower's spark plugs after every 100 hours you have used it. We can tell you which spark plugs the manufacturer of your lawn mower recommends and you should get whichever kind of spark plugs they recommend. 

Giving Your Lawnmower an Oil Change

We can check to ensure that your lawnmower is running on fresh and clean engine fuel at the beginning of every mowing season. We can change the oil in your lawnmower. One part of this is changing the in-line fuel filter if the lawnmower has one and if you have used the lawnmower for at least 100 hours or longer. Fuel stabilizer helps make sure that the fuel is fresh and helps your lawnmower start more easily. We can assist you in finding the optimal fuel stabilizer for your lawnmower. 

Winterizing Your Lawn Mower

We can also help you winterize your lawn mower. The first step in winterizing your lawn mower is to drain the oil from its engine and refill it with clean oil. We will make sure to use the fuel stabilizer that your lawnmower's manufacturer recommends so the gas in your lawnmower does not become stale during winter. After this, we can replace the spark plug in your lawn mower and slowly start up your lawnmower's engine. 

We will wash old grass and dirt off the whole lawnmower. We will also work hard to make sure that we clean your lawnmower's engine really well. Of course, we will check to ensure that your lawnmower's engine is off while we are cleaning the engine's moving parts and the blade shaft. We recommend that you store your lawnmower in an area that is both clean and dry.