Whether you’re trying to sell your current home or want to ramp up the landscaping at your own home, there are a few things you should consider and mistakes to avoid. In this article, Arbeen Landscaping will help explain a few common bad landscaping mistakes that you should be aware of:
1. Not planning out your landscaping
Good landscaping requires a lot of planning- it doesn’t just happen overnight. Although you can always change and update your landscaping as your needs change, it can become more and more difficult when changes need to happen after implementation due to having really poor planning. Take some time to figure out how you want to use the landscape around the house, what you want your landscaping to look like long-term, and how much time and effort you have to manage it. This is important for things like plants and gardens, and even more important for more permanent features like hardscaping or backyard structures.
2. Adding large water features that are hard to take care of
Water features are a great way to create a relaxing and open outdoor living space! Oftentimes, they can really elevate the look and feel and your landscaping, large water features take up a lot of space. Depending on the type and how they are built, they can require a lot of time as well as effort to keep clean and maintain. If you want to add more water features, keep the size within reason, proportional to the space available, and manageable, Also, consider constructing them in a way that keeps them as low-maintenance as possible and adding landscaping features to help keep them easily manageable.
3. Growing invasive plants
Plants, flowers, and trees can improve your bad landscaping, but you need to be mindful of what you’re planting. One common mistake is to avoid growing invasive plants. These plants grow quickly, often take over a yard, tend to be difficult to manage, and also tend to destroy native plants on top of it. Invasive plants are not just non-native species, some native species of plants can be considered invasive as well if they tend to quickly take over and smother other plants. There are plenty of plants that never grow in your yard for these reasons. It is a good idea of making sure whatever you are planting will be manageable and contribute to a healthy yard.
4. Planting trees too close to your house
Another common landscaping mistake to avoid is planting trees too close to your house. Trees offer shade and a unique element to your landscaping features, but the type of tree matters, and it is important to get to the right placement on your lot. Tree removal is also very costly and trees too close to the house can seriously damage your home during a storm or if they fall. You need to consider how big a tree will likely get 10,20 and 30+ years from planting to make sure it is far enough away from your home.
5. Skipping on necessary maintenance
Beautiful landscapes around the house are not a one-and-done thing. A good design is only the first step! Even if you keep it very simple, you will still need to do maintenance. One of the most common mistakes is not maintaining your landscaping. Poor maintenance or a lack of proper maintenance could look like overwatering, not pruning at all, pruning incorrectly, not fertilizing, and more. Cleaning up regularly, planning for growth, making sure you have proper irrigation, and more are all landscaping tips for summer that you can apply all year round for healthier, better-looking landscaping.
6. Adding too many decorations
Outdoor decor can make your home and landscaping look beautiful! However, if you add too much, you can end up detracting from the overall look and distracting from the natural landscaping. It could even make your landscaping look garish or cluttered, especially if it is in the front yard or around the porch. You don’t have to avoid lawn decorations or outdoor decor. Much like your interior home decor, it’s just a matter of considering the overall look you want, the landscaping elements already there, and how a particular piece of decor enhances it.
7. Cutting grass too short
The length of your grass makes a difference in the health of your yard and soil. Cutting grass too short, especially in the summer, can result in scorched, dry, or bare patches. During the summer, your lawn needs a little more shade. Keeping the grass a little longer when you cut it helps provide that shade and keeps water from evaporating too quickly and drying out. This and other landscaping tips for summer can help keep your lawn and landscaping looking amazing! In the winter, you want the sun to be able to reach the soil. During this time, you do want to cut the grass a little. However, you still do not want to go too short. Despite the myth, cutting the grass shorter does not mean you have to mow it less.
8. Not thinking about the view from the inside
When planning out landscaping, it is really easy to focus on what everything looks like from the yard or the driveway and forget about what things might look like from inside the house. This is one of the common bad landscaping mistakes. You do want to make sure your landscaping looks good from the outside, but you also want to make sure nothing is blocking or detracting from the views from your windows. The landscaping design you choose should look good whether you are viewing it from inside or outside the home.
9. Forgetting to plan for the future
One bad landscaping mistake is planting trees too close to the house, but part of what causes that mistake is forgetting to plan for the future. Large water landscaping features that require a ton of maintenance, other bushes, trees, and plants around the property, etc. You need to consider the future for anything you include in your landscaping. How will plants grow and spread? What kind of maintenance does everything require? These questions can help your contractor get started on thinking of elements you want to add.
10. Ignoring exterior lights
Finally, the last mistake is ignoring any exterior lighting. Even if it turns out you don’t need lighting in a particular area, ignoring exterior lights is a big landscaping mistake. Thankfully, there are a lot of outdoor lighting options that are flexible and versatile. Although it’s best to consider exterior lighting in the beginning, there are some options you can add in easily enough later to help you get what you need and the look you want.
If you’re ready to fix your bad landscaping and need some help building a beautiful landscape around the house, reach out to Arbeen Landscaping! We can help you with your dream landscaping job.
