As the temperatures continue to warm, everyone in Murfreesboro will want to start spending more time outside. Kids will be playing, parents will be grilling, and your lawn needs to be ready for Spring. There are a few things your landscaping company will need to do in order to bring your lawn fully into the season.

Clean Up Debris

The first step is to pick up any leftover leaves, sticks, acorns, or other debris that are still on the lawn. Over the winter months, debris may have built up even if you raked leaves regularly. Leaves and other items can impede proper growth in your flower beds and even grass.

Know What You Want

Before bringing your landscaper in, you need to know what you want your lawn to look like. Do you just want perfect green grass? Do you want a new design for your flower beds, or to improve existing beds? Look around the internet or magazines for inspiration so you can know exactly what you want your landscaper to do.

Have Beds Edged or Cut

If you have decorative landscaping, you will need your beds freshly edged. Edging helps make sure that grass and weeds don’t make their way into your beautiful flower beds. If you do not have any decorative landscaping and want it, have your landscaper cut new beds. Decorative landscaping can add a lot of appeal to a home or business’s external appearance, but it is of course not necessary.

Add Fresh Mulch

Mulch is essential to help soil retain moisture and to fight weeds. Have your landscaper lay fresh mulch where necessary. Different types of mulch are suited for different lawn needs. Your landscaper will be able to tell you what variety of mulch is best for your Murfreesboro lawn care needs.

Give us a call at All Summer Landscape Group, and we’ll help you bring your home or business’s lawn into spring!

The entire exterior of your house and yard is the first thing that will catch the eye of anyone visiting your home. If your space is clean, well taken care of, and features attractive landscape design, it is sure to give a good first impression. Whether you are looking to sell your home, throwing a big party soon, or simply want to freshen up, here are six simple ways you can add to your house’s curb appeal.

Trim Trees and Shrubs

Trimming trees and shrubs is your first step. This tells passersby and visitors that your home is well cared for and maintained. Keeping your trees trimmed not only looks attractive, it also increases the overall health of your yard. Regularly cut, green grass, lack of weeds, and fragrant flowers planted near the home can also do a lot to increase curb appeal.

Edge Flower Beds and Add Fresh Mulch

This is one of the simplest fixes you can have done to increase your home’s curb appeal. There are a multitude of mulch types for you to choose from. You won’t believe the difference fresh bed edging can make. Get in contact with our team to schedule your mulching and edging services!

Power Wash Everywhere

After their eyes skip across your lawn, visitors will land on the surfaces leading up to your front door. This includes any walkways, steps, driveway, deck, or patio. These areas not only experience high foot traffic, but are also constantly exposed to the elements. Power washing these surfaces can make a surprisingly large difference in their attractiveness. You may have forgotten what your porch steps used to look like, but once the dirt and grime of the years is cleared away you will be amazed. Don’t forget to wash often-forgotten window exteriors as well!

Make the Front Door Fun

Add a little style by painting your door an attractive color. Whether you choose classic bright red, deep emerald green, muted grey, or glossy black, a freshly painted door gives instant curb appeal to a home. Top it off with a wreath to complement the season, the door color, or match the plants found in the yard. Try adding a doormat as a final touch. There are even websites where you can have a doormat customized with your family name, favorite team, or a fun phrase you like!

Add Potted Porch Plants

Attractive colors and thoughtful arrangement of planters creates a unique and welcoming entrance to your home. Your potted plants can echo the colors used in the rest of your landscaping, or be designed to match window boxes or the front door wreath.

Landscape Around the Mailbox

This is an extra step that can truly do wonders for adding curb appeal to a home. In addition to simply setting your house apart from others on your street (“Mine is the one with yellow flowers around the mailbox. You can’t miss it!”), this extra bit of landscaping will show that you take pride in your address.

Give All Summer Landscape Group a call when you want to boost your Murfreesboro home’s curb appeal. We know how to take a yard from neglected to flourishing!

What does mulch actually do for your lawn? Its purpose goes beyond simply making landscaping look better. Properly mulching your lawn can actually save you precious time and money. Not only does mulch help soil retain moisture, but it also acts as insulation by keeping roots cool in summer and warm in winter. Mulch helps control weeds and slows erosion caused by wind and rain run-off. If made of organic matter, mulch can improve the health and fertility of soil. The kind of mulch you need depends on your specific landscaping needs, and your landscaper will know what to use. But what are the common types of mulch that are used in Middle Tennessee landscaping?

Pine Needle Mulch  

Also known as pine straw, this lightweight mulch is made from fragrant pine needles. The needles form a mesh-like covering over the soil that allows water to penetrate yet will keep it in place during times of wind and rain. Pine needle mulch is slow to decompose, which means you don’t need to replace it as often. Even when it does decompose, it can feed nutrients into your soil. Pine needles are acidic, meaning acid-loving plants such as rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and azaleas will benefit from the covering.

Cypress Mulch

Made from the wood and bark of cypress trees, this bark is less expensive when shredded versus chipped. This organic option for mulching actually does better at repelling insects than some of the more expensive alternatives.

