Is Your Yard Ready for Spring| Landscaping in San Antonio, TX
Is Your Yard Ready for Spring| Landscaping in San Antonio TX
It is nearly official, on March 20th, we will have made it through another winter, as the official first day of spring will have arrived. Some may still be freezing, here is San Antonio, Texas, we are already being graced with seventy degree weather, and others may have only briefly left the 80’s. Regardless of the weather conditions today, soon spring will give us all an opportunity for a fresh start with our landscaping, or to reinforce your current efforts. Before breaking out the shovels and spades, digging up old plants, and dousing lawns with herbicides, there is a practical amount of preparation that should be done to ensure smooth sailing and minimal headaches throughout the year.
Prepare your lawn.
The first thing you absolutely need to do is contact your local water, electrical, and gas companies, and request they make the location and depth of any pipes or lines running underneath your yard. If you are landscaping in San Antonio, TX, you can call CPS Energy or SAWS using the phone numbers provided at the bottom of this post. If you live outside San Antonio, please contact your local utility provider. You’ll also need to remove any trash, debris, wearing retaining walls that will be replaced or discarded, or other items that don’t fit your plans for landscaping.
Clear your lawn of weeds or other undesired plants. This is usually best done by pulling them by hand, from the root. However if you are going to use an herbicide make sure that it is selective, one created to truly distinguish between your lawn and the weeds invading it, and test it on a small area of your yard first to avoid situations like this.
Planning your landscape.
There are some things that are commonly overlooked when deciding which plants will be placed and where, to avoid these mistakes you will want to determine how much sunlight and water will be available in which parts of your yard ahead of time. Some areas may be covered, well by shade, while others will receive direct sunlight all day long. If your home rests on a hill, some parts of your yard will naturally receive more water than others, and you’ll want to place your plants accordingly to account for that, or install an irrigation system to get water where it’s needed.
You’ll save yourself a lot of time by figuring how much you will dig and when in advance. Plants will arrive with their bottoms wrapped, either in paper, plastic, or cloth, and leaving them that way for too long can cause heat stress, and drying. To avoid this, get them in the ground as soon as possible. For those planting new grass and/or installing new irrigation, having irrigation installed first can save time spent digging up freshly placed grass, and as a general rule of thumb, you’ll want all of your new landscaping fixtures to arrive to holes, beds and trenches that are already dug, waiting for them to be placed.
Landscaping can be a long, but rewarding process, but those who take the time to prepare will save themselves a lot of time and money, as well as headache or two down the road, while adding value to your home and creating an attractive environment that can be both relaxing, and entertaining.
To contact utility providers in San Antonio, TX call:
SAWS (water): (210) 704-SAWS
CPS Energy: 1 (800) 870-1006
