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Your house’s front and back yards contribute greatly to your home’s overall appearance. A nice garden right out front provides an excellent backdrop when you want to finish that summer novel out on the patio. A beautiful backyard garden, on the other hand, makes for an excellent dinner party location or even just a play area for your pets.

Investing a lot of time and effort into landscaping is a high priority then for many homeowners. If you think an aesthetically pleasing garden for your home is an endeavor worth pursuing, read on for these 10 tips to get started.

1.    Water the Plants Early

In the early hours of the morning, the hot sun becomes an excellent source of energy for the plants but also evaporates away any water from the soil. Schedule watering the garden before the sun comes up to maximize absorption by the flowers.

2.    Choose the Right Colors

There’s an entire field of study on color theory for gardening, but the only strategy you need to know well is finding a good balance between warm and cool colors. Try to use a mixture, as a monochrome garden usually isn’t as satisfying.

• Warm colors like red or orange are more vibrant and stand out in the garden. Use warm-colored flowers to promote a sense of excitement in the viewer.
• Cool colors like blue or purple can make the viewer feel relaxed. These types of flowers are ideal for meditation gardens.

3.    Use Mulch

Possibly the most popular gardening resource, mulch is great for improving soil fertility and reducing weed growth. Read up on the many types of mulch and find out which ones are best for your situation. For instance, straw mulch is more useful than hay mulch for reducing weeds since it doesn’t contain as many seeds as hay does.

4.    Include Some Evergreens

As beautiful as a rainbow of flowers and shrubs are in the summer, most plants shed by the time winter rolls around. Go for some evergreens to ensure your garden stays lovely throughout the year.

5.    Build a Landscaping Walkway

Japanese gardens use walkways to focus the viewers’ gaze into their most beautiful features. Walkways also reduce the amount of wear and tear on the soil caused by walking over it. When building a walkway, remember to include:

• Stepping stones or bricks that match the color and material of your house’s exterior. This strategy ties the garden to the home well.
• Attractive lighting fixtures to illuminate the walkway at night.

6.    Keep the Landscape Interesting

Break the monotony of large green grassy spaces by including various accessories throughout the yard. For instance,

• A flower bed. Use smooth, curved stones to mark the edges of a flower bed, which give your garden a more natural look than straight edges.
• A water fixture such as a fountain, which should be made of stone, rock, or any material that blends in with the background.
• Berms, a landscaping term for small mounds decorated with shrubs, trees, and flowers.

7.    Include Outdoor Seating

A basic garden bench or patio if applicable can seem more inviting to viewers and give them a chance to take in the sights comfortably.

8.    Recycle Equipment

To save money on gardening equipment, recycle household items for the job. Consider for instance:

• Twist ties from the grocery store to keep flowers and vines upright against a fence or stick.
• Vinegar as an herbicide for weeds.
• Empty milk jugs as watering cans.

9.    Hide the Artificial Elements

While an air-conditioning unit is useful in the hot summer months, its metal exterior can look ugly against the plants. Covering the unit in a wooden housing can go a long way into making your lawn look more natural, though be careful not to obstruct the fan.

A garden hose, in addition, can be housed in a similar wooden crate when not in use.

10. Know When to Call in the Pros

Landscaping is a rewarding journey but a difficult one that may require specialized equipment and training. For some parts of the job, don’t hesitate to call in a professional landscaping service to help you out.

Make Harmony Your First Choice for Landscaping Services

If you live in the Lehigh Valley, Harmony Tree Services offers tree and stump removal, pruning, and other landscaping services. Give us a call today to learn more.

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A clean lawn contributes greatly to the overall look of your home. If you’re looking to sell your house at some point or even want a nice environment to hold your next outdoor barbecue, making your lawn look beautiful goes a long way.

But landscaping is more than just a one-time effort. Plants grow, rough weather comes and goes, and nature makes its changes throughout the year. In order to keep your landscape updated and maintained, you need to do checkups every now and again.

Here are 6 common signs that calling the local landscaping service is a good idea.

