Are you looking to change up your residential landscape design? Whether you’re working with a landscape designer in Michigan or not, there are a few things you can do to make your landscaping pop.

Make Some Big Changes

If you want your yard to look different, think about adding or replacing some major features. New trees, large shrubs, a gazebo, or a new gate will all do a lot to change the look and feel of your yard. When you’re working on landscape design in Michigan, think about these pieces first and let the rest fall together after that.

Look Inside-Out and Outside-In

Sure, you want your yard to look great while you’re in it, but you also want it to look amazing from inside your house. After all, this is the vantage point you’ll most often see it from. Work with a landscape designer in Detroit to make sure that your view of your yard is at least as good as the neighbor’s.

Be Realistic

How much do you actually want to spend on your yard and how much do you want to have to work in it. Even if you use a landscape designer in Michigan, you’ll have to do some work yourself. Make sure that your residential landscape design is realistic for your budget and your lifestyle, or it will fall into disrepair and look even worse than it does now.

Add Lighting

Landscape design in Michigan is about more than just plants and paths. Think about how you would like to use your yard and how often you’d like to have people join you in it and set up lighting accordingly. All paths that might be used at night should be well-lit and you may want additional lighting to highlight certain features of the yard that you love.

Use Curves

Curves will make your landscape design just a little more interesting and they aren’t too hard for your landscape designer in Detroit to install. Use them to highlight features of your yard or plants that you want to make stand out. You can curve the edges of beds, paths, and more.

If you need a residential landscape designer who knows Michigan inside and out, call us at Berns Landscaping. We would love to help you get the yard of your dreams or to aid you in maintaining the yard you already have.

Are you considering getting a lawn maintenance plan but you want to do what is best for you and your family? You can go the DIY route, too, and there are benefits and drawbacks to both methods. Here’s what you should consider before you make your final decision.

Cost

Paying for regular lawn care will cost you more than doing it yourself, in some cases. If you don’t have any of the equipment you’d need to keep up your lawn well, you need to factor in the cost of purchasing it and keeping it running for years to come. You also need to consider all of the specialized knowledge that lawn care professionals have. You’ll need to know at least a little bit about fertilization, pesticides, plant care, and more. Getting this knowledge may add to your startup costs, too.

Convenience

Having someone else do your lawn care means that you won’t have to think about it very much. You won’t have to fit it into your schedule or make sure you have enough time between family commitments and work to get it done. You won’t get stuck on a lawn project and miss out on other things that you’d rather be doing. Having someone else handle the yard may be worth the expense for the convenience alone.

Commitment

Most yards require weekly or, at the most, bi-weekly maintenance to keep looking their best. If you skip a week or two, you’ll be able to tell the difference right away! Do you want to be responsible for making sure all of the yard work gets done, no matter what? If you love projects that require commitment, then DIY lawn care may be right for you. Otherwise, pass on the scheduling hassle and pay someone else to do it.

Energy

Working in the yard requires a lot of time and energy. If you have a lot of free time and not much to worry or stress about, then doing it yourself might be right for you. Similarly, if you find working in the yard relaxing or a good way to release your cares, then try the DIY route. If it would just be one more thing that you’d have to try to fit into your schedule, though, having someone else care for your yard might be one less thing you have to worry about.

Quality

People who specialize in yard and lawn care do it because they love it. They have invested their time and energy into learning how to do it well. If you want your yard to really pop or you want to make sure it always looks green and healthy no matter what, let an expert do it. If a lawn trim and some edging are enough for you, then you might be happy doing it on your own.

If hiring someone to do your yard care is right for you and your family in this season, call us at Berns Landscaping. We’ll take care of your yard so you don’t have to.

Did you know that the most important part of your yard is not the part you can see? While green grass is lovely, the key to getting it that way is keeping the root system of your yard healthy. Otherwise, it can’t pull the moisture or the nutrients that it needs from the ground.

Two factors influence root health in Michigan. They are:

• Clay-like soil. This is common in the area, especially in yards.
• This is a layer of dead grass, roots, and more that grows up between your grass and the dirt. It can catch and hold water, like a sponge, and never let it get to the roots.

Aeration to the Rescue!

