Landscape Maintenance vs. Lawn Care: What to Focus On and When

Many people use the terms "lawn care" and "landscape maintenance" interchangeably. While both are required to maintain a pleasing appearance in your yard and surrounding external areas, the two are not the same thing.

Both are important, though, and neither should be ignored.

If you ignore your outdoor space for a long while and don't care for it properly, it can lead to problems such as:

• loss of plants
• overgrowth
• spread of disease
• pests
• hard to manage trees and shrubs

Read on to find out the difference between lawn care and landscape maintenance, what you should focus on, and which things might be best left to professional lawn care services.

Landscape Maintenance

Landscaping involves the design and implementation of all elements of your property that will be visible from the outside. A professional landscaper can talk you through the way you want your space to look and help you decide how to combine trees, shrubs, turf and other elements to make a pleasing vista.

Once this task has been completed, with the help of a landscaping service, there will be a certain amount of maintenance to be undertaken to make sure your turf stays lush and your flowers fragrant.

Read on for some tips on three crucial aspects of landscape maintenance.

Trimming & Pruning

One of the most important aspects of landscape maintenance involves trimming and pruning trees and shrubs that are incorporated in your landscape design.

Your large shrubs, bushes, and trees are cornerstones for your landscape design. Focusing on keeping them trimmed and healthy translates into a beautiful and long-lasting landscape.

While many homeowners attempt to do this job themselves, we recommend hiring a professional, as balance is key. Heavy pruning damages the plant and could stunt its growth. Too little pruning causes your trees or shrubs to overgrow and crowd your other plants, causing grass and plants underneath them to die.

You should take care of any shrub pruning before the growing season, when plants are dormant. Early spring is a great time to do this!

Cleaning Walkways, Walls, and Patios

Your landscaping includes elements such as walkways, walls, and patios. These areas should be clean and clear of any debris. This is a task you can take control of by yourself, although if it feels like a lot of work you could always get a professional to help out.

It's important to monitor how your plants are growing: if they grow outside of their desired space, this can block your walkways. If your landscape design doesn't call for plants or vines on walls, it's best to remove plants from these areas. You want your home to be beautiful and easily accessible.

Keep an eye on your plants

Your plants are tell-tale signs of how your landscape is doing.

Look out for signs of over-watering such as yellowing leaves or mushy stems. Or, if the problem is under-watering, you might notice drooping, brown or crispy leaves. Make sure to balance out your irrigation efforts so that each area of your yard gets the correct amount of water.

Depending on the weather, you may need to take extra precautions to keep some plants healthy! Your landscaper should have helped you to make sure the shrubs and flowers you chose suit the soil type of your yard. Planting for your region is a great way to prolong the life of your landscape.

You can read about what plants are native to Florida in our blog post.

Lawn Care

Lawn care is really a single aspect of landscape maintenance. However, it is a key one, as a well-irrigated, verdant swathe of turf makes a statement to anyone who sees it and shows that you really care about your outside space.

Your yard is one of the first things people notice about your home.

But that's not the only reason to take care of your turf: it can be functional too! You might choose to entertain guests in your backyard. Or perhaps you just want to let your kids and pets enjoy playing and running around in the yard with proper lawn care.

Once you've invested time and money into a beautiful landscape design inclusive of a healthy lawn, regular lawn care is essential to protecting that investment. Diseases, pests, mold, and more can cause your lawn to quickly deteriorate. With a lawn maintenance service, your outdoor space stays protected. We recommend outsourcing regular maintenance to an experienced professional to ensure that you have a long-lasting, healthy lawn.

Mowing & Edging

Mowing your yard is a given, especially with the heavy rain Florida experiences most of the year.

It's important to maintain a mowing routine to ensure that you aren't cutting your grass too short or leaving it too long. This is where a hired service can be of great value to busy homeowners. Your lawn will be mowed on schedule, so you can be sure your yard is getting the attention it deserves on a regular basis.

In addition to keeping your grass the correct length, edging is important to maintain the tough spots that a mower may not be able to reach. Edging along sidewalks, landscape beds, and driveways make your yard look that much better and helps the health of your lawn.

Look out for a local business that will deliver a comprehensive service that goes beyond just cutting the grass. For example LawnMore, a lawn landscaping company based in Gainesville, FL; or Edge Cut, a Cambridge-based landscaping and gardening business over in the UK.

Weeding

Regular weed control is essential to prevent invasive plants from taking over your property.

Weeding decreases the spread of unwanted plants and prevents damage to your grass and trees. It's important to get rid of weeds as quickly as possible because their seeds can find their way back into the ground even after they have been removed from your yard!

It can be tricky to weed correctly. You don't want to pull up the wrong plant before the flowers bloom!

This article will help you avoid some common mistakes. If you're not sure, you can always ask your landscaper.

Fertilizing

Finally, like trimming and pruning, there is a sweet spot for applying fertilizer. Too much or too little can affect the health of your yard and do a lot more harm than good. We've seen many customers come to us with dead lawns from over-fertilization.

We highly recommend hiring a professional for this job to ensure a healthy green lawn.

Here in Florida, you should only fertilize your lawn when it's actively growing. For North Central Florida, the best time to fertilize is in March. 

Take the Stress Out of Lawn and Landscape Maintenance with LawnMore

At LawnMore, we don't have a "one-size-fits-all" approach to maintenance. Your yard and landscape will get the attention it deserves with detail-oriented practices and dedication to quality. We offer:

• Landscape design and installation
• Lawn mowing and edging
• Fertilizing
• Garden maintenance and weed control
• Trimming and pruning
• And more!

Contact us today to get started on regular lawn and landscape maintenance.

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