You take pride in your home’s exterior. A well-maintained front door boosts curb appeal. Beautiful, eco-friendly landscaping sets a welcoming tone for the whole neigbourhood. Sparkling windows and clean siding emphasize the unique aspects of your house’s architectural style. But all that upkeep and attention to detail takes a lot of time and effort. What if you could have the benefits without all the hard work? Here are some creative ways to reduce outdoor maintenance without compromising the end result.
Replace traditional beds with containers.
Tradition flower beds and vegetable gardens consume a lot of time and energy with seeding or planting, weeding, tilling, fertilizing, and warding off pests. Replacing standard plant beds with container gardens cuts down on yard maintenance. Many types of vegetables such as beans, peas, peppers (bell and chili), lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, and tomatoes do well in containers.
Do away with grass altogether.
Especially if you have a big backyard or large front yard, replacing grass with artificial turf could considerably decrease your amount of outdoor maintenance time. And before you roll your eyes and dismiss the suggestion, remember this isn’t yesterday’s fake grass. Today’s options closely resemble the real thing with the added bonus of no watering, weeding, or trimming.
If you don’t like the idea of having no lawn at all, cut down on maintenance by keeping the grass and replacing only specific areas with synthetic turf. If you have pets or children or both, use artificial grass to create a play space that won’t be harmful to them or to your landscaping.
Another option that will make lawn care easier for you is to replace some or all of the grass in the front yard with decorative pavers. Besides eliminating costs for water and fuel, using pavers instead of planting grass is environmentally friendly.
Invest in a robotic lawn mower.
While it can take several hours to set up, a robotic lawn mower will save you time and money in the long run. Aside from the most obvious benefit of you not having to be there in person, other significant advantages of a robotic mower include a healthier looking lawn, fewer weeds, a consistent cut, and better for the environment.
Install a gutter protection system.
An excellent reason to install a gutter protection system is that it reduces the number of times a year you have to clean the gutters. However, before purchasing some type of leaf protector, take the following factors into consideration:
- It’s compatibility with your gutter system
- The shape of the roof
- The type of trees – if you have mix of coniferous and deciduous, the holes in the screens or covers will have to be small enough to keep out pine needles
- Lifespan of the gutter protection system – if it’s inexpensive, you might have to keep replacing it
Because gutter guards decrease the amount of debris entering a gutter system, they can help eliminate standing water and the resulting damage it can do to aluminum gutters.
Choose composite wood instead of wood.
If you have a wood deck or siding, but will be replacing it in the near future consider a composite wood deck or siding instead. Composite wood has the look and feel of real wood, but doesn’t splinter, crack, or rot. While a real wood deck or siding might need restaining once every two to three years, composite wood decks and siding require regular cleaning at the end of each season.
Tweak your landscaping to save time.
A few changes to your landscaping design can save you time you spend in maintaining your outdoor living space.
- Remove high-maintenance shrubs that require a lot of pruning
- Replace annuals with perennials
- Select native plants, shrubs, and trees
- Use mulch to keep weeds down and reduce how much water evaporates from the soil’s surface
