Your home’s property value is one of the largest assets you can ever own. Unfortunately, much of that value is tied with how attractive your home is to other people. You have to make the right improvements and install the perfect additions if you want to not only keep but improve your home’s property value.
One area you can pour your attention to is your lawn and backyard. According to experts, lawn improvements can add anything from 5 percent to 12 percent of your home’s value to its market price. Contrary to what you may think, improvements to your yard don’t always have to require the help of professional lawn and landscaping services.
Beginners can make improvements to their yard that can be just as charming as privet hedges and ornate gazebos.
Below are 6 lawn improvement ideas that are perfect for beginners. Each one can help boost the property value of your home without costing too much.
1. Mulch Beds Around Trees
Trees may seem very hardy, but they can be especially delicate to temperature and moisture. This is especially true when they’re young. You can make your trees flourish and look more attractive by plantings a ring of mulch around the base of a young tree. This can help protect the soil beneath from the effects of extreme temperature, retains more water and stops unsightly roots from poking out of the soil.
2. They Can Improve Customer Retention
Trees may seem very hardy, but they can be especially delicate to temperature and moisture. This is especially true when they’re young. You can make your trees flourish and look more attractive by plantings a ring of mulch around the base of a young tree. This can help protect the soil beneath from the effects of extreme temperature, retains more water and stops unsightly roots from poking out of the soil.
3. Create a Cozy Corner
Every lawn and garden needs a focal point. For some, these can be elaborate swimming pools or ornate gazebos with daybeds and swings. However, your cost-effective garden improvement can settle for a cozy corner. Find a part of your garden with perfect shade and some privacy. Transform this corner into cozy space by adding garden furniture like a reclining chair, park bench or outdoor coffee table. Finally, surround the area with tall plants or hanging vines to give it a secretive and rustic appeal.
4. Lay Down a Path
Foot traffic can be the bane of any lawn and meticulously planted flower bed. Your lawn can benefit from a sturdy and permanent stone path. These can be laid down in an afternoon and accentuate your lawn. You can link points of interest around your backyard with flagstone paths and ensure safe passage across your property. You can use cheap cement slabs if you’re on a budget, but you can also splurge on rough, natural looking flagstone slabs if you want a fancier appearance.
5. Install Edging
Flower beds can grow rampant without proper boundaries. Not only will they look unappealing, weeds and animals can also trample your precious plants. Edgings are the perfect solutions for such problems that will also let you improve your lawn’s appearance. Edgings can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be. You can just pile up a few layers of bricks and call it a day. Or you can make them a little more eye-popping by using large seashells or even broke up pieces of rock for more naturalistic designs.
6. Plant Islands
Most backyards and lawns don’t take advantage of their space and instead cram all the vegetation near the borders of the property. Not only does this rob your garden of so many possible designs, it can also lead to disputes with your neighbors about dead leaves and encroachment. You can solve these issues by transferring some of your plants into islands all along your lawn. You can confine each island of vegetation with decorative edging and connect them with winding stone pathways. This makes your garden look more interesting than a giant square of grass.
7. Rely on Hardy Plants
If you want to spruce up the vegetation around your garden, you may be tempted to use exotic plants and rare ornamental shrubs. However, these plants tend to be very expensive to cultivate and maintain. They can also quickly sicken and die if they aren’t grown in the perfect conditions. Instead of using these finicky plants, you should instead look for attractive but hardy vegetation from your local area. These plants are better suited for your conditions, and they don’t require a lot of time or money to coax into full bloom. Local plants also don’t disrupt the ecosystem because they already belong to the environment.
Your lawn is one of your property’s greatest assets. Ensuring that it looks great and appeals to potential buyers is something anyone can achieve, even if you don’t have any formal training in landscaping. These simple but effective methods for improving your lawn can make sure your house’s property value increases instead of plummets.