As we roll into the late summer season, we finally get some relief from the baking heat of July and August. This reprieve from the temperatures means that it’s an excellent time to get outside and enjoy your yard! Not only will you thrive in these cooler temperatures and shorter days, but so will your landscaping!

The team at Pribble Lawn and Landscaping loves working on yards in Greeley during this time of year. This time of year is ideal for planting new additions and completing your projects before the fall and winter. Plus, there’s still enough time in the season to enjoy the results of your hard work! Here are some reasons why late summer is great for landscaping.

Late Summer and Early Fall is Perfect for New Planting

The warm days and cool nights of late summer are the opportune time to establish new plants and trees. Not only that, but these new plants will have time to get established before it gets too cold in winter. As they settle over the fall and winter season, they’ll be rooted in before the temperatures begin to warm in springtime.

In late summer, the soil temperatures are still pretty warm, which allows the roots of these new plants to grow faster. Comparatively, the soil in springtime is still wet from snowmelt and runoff, and is soggy, making it difficult for the roots to get settled. The soggy soil also prevents air from penetrating the soil, essentially choking your plants before they can develop a stable root network.

Greeley exists in an interesting part of Colorado. Just 25 miles east of the Rocky Mountains, Greeley is situated in the high plains, meaning it enjoys some of the winter weather of the mountains, but shares a lot of similarities with the rolling plains of eastern Colorado. This unique position means that you need a unique approach to landscaping in Greeley. Here at Pribble Lawn & Landscaping, we’ve been finding creative ways to care for your yard for more than 20 years. Before you get started on your next yard project, here are a few things to consider.

Hardiness Zones

It’s the kind of name you’d expect to find on a menu or a soup can, but hardiness zones are a real thing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture produces hardiness zones that help guide farmers and gardeners to let them know what types of plants will thrive in certain areas. Colorado has five different hardiness zones across the states, ranging from the chilly zone 3 to the much warmer zone 7. Greeley falls within zone 4, meaning that we enjoy long summer days with high temperature, and then equally long cold winters.

Sometimes the best teacher is a failure. There’s a lot to be learned from a mistake, but we don’t always want to make them. Like most things, landscaping takes a little trial and error to “get it right.” We’d know — we’ve been doing it for more than 20 years! Fortunately, we’re doing a great job of getting it right the first time, but that wasn’t always the case, and it isn’t the case for some of our clients either. If you’re looking to start a yard project in Greeley, take a minute to learn from the hard-earned lessons of others and avoid these common landscaping mistakes.

Don’t Get Stuck in the Backyard

We all love the seclusion and privacy that the backyard has to offer. A landscaping project is an incredible way to make this space even more inviting and luxurious. But because it commands so much of our thoughts, it’s easy to forget about the front yard. In many cases, the front yard is smaller than the back, or just doesn’t have as much greenery, to begin with. However, that doesn’t mean it should be neglected. The front yard is a chance to extend the design ideas of your backyard, wrapping your entire home in lush vegetation and landscaping elements. Plus, a well-landscaped front yard makes your home more welcoming to guests, and more appealing to potential home buyers!

One of the most iconic symbols of American home ownership is the front lawn. These patches of verdant green grass likely hearken back to Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of the American as the yeoman farmer, tending to their plots of land and finding success from it. Or, more likely, they serve as a nice place to relax around the home, entertain friends, and play with family. Since the yard is so closely tied to the idea of home ownership, many people spend as much time looking for ways to make it easier to care for their yard as they do actually tending to it. It’s no wonder then that many look to an irrigation system to make their yard work easier.

But does your yard in Greeley really need an irrigation system? Let’s take a look.

An Irrigation System Can Help Save Water

Always a concern on the plains of Colorado, saving water is a great way to save money on your utility bills too. Using an irrigation system, rather than a sprinkler hooked up to a hose, ensures that your yard is being watered effectively and efficiently. That’s because irrigation systems are programmed to apply specific amounts of water at specific points. For instance, if your yard is shady, you might need less water. Irrigation systems can also be set on timers so that you water at night, allowing the water the chance to soak into the ground before the warmth of the sun gets to it. A well-established irrigation system also helps you avoid watering your sidewalk and driveway, which is just a waste.

As we crawl ever closer to the official start of summer, we also watch the temperatures climb higher to match. But high temperatures don’t often keep Coloradoans from enjoying the outdoors. But if those higher temperatures are forcing you to spend more time inside than out, you might be desperate to find new ways to keep cool during the summer. Pribble Lawn and Landscaping is Greeley’s go-to yard service, and that means we spend a lot of time outside, even when it feels just a little too hot to handle. Beyond just great landscaping, we also offer great advice. Here are some quick tips for staying cool in your backyard this summer.

You’ve Got it Made in the Shade

Perhaps the easiest way to cool down your outdoor areas is to put them in the shade. If you’re waiting for your shade trees to grow up, don’t panic, you’ve still got options. Pergolas are fairly straightforward to set up and you can do so affordably. These can be draped with shades and curtains to help block the sun, while also providing some privacy. Plus, you can integrate them into your landscaping by letting vines and flowers grow within the lattice and woodwork of the pergola.

As the state of Colorado moves through its phased reopening, business owners and their customers are trying to figure out what the “new normal” might look like. As you consider reopening your business safely and effectively, you’re undoubtedly looking for new ways to attract customers and offer them a comfortable environment. If you haven’t considered it already, working with a landscaping company in Greeley like Pribble Lawn and Landscaping might be just what you need.

