As any homeowner who’s owned a property for a long time will tell you, maintaining your landscaping can be a full-time job. It requires a lot of work because of the extremes of weather that it has to face and the constant beating down of the sun. The good news, though, is that there’s plenty of things that you can do to make your landscaping more durable. Here’s our advice:
Choose native and drought-tolerant plants.
The first thing you want to do is choose plants that are native. If they’re native to your area and drought-tolerant, this means that they’ll continue looking great even if there’s no rain for a period of days or weeks. They also need less fertilizer and changes to the soil, so you don’t have to disrupt the land itself. It can remain settled in place like it’s always been.
Use hardscaping elements where you can
Another thing you can try doing is using hard-scape elements in as many parts of your landscaping as you can. It’s surprising just how much of your outdoor areas can be pavers, retaining walls, gravel, and patios because it cuts down on high maintenance lawns and is also weather resistant. You can also use hardscaping elements to prevent erosion in your garden, especially if it’s on a slope or you get a lot of rain and it washes soil away. Hardscaping holds everything in place and makes things look good.
Replace your wood fencing
If you can replace your wood fencing with aluminum fencing, that can also work. Wood fencing is prone to damage and requires constant maintenance with annual treatment applications every year, whether that’s preservative or paint.
However, with aluminium with anodized coatings, you hardly need to do any work with it at all. It can last for many years without maintenance requirements and actually looks more professional than a lot of wood fencing options.
Use thick mulch layers
You can also try tactics like applying thick mulch layers. These help to maintain more soil moisture during hot summer months while also reducing weed growth. They can also regulate temperature for the winter, keeping things like bulbs safe from severe frosts. If you need to remove mulch in the spring, you can. We recommend adding 2-3 inches of the material above wherever you’re growing plants.
Group plants by their needs
You also want to look for ways to group plants by their needs. If you can arrange them with similar water, sun, and soil requirements, you’ll make your outdoor landscaping areas far more robust. You don’t have to treat plants in one specific area differently based on the species; they can all receive the same water and irrigation management.
Use long-lasting materials
Finally, you can just do the sensible thing and use long-lasting materials. Stone and composite decking obviously lasts longer than wood. Gravel is also one of the most durable materials, which is why many country estates use it for their driveways. Try these ideas to see which ones work for you.
