Congratulations! You’ve recently closed on a new home, and you’re now standing at the threshold of a brand-new adventure: turning that new home into your home—specifically where landscaping is concerned. There’s a lot of work to do, like unearthing a potential weed infestation and fertilizing the soil under your green lawn. When you begin landscaping a new construction home, consider these four steps!
Begin top-dressing your lawn with compost.
Start simple. Go to your local lawn and garden store and purchase bagged composted cow manure, or check in with the local zoo—if you have one—to see if they have any composted manure to offer. If you can find mushroom compost, considering using that for top-dressing; however, keep in mind that mushroom compost can be harmful to plants sensitive to salt, like azaleas and camellias. Once you have your bagged compost ready, start applying it over your lawn!
Sketch out landscaping ideas for your lawn.
You don’t need to be an expert artist or landscaper to scribble some ideas down on paper. Get the bigger picture before you start actively landscaping: know where you want to start that new garden and how it’ll work with your other hopeful landscaping projects. Knowing how these lawn designs fit inside the bigger picture of your land will create more efficient projects when landscaping a new construction home!
Remove existing and unwanted plants.
Before you can start work on landscaping a new construction home, you need to consider your lawn’s existing plant life, such as builder plants and trees. Consider what you need out of these plants, and if they don’t fit into your plan, remove them. For example, identify a tree with weak wood to avoid a surprising crash onto your roof during a bad storm, or whether a bush or some flowers might turn out to be an invasive plants that will hurt not just your lawn, but your neighbors’ lawns.
Consider your lawn needs 10 to 20 years later.
Are you planning to raise a family in this home? Take care of pets? Hold parties? How much energy and money are you willing to expend on a complex lawn? These questions apply to the future, and they are critical to landscaping a new construction home. You may have loads of new ideas now, but consider your circumstances later in life and ensure the landscaping you do now lends itself to your future yardwork needs.
These four steps will help you get started on landscaping your new construction home! Remember to work on top-dressing your lawn with manure and mulch, get an idea of your lawn’s bigger picture, remove unwanted plants, and plan for the future.
For more advice for new homeownership, follow the Ryan Roberts Realtor blog! For all of your real estate needs in the Auburn, Opelika, and Lake Martin areas, contact Ryan Roberts at 334-750-9872 or email [email protected]!
