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The best way to find reputable landscaping companies is by word of mouth. Ask your friends, neighbors, and colleagues if they've worked with a company they'd recommend. Another good source is reading online reviews and checking out company websites to see what kind of projects they've worked on.

Once you've narrowed it down, you can set up a consultation with each company. That way, you can learn more about their values and services, and choose the one that aligns with your project's needs.

Generally, spring is the best time for prepping and planting flower beds and beginning hardscaping projects. The summer construction season is when the majority of large landscaping and hardscaping projects are done. Fall is a great time for planting trees and bushes since temperatures are lower. Hardscaping also continues through the fall until the ground freezes or it begins to snow.

One example is of a past project that began in late summer. All the hardscaping work, including the patio, sitting walls, and fireplace, was built. Trees and shrubs were planted as well. The following spring is when we got the perennial and annual plants in the ground, as they thrive in the spring.

To ensure your project gets done in your desired time frame, start contacting landscaping companies during the winter months. This ensures that your project is on the schedule when the season starts. Often, by late summer, crews may be booked through the end of the season.

Modern landscaping refers to the designing, planning, and construction of gardens and other features that create usable space for outdoor activities while enhancing the appearance around a home. Landscaping includes hardscaping and softscaping, although many people refer to softscaping and landscaping interchangeably.

Hardscaping includes materials such as stone and wood, retaining walls, decks, firepits, and more. Softscaping would then refer to planting designs, creating burms, grading, and mulching.

Irrigation systems are not necessary for maintaining the health of your lawn or plants, but they can be helpful. Irrigation does much of the hard work that watering entails, so that you don't have to. Specifically, it hits the parts of your lawn you might miss.

A hose and sprinkler can be a money-saving alternative, but require you to set timers and manually move the sprinkler around your yard. With either option, it's easy to waste water. Ultimately, you have to decide if an irrigation system is right for you.

Aeration should take place during high growth periods. This is typically during the cooler times of the year, when there's plenty of rain, which is mainly in the spring and fall. Aeration puts stress on the turf, which could be detrimental when the turf is highly stressed already due to high heat and periods of drought.

At ENS Lawn Care & Landscaping, we recommend fall aeration with overseeding to loosen the soil and develop new growth at the same time. Aeration is great for any lawn, but especially if it gets a lot of foot traffic, is part of new construction with compact soil, or is part of a thatch management or prevention program.

Annuals grow for one season and then die when the weather gets cold. Perennials emerge every spring after being dormant during the winter.

Examples of popular annuals are pansies, snapdragons, petunias, geraniums, salvia, California poppy, violas, and many more. Some perennial examples are phlox, peonies, purple coneflower, daylilies, black-eyed Susan, Virginia bluebells, coral bells, hostas, and more.

This can be done with a few techniques in mind:

• Keep your garden clean. Pick up plant debris, remove dying stems or branches, weed the area regularly, and toss the debris in the compost.
• Fertilize just enough to keep your plants happy. Too much fertilizer promotes weak growth, which is susceptible to disease.
• Wait to plant until the soil is warmed up. Planting too early will put extra stress on your plants and make them more susceptible to disease in the soil.
• Use mulch to keep weeds at bay and retain moisture in the ground.
• Inspect and remove infected stems and leaves. As soon as you notice signs of disease, carefully remove the leaf or stems. By removing disease early on, you can help your plants continue to grow and limit disease spread.

This is a tough one. The conditions that are good for plant growth are naturally good for weed growth. There are steps you can take to prevent weed growth early on and remove weeds if they do appear.

First of all, use a thick layer of mulch in your flower beds and garden to cover the soil where you don't want weeds to grow. Then use a weed preventer such as Preen to further discourage weed growth.

If weeds do appear, pull the entire weed, including the root, early on to prevent it from coming back. For cracks in concrete and pavers, use a commercial herbicide to kill weeds that appear. For a more organic method, try using vinegar in a spray bottle. Be warned, herbicides including vinegar will kill all plants they touch, not only weeds.

The basics of watering are simple. Water immediately after planting, let the water soak into the soil, and then water again. During the first few weeks, it's best to continue frequent watering. A good soak every other day is ideal.

Water plants deeply with a slow stream from the hose placed at the base of each plant. Once the water has created a small pool then move the hose to the next plant. This ensures that the roots grow down into the soil, creating a stronger root system and plant. By watering only lightly, the roots will stay at the top of the soil.

Following the first week, you'll only need to water two to three times per week, depending on the weather conditions in your area. All newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials should also be watered well just before the ground freezes in the late fall.

Whether or not you hire a professional is up to you, but paying meticulous attention to your lawn will provide a multitude of benefits. It'll give you a great space for your family to enjoy and increase the value of your home. It also provides oxygen to the environment and cools down the area around your home, making your air conditioner's job easier.

An established lawn will also have a deep root system that controls erosion, runoff, and the purity of water that is funneled into the groundwater supply. Healthy lawns can trap the dust and impurities that we want to keep out of the water table.