Monthly Archives: September 2017

When it comes to landscaping and gardening, there is often a bit of upkeep required in order to keep your outdoor areas from becoming overgrown and unmanageable. Having the right tools in tow makes it much easier to do this, which is why we’ve created a list of must-have tools for those standard landscaping and gardening jobs.

Forks/Spades

Always a must for any landscaper, forks and spades help to splice the soil and turn it over. By cutting away heavier and tougher soil, it can prepare your garden for new plants to grow and flourish.

Hand Trowel

A good, sturdy hand trowel is a necessary addition to your landscaping tool kit or garden shed. It can be used for a number of jobs, including planting young plants, breaking up the earth, weeding, mixing fertiliser into the soil and smaller digging jobs. Handy tip — make sure you choose a trowel with a lightly coloured handle so as to not lose it within your garden beds!

Pruning Shears / Pruning Saw

If you are looking to cut some smaller branches off your trees or clean up shrubbery surrounding your house, then pruning shears are exactly what you need. The blades are usually strong enough to trim branches that are up to 2cm thick, making pruning shears an essential item for common cutting jobs in your garden. When your pruning shears simply can’t cut through those pesky branches, then you may need to whip out your pruning saw.

Lawn Mower

If you have natural grass around your landscape, then this next one is a no-brainer. Lawn mowers are the standard solution to cutting your grass, making the maintenance of your garden much easier. Buy one that is the best fit for your lawn and can be stored away easily in your shed!

Garden Hose

Keeping your garden hydrated is essential, especially with spring and summer right around the corner. Make sure that you have a longer length hose to reach all the plants in your garden bed. It’s better if it is lightweight and easy to carry, and you can easily get a wall mount to pack it away when not needed.

Wheelbarrow

Sometimes you need to haul a lot of materials all over your garden at once, keeping them next to you for easy access. For this reason, a wheelbarrow is one of the most vital pieces to have in that garden shed.

When it comes to the bigger jobs, ensure that your garden is up to scratch by getting help from the professionals.

Australia has a massive focus on preserving water, especially after we experienced years of drought. We got used to the water saving techniques, and it has become part of some everyday practices for many. Of course, this trickled into gardens and ways to have a thriving landscape without using excess water.

Mulching

Hot weather can naturally effect the moisture in soil and hasten evaporation. On a hot day, up to 70% of the water in soil can evaporate away. You can avoid this by including a top protective layer that covers the area, which can hold in moisture and save you water. Mulch, in particular coarse mulch, is one of the best products that you can use to do this. It helps supress water loving weeds, adds vital nutrients back into the soil and prevents evaporation.

Design Your Garden

There are a number of smart design principles that can be included into your garden which can meet your water-saving interests. This can include:

• Use plants that are natural to the environment. This will mean that the plant itself is tailored towards thriving.
• Building mounds around your trees or shrubs can capture water, which will help it to soak into the soil slower and hold the moisture for longer and reduce runoff.
• Employing an irrigation system in your garden can ensure that water is being evenly and consistently distributed into your garden bed.
• Include plants that need less water to live. This naturally means that you will be using less water, and your garden won’t look shrivelled in the process.

By having a professional designer help you to create you garden, and tailor it to use less water and save you money.

Know When to Water

We are all culprits to this. We see the first signs of withering in a plant and rush to it with vast amounts of water, and drown the plant and those around it for good measure. This is detrimental to the plant. Overwatering can:

• Leach nutrients from the soil which is valuable to the plant.
• Can hinder the oxygen levels of the plant, and increase the chance of roots rotting and disease growth.
• You are wasting water. It doesn’t benefit the plants health to be watered excessively.
• Overwatering can cause some plants to become dependent, which weakens the root systems and can lead to short lived plant life.

Save on that pesky water bill by ensuring that your garden is designed towards water saving. Not only will you reap the benefits, but you will have stronger habits which benefits your plants lives. Get in touch with the team at Watersave Landscaping to find out more.