Yard aeration in Michigan can help attack both of these problems. This process uses a machine called a core aerator. It has spikes that penetrate both the dense soil and the thatch. These actually pull out plugs containing both of these, then leave them on top of your yard. Grass aerating actually opens up your soil so new growth can happen and water can reach the roots.

In fact, if you come back a couple of weeks after doing yard aeration in Michigan, you can usually see new blades of grass growing up out of the holes that the aerator left!

When you aerate depends on where you live. In Michigan, you can aerate in the fall or the spring, or both. Just don’t try to aerate in the dead of winter, when your ground is frozen or covered in snow! Summer is bad, as well, because you don’t want to interrupt the short growing season that your grass has.

Grass aerating is usually done by a professional landscaping service in Michigan, though you can also rent aeration machines and do it yourself. These machines are not always as good at what they do as professional versions, though.

Add in Overseeding

Overseeding is simply the process of scattering grass seed over your yard, even if it is already well-populated with grass. When you do lawn overseeding in Michigan, make sure you match the type of seed you’re using to the type of grass you already have. A professional landscaping service will help ensure you use the proper kind of grass.

Doing lawn overseeding after aeration means that these seeds have the holes left by the aerator to fall into. These are protected places where water will collect, which will help the seed germinate and grow successfully.

For the most part, Michigan residents will want to overseed in the fall. This means scheduling your annual aeration for that season, too, so you can take full advantage of the entire process to help your lawn thrive.

Note that overseeding may not be the best way to add grass to places where it doesn’t already exist. If you want to add grass to new areas of your yard, talk to someone in landscape design in Michigan. They will be able to help you create the yard you’ve always wanted.

Is it time for your aeration and overseeding? Call us at Berns Landscaping to talk to landscaping professionals about how to help your yard thrive this year.

It may feel a whole lot like winter, but spring is just around the corner…even in Michigan. If you want your lawn to look its best, it’s time to start thinking about maintaining your yard and preparing it for summer. There may not be too much that you can get started on now, but you can always get your tools ready, purchase any items you need, and have them ready to go when things thaw out and start to grow again.

Maintain Your Tools

Did you remember to sharpen the blade on your mower before you put it away last fall? If you didn’t, this should be your first step in spring yard maintenance in Michigan. A sharp blade now means that your mower should cut well all summer long. While you’re at it, sharpen the blades on any cutters or trimmers you plan to use this summer, too, so everything is ready to go.

If you had problems with your mower last year, it’s older, or you haven’t done much maintenance on it, it may be time to take it in for a tuneup. It will definitely be easier to get those appointments now than it will be during those first few weeks of spring.

Get Out Your Rake

If your snow melts and your yard still looks dingy, get out the rake. You may have snow mold or just a lot of dead grass built up underneath the live pieces. Use a leaf rake to loosen the mold and built-up grass facilitate your lawn’s recovery. It will still come back green if you don’t do this, but we recommend it for the best possible looking yard. If you need some help with lawn care in Michigan, call us and we’ll get it done for you.

Put Off Fertilizing

A lot of homeowners in Michigan want to fertilize as soon as they see green poking up through the snow. However, doing this too soon doesn’t help your yard at all. If the grass isn’t ready to be fertilized, the substance won’t do any good. And if everything freezes again, you’ll only have to reapply. In general, it’s a good idea to wait until at least May, when your grass has grown long enough to require cutting before you fertilize.

If you want to put down products that keep crabgrass away, you should still wait until early to mid-April, depending on the soil temperatures. If you use these products too early, they’ll wash away. If you use them too late, you’ll get crabgrass anyway.

Implement Design Changes

Are you thinking of changing up the look of your yard or adding new features to it? It’s time to call in a professional in landscape design in Michigan to make your ideas into reality. These pros can usually figure out what will look best in your yard, how you can make it look better, and what it will actually take to get you the yard you’ve always wanted. Then, call in a professional landscaping service in Michigan to keep it that way!

At Berns Landscaping, we would love to help you out. Let us know what we can do to help you with spring yard maintenance in Michigan, or call and ask us your questions directly. Our professionals are always happy to help you help your yard thrive in Michigan!