1.    Aged Plants

Whether it’s grass, flowers, shrubs, or trees, plants don’t maintain their best appearance at all points throughout their lifecycles. A few signs to look out for are:

• Patches in the grass
• Brown grass and leaves
• Overgrown shrubs that need trimming
• Tall weeds
• Damage to tree bark

Some of these issues can’t be fixed even with good, routine maintenance. Consider landscaping if you notice a strong case of any of the above.

2.    Dated Landscaping

Much like home design and fashion, the art of landscaping changes from year to year. As of 2018, there are recent trends for:

• More extravagant outdoor dining spaces.
• Elaborate flower pots that store multiple plants.
• An increasing push for wildlife support.

…among many others. To keep up, consider redoing your landscaping every decade or so.

3.    Overgrown Trees

Trees contribute greatly to the vertical aspect of a garden. Reaching high into the sky, they can give your lawn more volume and make it look more natural.

However, trees with overgrown branches can block sunlight coming into the plants and grass below. Also, branches can pose a hazard, especially in the winter, where they can break and fall.

If the ground seems darker than it needs to be at high noon, that’s a sign tree pruning might be needed.

4.    Dirty Furniture

Over time, dirt, grime, leaves, and small twigs can get caught in your stone walkways and benches. What was once a beautiful white stone border can turn grey and dirty rather quickly, especially in heavy weather. Various power washing services can restore their appearance.

5.    Weather Damage

Unlike an indoor flower pot, the outside is exposed to rain, wind, snow, and storms that can damage or blow plants sideways. On top of that, inclement weather can render stone walls uneven and crack wood in patios, stairs, and other structures. Maintenance for weather damage is a natural responsibility for you as the landscaper.

6.    Many Pests

Rotting plant matter attracts rats, mice, insects, and other pests to your lawn. Pests can also spread to your house itself, so if your landscape is being invaded, that’s another good sign an update is needed.

What Should I Do If I Need to Start Landscaping?

While a lot of jobs can be done yourself, don’t be afraid to call a professional landscaping service like Harmony Tree Services. We can handle your pruning, tree removal, stump grinding, and other general landscaping. Don’t hesitate to call us if you have a project you’d like to discuss.

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Your home’s front lawn is the first impression you make on your visitors, so it makes sense to spend time and money on making it beautiful. After some careful planning, you decide to make landscaping your yard a personal project.

But even after reading up on some of the best up-to-date guides out there, even experienced gardeners can make mistakes. Here are 9 of the most common ones you should keep in mind while landscaping your lawn.

1.    Neglecting the Soil

Your soil is quite literally the foundation of your gardening efforts. Keep your soil fertile by adding 2 or 3 inches of compost at the beginning. Remember to go easy on the fertilizer. While moderate amounts can help plants grow, too much will cause water pollution. Find out how to test your soil to determine how much is needed.

2.    Overdoing the Mulch

Mulch is a common yet effective tool to control soil temperature and moisture. Avoid putting too much however, as tightly-packed mulch can:

• Suffocate your plants.
• Collect rot.
• Attract insects.

Also avoid the “mulch volcano” phenomenon, where too much mulch is used at the base of small trees. This surprisingly common setup generates heat at the base of the tree, causing the bark to rot. Damaged bark prevents the tree from protecting itself against insects and disease.

3.    Overdoing the Gravel

Gravel is a drought-proofing measure commonly deployed in drier climates. Gravel tends to absorb heat, so be careful not to use too much, or you risk overheating your plants. Plus, gravel can find its way into the underlying soil, making it difficult for nearby plants to seep in water through their roots.

4.    Planting Too Close to Buildings

Whether you’re planting near a backyard shed or the side of your house, make sure any trees aren’t planted too closely. You don’t want tree roots to intersect with these buildings, nor do you want a tree to potentially fall onto your house during a heavy storm.

5.    Choosing the Wrong Plants

You might consider seeing a professional landscaping service to choose the right ones.

• Some plants are seasonal and thus only grow in a specific climate. Have a variety of seasonal plants so your lawn doesn’t look too bland at a particular month.
• Don’t use too many evergreens, as seeing nothing but green throughout the year makes your garden unappealing.
• Other plants might even grow too quickly and overtake parts of your garden. Try using smaller plants such as dwarf trees.