Wood Chip Mulch

Often made of a combination of tree parts, using this kind of mulch helps to reduce environmental waste. This kind of mulch breaks down slightly faster than other organic types, so keep a watch on it to know when to call your landscaping company back.

Cedar Mulch

Made from the bark of cedar trees, this mulch has a pleasant scent that works to repel insects. It is more expensive than other organic mulches, but cedar mulch can take several years to decompose, so the cost may balance out since you don’t have to replace it as often.

Rubber Mulch

This mulch is not necessarily recommended for gardening or landscaping use, but it is commonly found on children’s playgrounds. The material is incredibly durable, heavy, and long-lasting. Unlike organic mulch, it will not decompose over time and does not need to be regularly replaced.

Whatever your unique landscaping needs, All Summer Landscaping knows the best mulch to suit your Murfreesboro, TN lawn or garden.

Commercial landscaping can be an important part of your business. If you take a lot of clients in-office, the landscaping at your establishment goes a long way in establishing a first impression before they even walk in the door. Because your business operates all year round, it is important for your landscape to look appealing all year round, as well. With the winter season approaching quickly, we’ve put together some steps that can keep your landscape looking nice, even when the weather outside is frightful.

 

Make Use of Evergreen Plants

Spring, summer, and early autumn can boast colorful blooms and bright green grasses, but these vibrant plants will go into hibernation for the winter months, leaving your landscape looking brown and dead. This time of year, most of the bright colors will have receded, giving you an opportunity to see what sections of your landscape could benefit from more greenery this winter. Small evergreen shrubs and trees require very little maintenance, so now is a good time to make an investment in durable greenery that will last you for years to come.

 

Prune Away

Pruning shrubs and trees after all the leaves have fallen is one of the best things you can do for them. While the leaves are gone and the trees are “resting,” a good dormant pruning session sets them up for healthier growth in the long run. Eliminating dead branches before freeze sets in keeps your trees safer and makes them look better when spring comes around. Pruning while the plants are dormant also prevents the spreading of disease from the pruning tools, since bacteria and fungi are also dormant or dead at this time. If you aren’t sure about how much to prune or which branches should be cut away, call us at All Summer Landscaping!

 

Get Rid of Dead Foliage

Old stems and leaves are easy to ignore when they’re swept away underneath shrubbery, but removing dead foliage is actually one of the most important things you can do for your plants. During the winter, organisms love to use dead foliage as a wintering spot to nest, feed on decaying bacteria, and lay eggs that will hatch in the spring. This means disease for your landscape when the weather warms up! Clear away debris this winter so organisms don’t have the opportunity to wreak havoc on your landscape in a few months.

 

Think Ahead

As winter approaches, it is also time to consider what you would like your landscape to look like next spring. This is the time of year to plant bulbs that will bloom and make your landscape look bright and beautiful next season.

 

Ready to Prepare Your Business’s Landscape for Winter?

We understand that you have a lot on your plate as a business owner, so putting on your gloves and landscaping your office might be the farthest thing from your mind. Call the expert landscapers at All Summer Landscaping in Murfreesboro to meet your commercial landscaping needs! We can ensure your business will stay looking beautiful through every season.

In case you haven’t noticed the blazing heat, lazy dogs, sunburns, and overactive air conditioning, summer in Murfreesboro is in full swing! Gardening fanatics in this region know that high temperatures and lots of sun can make maintaining a beautiful yard a challenge if you aren’t careful. Summertime landscaping care goes beyond just watering the plants more often. Here are a few tips to keep your garden looking lush and cool all summer long:

Drench Your Garden in Color

Those delicate spring blooms that stole your heart a few months ago are probably starting to look a bit faded by now. That means it’s time to plant some blooms that love the heat! Replace your faded pansies with summer annuals like ageratum, pentas, zinnia, and angelonia. This is also a good time to plant summer blooming bulbs. They grow really fast, so you can enjoy their color this season and next year, too!

Protect Your Grass

To maintain that beautiful landscaped look, make sure you aren’t cutting your grass too short. In the summer, grass is healthier when it has enough leaf surface to protect itself from the sun. If your yard has cool-season grasses like ryegrass, fescue, or Kentucky bluegrass, raise your mower blade to help it keep some healthy length. This trick keeps your grass looking beautiful through every season.

Spread a Nice Layer of Mulch

Summer is the best time to spread a 2-inch thick layer of mulch over the ground in your garden. The mulch keeps the underlying soil protected from the sun, which in turn keeps the roots of your plants happy and healthy. Cooler plants = lusher garden!

Deadhead Your Spring Blooms

If your spring blooms aren’t faded enough to pull, start helping them out by pulling off their weak and wilted blooms. This method, called deadheading, helps the plant stop making seeds and start allocating its resources to the remaining healthy blooms. This helps the flower live longer and maintain its vibrant color.

Murfreesboro Landscaping

If you need any help getting your landscape through the summer, don’t hesitate to call the Murfreesboro landscaping experts at All Summer Landscaping & Lawn Care!