Spring just arrived and summer is just around the corner. That means it's time to break out the lawn mowers and weed eaters and get to work with your weekly lawn maintenance. In the midst of getting back into the swing of the weekly lawn work, I took a moment and asked myself if there was a better way.
After combining over 20 years of experience in the concrete and remodeling industries alongside some basic research, I came up with the idea for this article.
Christian Brothers exists to provide hope and value to our customers. Serving the Twin Cities and surrounding areas of Minnesota, we focus on making sure we always do things correctly and have integrity in our dealings with our customers every time. Serving others and giving back are important hallmarks of our business and we love helping customers take a vision from inception to completion.
Tip 1: Outdoor Living Spaces
Creating outdoor living spaces reduces the size of your lawn, which is key in making it easy to deal with. The great benefit is that you also get the added bonus of having an outdoor living space, from kitchen areas to fire pits and gazebos there are countless options to pick from when looking at what to pick.
In the past we’ve done quite a lot of patios with some nice natural rock walls or retaining walls.
More outdoor living areas means more concrete/paver/gravel areas, which means less grass!
Tip 2: Grass Alternative
The biggest part of the maintenance of a yard comes from mowing the grass. Which brings the questions of why not get rid of the grass to mind? When it comes to getting rid of grass you have a few different options.
- Gravel
- Mulch
- Low-Maintenance Grass Options
- Turf
Gravel and Mulch
Gravel and Mulch both operate the same but with different materials. You essentially fill in your yard with that product instead of having grass. This works best for smaller yards or might be best used to reduce the size of your yard rather than replacing it entirely.
Having large focal points or nice easy to maintain flowers or bushes/shrubs that are surrounded by mulch or gravel can drastically reduce the size of your yard while still making it visually appealing.
Turf/Low-Maintenance Grass
Turf and Low-Maintenance Grass are options to replace normal grass with a similar look and feel. Turf of course is an artificial fake-grass substitute that never grows or needs to be mowed. It also doesn’t really require much maintenance barring any accidental damage.
Low-Maintenance grass essentially is a low to no mow blend of red fescue, tall fescue, sheep fescue, and other grasses that allows it to produce a nice green and durable ground cover that is still resilient and nice to walk on. It requires 75% less water than normal grass and grows much slower.
Tip 3: Garden Options
This idea has the same function as the outdoor living area option of reducing the amount of grass that needs to be trimmed, but is more affordable at the price of being less functional.
Developing a garden like backyard can bring a large amount of beauty to your life that needs little to no maintenance if the right plants are picked.
Here are a few easy ways to do this:
Rock Garden
Build out areas where you have rocks and hardy plants that fit in with that terrain. This gives a natural look while still giving a lot of color and interest.
Potted Plant Garden
Using any of the above lawn alternatives you can then just create a garden made out of potted plants and stage them in various locations to make them more appealing.
Big Plant Garden
You can choose to go for a more wild look where you plant some larger plants that require less maintenance and can give your backyard a lush tropical feel or even go a Japanese route.
Tip 4: Water Features
Putting in a pond or fountain can take up a large portion of your backyard and provide the relaxing sound of running water.
This is an excellent option to reduce the size of your lawn and also create a nice focal point for your backyard. Ponds however, come with their own set of issues and maintenance to deal with, so proceed with great consideration.
Tip 5: Build a Pool
By building a pool you might be robbing Peter to pay Paul, because pools have a large amount of maintenance that is required as well as a high price point, but few things are as much fun in the summer as a nice pool to invite friends and family over to.
If you found any of these tips helpful or find yourself in need of a backyard update and would like some help or guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here or at: 952-898-3559. Our top priority is helping you accomplish your house goals while also having someone to call in times of emergency.