6.    Failing to Deal With Weeds

Weeds are the bane of any homeowner’s existence. They pop up everywhere and they are difficult to deal with. Still, they have to be dealt with. Here are a few tips:

• Pull them out before they get bad.
• Plant ground covers, or low-growing plants that spread across the ground to stop weeds.

7.    Shrub and Tree Pruning at Bad Times

There certainly is such a thing as too much pruning. In general,

• Prune in the winter while the plants are dormant to prepare for the growth spurt in the spring.
• Prune in the summer after the seasonal growth ends. This is your chance to remove defective limbs and direct the growth where you want it to go.
• Avoid pruning in the fall, as certain species of decaying fungi spread their spores around this time, which you certainly don’t want near recently pruned plants.

8.    Know Your DIY Limitations

Rest assured, you don’t have to worry if a job seems too difficult to do on your own. Jobs like constructing patios or removing tree limbs can be difficult without the proper training and equipment.

Knowing when to hire a professional tree pruning or landscaping service can save you a ton of time, money, and energy in the long run. Do not hesitate to contact Harmony Tree Services if you ever need help. We specialize in pruning, stump grinding, and snow removal among many others. Overall, we can help get your landscaping job done right, giving you the results you need the exact way you want them.

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There is nothing more scenic than large, healthy trees on your property. But as much as you love your trees, you also need to maintain them. Many homeowners neglect tree pruning because they feel it is too hard and too time consuming.

Here at Harmony Tree Services, we provide detailed tree pruning and landscaping services. Still, we want to teach homeowners who want to do it on their own how to properly prune a tree in order to avoid damaging them.

1. Decide when and what to prune

The obvious first step is to decide what you want to prune. Do not try and prune every tree on your property in one day. Tree pruning takes time and you want to make sure you do it well. Cutting the wrong parts of your tree can hurt your trees, and as you know, replacing or removing them is no easy task.

As a general rule, pruning in the winter will lead to a lot of growth come summer, while summer pruning will slow growth for that season, but will help you shape and control how your tree grows.

2. Assess and start pruning your tree

The next step is to assess your tree. Take a look at its major branches, determine which ones make up its skeleton, and look for damaged branches that need to be removed.

Damaged branches should always be the first to go. If they are dead or damaged, carefully remove them with your pruning shears. Damaged branches could be slowing the growth of your tree by blocking healthier ones from coming in.

Thin out areas where branches overlap, to increase light exposure and air flow. Trees need both of these things to promote healthy growth.

3. Target problem areas

Some of the most important branches to target are the ones that are obstructing a power line, telephone pole, or other structures. Pruning these branches won’t hurt your tree – and they will help you solve a major source of annoyance. That’s a win-win.

4. Prune branches to shape your tree

The entire purpose of pruning is to shape the tree you are working on. You don’t climb up on a ladder and start cutting branches off for no reason. Make sure you have a plan for how you want to shape your tree and execute it.

5. Less is more

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to tree pruning is over-pruning. While some pruning is good for your tree, cutting too many branches isn’t good. Trees grow branches in order to protect themselves from fungus and insects.

We mentioned it above, but you should always focus on damaged branches first, over cosmetic ones. While it is important to solve annoyances, damaged branches usually block healthier ones from growing in. If you want to keep your trees healthy, remove these first.

As a general rule, never prune more than 25% of the trees branches.

6. Dispose of your branches properly

Depending on where you live, you may be able to burn your branches in a fireplace. If you can, this is one of the easiest ways to go about it. Leave the branches out to try for a few days and quickly burn them in a fire.

If you live in a major city and cannot do this, you’ll probably need to hire a landscaping service to help you with this.

Need help with your tree pruning?

Does the idea of pruning your own trees seem too hard? Don’t sweat it, that’s quite normal. If you want to get your trees pruned with the stress of doing it yourself, give Harmony Tree Services a call. We have been helping our clients in Allentown and surrounding areas by providing a wide variety of landscaping services for many years because we are good at what we do.

Give us a call today and we’ll help you figure out the best plan of action when it comes to tree pruning and other tree services.