Landscape Hacks You Have to Try
You’re working with your landscape in Iowa City, Iowa, and you want to make sure you get the best results. The following unique hacks will provide you with the high-quality care that your lawn needs. Most of these hacks are things that you can do on your own with little to no help from professionals. And each provides unique benefits that you can’t get from other types of hacks on the market today.
Tarps – Your Best Friend for Landscaping
This clever landscape hack is one that just about any homeowner or yard manager can utilize. A good tarp is one of the most critical items that you can have for your landscaping projects. For example, you can lay down a tarp while you are cutting grass and collect the residue more easily. In this way, you can move them away from your yard without having to use a blower or other items.
However, tarps also provide another unique benefit – transporting rocks and other debris more efficiently. Place any stones you want removed or placed in your yard and use the tarp to haul them more quickly. Wrap up the rocks lengthwise in the tarp and have a handful of people hold onto the various sides to make this movement more comfortable and more efficient. You can even place the tarp directly in the back of a bed truck to get the same results.
If rain suddenly starts to develop while you’re working, you can stretch your tarp over the lawn to protect it from excessive storm issues. As a result, you can keep your landscaping fresh and looking great while you work on it. Importantly, make sure that you don’t leave your tarp on the lawn for too long because this may cause damage to the grass that may lead to its death.
Cardboard – A Useful Gardening Tool
Although cardboard isn’t something that you should use in your actual landscape design, you can utilize it in unique ways to achieve specific effects. For example, cardboard becomes very useful if you want to create a garden or flower bed in your yard. In this scenario, you can use the sheets of this material to kill the grass and add a little bit of mulch to the area, which will help make your garden bed more comfortable to use.
Start by digging a channel the grass where you want to place your garden. Then, take sheets of cardboard and wrap them around the grass and put them into the channel. Cover this cardboard with a few inches of mulch to weigh it down and provide extra nutrients for your bed. Now, start watering the cardboard regularly to spread water through the mulch and the rest of the area.
What happens here is that the grass will die underneath the cardboard, and the cardboard will start to break down to paper fibers. As these fibers break down, they will be absorbed by the dirt and the mulch and add more nutrients to the soil. After this process is over, you will have a mulch-filled bed where you can plant various flowers and garden vegetables to achieve an attractive and appealing style.
Plastic Jugs – Help in Many Ways
Like cardboard, plastic jugs are an inexpensive landscape hack that will produce surprisingly handsome effects that you may not expect. Start by cutting off a gallon jug about two-thirds from the bottom. Throw away the bottom part and place the remaining part – which should contain the jug spout – over top of various sprouts that you want to protect from problematic pests like birds or rodents.
Make sure that you carefully bury the edges of the jug into the ground to make them harder to tip over. Now, as the plant or shoot grows beneath the jug, various animals will be unable to get to the shoot and eat them. Just as importantly, the jug opening will let water and sunlight into the plant. As a result, the shoot should grow into the air and become a healthy and attractive plant.
The hole in the jug also lets you look down inside to see how the plant is growing. In this way, you can track progress. As your shoots grow stronger, you should eventually remove the plastic jugs because the sides may develop mold over time. Pro tip: write the name of the plant under the jug on the side of the plastic to ensure you remember what you are growing in each spot.
Automatic Rain Barrels – Not a Major Challenge to Create
Lastly, this simple hack will help you create automatic rain barrels for your landscape without a significant challenge. How does this hack work? You start by attaching a rain barrel to the bottom of your home or garage’s gutters. This barrel will collect water throughout the weeks and months of the growing season and let you control where it goes in a variety of unique ways.
Start by adding a drip-feed line to the bottom of the rain barrel and opening it up when your plants need water during dry periods. This process will automatically cause the water to flow, due to gravity, and keep your plants strong and healthy. Let the water thoroughly soak into the lawn before you turn off the flow and make sure to turn off the flow as needed to ensure you conserve your water.
This process is very beneficial for your landscaping in a variety of ways. First of all, it will produce a high rate of water flow that will ensure your grass and plants are vigorous. Just as importantly, it will help to keep water away from areas where it shouldn’t be pooling. As a result, you can have a stronger yard that grows effectively but which isn’t excessively watery at the same time.
We Can Assist You
If, for any reason, you find that you can’t handle these techniques on your own, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Fix Fabrication & Landscaping right away. We can provide your Iowa City, Iowa landscape with the high-quality care that it needs to be strong for years to come.
