With the recent rains in North Texas, lawns and flower beds have exploded with color. Now is the perfect time to give your landscape a face lift without having to mortgage the homestead. It’s easier than you think and here are seven inexpensive ways to make your yard pop, and possibly save money in the long run.

1. Power Clean

That’s right. You can rent a power washer and power clean your fence, driveway, walkways, porch, windows, and even your brick. Focus on the obvious areas, like walls below downspouts or roof gullies where repeated water leaves dirt and calcium buildup. Grey fences can be given new life with a good cleaning. With just the power of water you can transform the look of your home.

2. Paint and Stain

You would be surprised how much a little touch up with paint and stain can dramatically improve the visual impact of your living space. With just a gallon of paint it’s easy to touch up scuffs, animal chew marks, and areas near your plants where the wear and tear is most likely to happen. The same is true with fences. Even if it is just to touch up where the sprinklers have sprayed up against the boards, refreshing the stain on your fence makes your landscape look more appealing and soothing.

3. Weed and Feed

Right now, with all this rain, your yard and shrubs are growing. And so are your weeds. Weed and feed helps to control the weeds while providing your lawn with the nutrients it needs to build strong roots for the summer. A strong, healthy lawn will actually choke out unwanted weeds and require less water.

4. Trim and Mow

Most of us are great at mowing, but few are good at keeping our shrubs nice and trim. A fantastic looking landscape is mowed, edged, and trimmed well. Keep those shrubs from taking over.

5. Stain the Deck

If you have a wooden deck, a good power wash and application of stain will make the whole back yard look its best and impress your guests at your next outdoor party.

6. Plant Drought Tolerant Varieties

Nothing, absolutely nothing, makes your front and back yards look better than new plants, flowers, and shrubs. So why not select drought tolerant ones? You can find a list of drought tolerant plants perfect for North Texas here.

7. Install a Rain Catcher Bucket

In urban areas, about 25 percent of water use is attributed to landscape irrigation, and approximately 50 percent of irrigation water applied is lost due to inefficiencies and improper operation, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Keep your improved landscape looking its best through the hot summer months by reclaiming rain water to water shrubs and keep the soil around the foundation moist.

You don’t have to take out a home improvement loan to give your landscape a makeover. Just a little time.

Image Source: StockSnap.io

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