7 Tips for Improving and Maintaining Your Landscaping

Buying a beachside property is one of the best investments you can make if spending hours on the beach is your idea of paradise.

The seaside is the perfect place to have a vacation home where you can head to for your long holidays or when you need a quick getaway. With the beach only a few steps or minutes away, you can easily go to your coastal haven to relax, have fun, or both.

The beach, however, doesn’t have to be your only place of sanctuary in or near your seaside property. Your lawn can also be another area that you can turn into your personal haven.

Starting, maintaining, and enhancing your beach house yard, though, can be challenging. But with the help of landscaping pros in Champaign, Illinois, and following a few tips and tricks, you will have a lush, green space on your otherwise caramel or tan surrounding.

Below are seven tips that will help you have a beautiful and thriving lawn on your beach property:

1.    Grow native plants.

Having a green space means growing plants in your lawn. But since you live in a sandy, dry area, you can’t put just any seed on the ground, water, and fertilize it, and expect it to grow. You have to choose the best type of foliage to cultivate.

If you are starting a lawn, bahiagrass, Bermuda grass, tall fescue, and zoysia are great varieties to grow in sandy soil. Seashore paspalum is another excellent choice for properties near the beach since this type is not heavily affected by saltwater.

If you want a beach theme on your outdoor space, select an area where you can cultivate beach grass. This variety is meant to grow tall, which makes them appealing, and look great as ornamental features.

Other plants that grow best in coastal and sandy areas are beach roses, wooly beach heather, and palm trees. They add color and bring life to your outdoor space. Moreover, they are low-maintenance and tolerant of poor soil conditions and drought. These species can withstand high winds as well.

2.    Water your lawn correctly.

When watering your beach property lawn, keep in mind that the grass only needs about one inch of water every week. But once the temperatures start soaring, you have to increase the watering to two inches weekly.

Follow this rule and you will be sure you are watering your lawn properly.

Make sure you observe your lawn to see if it needs more water or you can stick to the one or two inches watering per week.

Also, try to water your lawn early in the morning. This allows the water to permeate deeper into the soil so that it reaches the roots. Moreover, you reduce excessive water loss due to evaporation. 

3.    Mow your lawn regularly.

Whenever you stay at your beach house for long periods, mow your lawn frequently. During summer, it means doing this at least once every two weeks. However, keep the mower blade a little higher during this season to keep the grass healthy and prevent the clippings from smothering your turf.

Also, always cut off only a third of the grass whenever you mow and make sure the blades are sharp to avoid tearing grass, which can lead to diseases and an unappealing lawn.

Another tip you should follow when mowing is to avoid doing it in the afternoon when the sun is really hot. Doing so can burn the grass faster.

Mowing is one of the most important gardening chores that help keep your turf healthy, green, and attractive. If you will be away from your beach house for long periods and won’t be able to visit it regularly, have lawn care service providers from Mahomet, IL handle the job in your absence.

4.    Install footpaths.

When your lawn does not have any walkways, you, your family, and guests will make an informal route that will kill some grass and create an unappealing sight on your property.

The more wear and tear this path takes, the more it will look unattractive. It will be harder to repair it as well.

Creating a trail that leads from the entrance or gate to your door can help you avoid this problem. A walkway made of stones, brick, concrete, or gravel ensures no one creates their own path and prevents wear and tear on your lawn.

5.    Fertilize.

Fertilizing the grass on your beach property can be tricky since there is a risk of runoff, which can cause algae blooms and even red tide in the nearby sea. It is best to have lawn care experts handle this chore.

Lawn maintenance pros know the best products, methods, and times to fertilize your grass. Because of this, you will be sure you are keeping your turf healthy without causing any problems to the environment.

Lawn care service providers will do this by testing the soil and considering the type of grass you have.

6.    Control the weeds.

Most weeds grow and spread faster during the summer. If you are spending your holidays in the beach house during this season, you will be able to prevent them from suffocating your lawn.

Pull out weeds manually whenever possible. Do this while the ground is moist and the weather is hot to have an easier time getting them out with their roots intact. 

If you want to use a weed control treatment, choose an organic herbicide. Additionally, you can try spreading a homemade weed killer first and see if it works.

7.    Don’t forget pest control.

Lastly, if you want to have a safe and healthy lawn, you need to keep insects away from your property.

Start by keeping your patio clean, if you have one. Sweep away crumbs and wipe spilled beverages and any flavored drinks to avoid attracting ants, flies, and other insects.

If your outdoor lighting fixtures have white bulbs, consider replacing them with yellow or sodium vapor lights since they are less likely to attract flying insects.

In case you have bugs on your grass, choose an eco-friendly pesticide to get rid of them. Oil, soap, neem oil, lavender, and eucalyptus sprays are the safest products to use.

With these tips, you will have another place where you can relax and engage in other activities in your seaside property. Your beach house will be more appealing and inviting too.