Seasonal Yard Maintenance Mistakes Every Homeowner Should Avoid

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Does your yard suffer from seasonal problems year after year?

You’re not alone. Most homeowners unknowingly make the same mistakes every season. These costly mistakes cause:

Expensive repairs
Damaged landscaping
Safety hazards

Here’s the problem:

Avoiding seasonal maintenance mistakes isn’t difficult. You just have to know what they are. That’s why the most common seasonal yard maintenance mistakes are broken down below so every homeowner can learn what to avoid.

Let’s get started…

What you’ll pick up:

Why Seasonal Yard Maintenance Is Important
Common Spring And Summer Mistakes
Retaining Wall Installation Mistakes That Cost Homeowners Thousands
Fall And Winter Mistakes That Ruin Your Yard
How To Stop Making These Mistakes

Why Seasonal Yard Maintenance Is Important

You don’t do yard maintenance just to keep your lawn looking nice. Maintaining your yard properly actually protects your investment and keeps you and your family safe.

Here’s what most homeowners don’t know…

More than 3.2 million injuries from lawn and garden work were reported from US emergency rooms in the last 10 years. That means according to recent research there were more than 26,000 injuries every month.

The study also showed that improper maintenance (or lack thereof) is the leading cause of these accidents. Fortunately they’re all preventable with proper planning and education.

Taking care of your yard isn’t just about curb appeal. It protects your home’s value, prevents structural damage and keeps everyone safe. That all starts with stopping careless mistakes before they happen.

Common Spring And Summer Mistakes

Spring marks the start of yard maintenance chores for most homeowners. Homeowners get excited to work on their yards again and that excitement often leads to haste.

When you hurry through seasonal maintenance… mistakes are made.

Here are the most common mistakes homeowners make during spring and summer:

Cutting grass too short
Ignoring drainage problems
Neglecting to test soil
Applying too much water

Mowing too short means your grass can’t retain water as well and is more susceptible to weeds, diseases and drought. By keeping your mower blade at the correct height, you won’t have to worry about weakened grass.

If you have water pooling in your yard after rainstorms you have drainage issues. If they go unfixed all summer your yard can develop erosion problems, foundation problems and areas of your lawn that are rendered useless from being so saturated with water.

Just because you tossed down some seed or fertilizer last year doesn’t mean you should do it again this year. Take the time to have your soil tested so you know exactly what your lawn needs.

Think watering more equals a greener lawn? Think again. Too much water causes grass roots to grow shallow and will depend on you to continually water.

These mistakes might not seem like much on their own but add them up over a few seasons and the damage begins to pile up.

Retaining Wall Installation Mistakes That Cost Homeowners Thousands

Ok this is a biggy….

Most homeowners never consider how important retaining walls are until something goes wrong.

Did you know improper retaining wall installation can lead to thousands of dollars in damage?

According to the ASCE, improper design or retaining wall maintenance is responsible for about $200 million dollars in property damages every year.

Not only that… nearly 1 out of every 3 retaining walls built will fail within just a few years of construction.

Here are the most common reasons retaining walls fail:

Poor drainage behind retaining walls
Lack of retaining wall design
Bad retaining wall construction practices
No regular retaining wall maintenance

Hydrostatic pressure from poor drainage behind a retaining wall is the most common cause of failure. Weep holes, gravitational flow and proper backfill materials are important when trying to avoid retaining wall drainage problems.

You may be tempted to throw a retaining wall up without a plan but resist the urge. Every wall needs to be designed based on your soil type, height of wall and load it will be required to hold.

Installing a DIY retaining wall is a huge risk. This is one area where hiring professional Raleigh landscaping services for retaining wall installation makes all the difference between a wall that lasts decades and one that crumbles in a few years. If you do decide to take that risk, make sure you use proper construction practices. That includes compacting the soil as you go, using the right materials and following the design specifications.

Fall And Winter Mistakes That Ruin Your Yard

Throwing your hands up and walking away once Fall rolls around is a huge mistake in itself. Winterisation and fall maintenance are just as important as Spring chores.

As soon as the temperatures drop homeowners should:

Remove all leaves
Winterise irrigation systems
Inspect hardscaping
Apply fall fertiliser
Prune trees and shrubs

Ignoring leaf removal comes naturally with colder weather. Little do they know that leaving a thick layer of leaves on your lawn traps moisture and prevents sunlight from reaching the grass. This promotes fungal diseases that will kill your lawn by spring.

Depending on where you live you may need to winterise your irrigation system. If there’s any water left in the pipes when temperatures drop and freeze your walls will crack and break.

Hardscaping is what takes a beating during winter. Anything that isn’t drained of water or blown out can crack or warp from ice building up inside them.

While Fall might not be the best time for pruning every tree or shrub on your property there are certain ones that should be pruned before winter.

Another thing to consider during Fall is your yards grading. Drainage should be flowing away from your home’s foundation so the water has somewhere to go when it freezes.

Walking away from yard maintenance during winter allows all of these mistakes to happen. Be proactive and protect your yard year-round.

How To Stop Making These Mistakes

Having a seasonal maintenance plan is the best way to avoid these mistakes. Nothing crazy… Just a simple checklist of things to do each season.

Here’s what every seasonal plan should include:

Spring: Soil test, inspect drainage/hardscaping, fix grass mower height, inspect irrigation
Summer: Water deeply, check for pests/disease, mow regularly, look for erosion
Fall: Remove leaves, winterise irrigation system, inspect retaining walls and hardscaping, apply fall fertilizer, prune trees/shrubs
Winter: Look for ice damage, clear snow off of walkways/hardscaping and start planning for spring maintenance.

Once you check something off your list you never have to worry about it again. The homeowners who have the best yards follow their maintenance plans religiously. They don’t wait for problems to show up, they prevent them from happening.

Wrapping Things Up

Seasonal yard maintenance mistakes aren’t the end of the world. But once they happen, it’s up to you to go out and fix them.

The best way to avoid these mistakes? Don’t be that guy.

Take pride in maintaining your yard properly each season and it will reward you with incredible curb appeal year after year.

Here’s a quick recap of what was covered:

Don’t rush through seasonal maintenance
Retaining wall installation is serious business. Hire a professional.
Prepare your yard for fall and winter weather.
Create a seasonal maintenance plan and stick to it.
Perform regular hardscaping inspections to catch problems early.

Think about all of the preventable money you’ll save in the long run by simply following these tips.

Those who fail to plan… will spend their savings fixing expensive mistakes.