Landscaping To Promote Social Distancing

By now, we’ve all seen or heard about the idea of social distancing. It’s taking many different shapes and forms, and many businesses in Greeley and across Colorado are having to come up with creative ways to support these safety measures.

Rather than rely on tape or paint on the ground, your landscaping could be redone to help similarly. For instance, restaurants with outdoor seating could install garden beds as a way to create natural separation between diners. For retail businesses, having an inviting outdoor area allows your customers to shop both inside and out, distributing the number of people patronizing your store.

The summer season in Colorado can be tricky to track. Some years we get incredible amounts of rainfall (too much in some cases). Other years, we get barely enough to keep the grass green. Living in a state that’s prone to drought means that we have to think about our yards and landscaping in a different way. Including drought-resistant plants in your yard is a great way to not only add natural beauty to your home but also ease the strain on your monthly watering bill. Here are a few of Pribble Lawn’s favorite drought resistant plants you can put in your Greeley garden this year.

Why Use Drought Resistant and Native Plants?

Colorado has hundreds of native plants that are visually striking and make for great additions to any yard. These plants are well-suited to the growing conditions of Northern Colorado, as they thrive in the hard-packed soils that characterize the region. They’re also more drought resistant that transplants flowers and vegetation. That means that not only does planting native plants add beauty to your yard, it also helps you save time and money on your garden.

Depending on the day, May in Northern Colorado can be snowy or sunny. Whether you enjoy these last gasps of winter or the start of the summer season, it’s a great time to start getting outside more and enjoying your landscaping. Of course, with the warmer weather comes more chances to get friends and families together for a backyard party! As Greeley’s go-to choice for landscaping for more than 20 years, Pribble Lawn knows what to do to prepare your landscaping for that summer garden party. Take a look!

Start With the Lawn

Even if you have the most spectacular flower arrangements in Greeley in your backyard, your guests will first look at your lawn. Perhaps it’s just part of American culture or maybe it’s just that your grass commands so much space in your yard. Whatever it is, your lawn needs to look its best. By this point in the season, you should have developed a regular mowing and fertilizing schedule that helps keep it green and healthy throughout the spring and summer. That said if you’ve fallen behind and you need to gussy up your grass fast, laying down sections of sod is an easy way to transform the appearance of your landscaping.

Whether you’re updating your landscaping, installing new yard features, or just thinking about getting a new irrigation system, updating your sprinkler system is something that every homeowner has to consider sooner or later. But determining when to upgrade your irrigation system isn’t always obvious. Pribble Lawn offers expert irrigation system installation and landscaping services in Greeley. Here’s our quick guide on updating your sprinklers.

Why Would You Upgrade Your Sprinklers?

A sprinkler system is not something we often think about. Most years, it works without issue and we have a sprinkler company inspect them before the winter season. It’s no wonder then that our customers sometimes ask us, “Do I even need to upgrade my sprinklers?” The answer is, of course, yes.

Your irrigation and sprinkler system might need to be upgraded for a number of reasons. If you caught our last blog on sprinkler repairs, any one of those issues could be cause enough for an upgrade.

Spring has sprung and we’re loving the change in weather here in Greeley. The days are still cool, but the sun is warm, and those longer days means more time for us to help you with your landscaping needs! While you’re doing your spring cleaning inside, it’s also time to start thinking about cleaning up your yard work. One of the most often forgotten parts of your landscaping are your sprinklers. Just like your car, your sprinklers need regular repair in order to perform at their best. But when do you need to get them repaired? Join Pribble Lawn as we outline some of the most obvious signs.

An Increase in Your Water Bill

In Northern Colorado, it can get pretty dry pretty quick. That’s why changes in your water bill are the first ones you notice. When you first start watering your lawn for the spring and summer seasons, you’ll of course see a jump in your utility bill, but if that bill continues to get larger, it’s cause for concern. When you notice a spike in your water bill, it’s time to call an irrigation professional like those at Pribble Lawn. An increasing water bill is often a sign of a leak in your system. This allows water to escape from the pipes before it reaches your lawn.

Here in Greeley, we love seeing our friends and neighbors transform their outdoor spaces into personal oases and luxury spaces. Some homeowners made it happen all on their own, while others worked with a landscaping company in Greeley like ours. But just because the pros at Pribble Lawn make landscaping look easy, doesn’t mean that it is. In fact, we often get calls from panicked homeowners asking us to come fix some of their mistakes. If you want to beautify your yard work, but don’t want your efforts to be in vain, check out these common landscaping mistakes.

Don’t Forget the Front Yard

This isn’t exclusive to Greeley, or even Northern Colorado, but we can’t tell you how many times we’ve visited a home that has a brilliantly landscaped backyard but the front yard leaves a lot to be desired.

We get it. It’s easy to get caught up in designing out the backyard since it’s more private. With tall fences, a backyard makes for a natural retreat and allows homeowners to enjoy their work in privacy and peace. But ignoring the front yard could cost you. Your friends and neighbors won’t feel as welcome into your home, and if you’re thinking about selling your home, a lack of landscaping upfront could affect your curb appeal, lowering the value of your home in the process.

In our last post, we gave you a quick outline of when you need to put down fertilizer for your yard, but we didn’t really go over whether your lawn even needs it in the first place. Fertilizer is a fairly easy way to help your yard in Greeley look its best. In fact, using fertilizer is a great way to keep your lawn healthy year-round, and is sure to leave your neighbors green with envy.

As Greeley’s first choice for landscaping companies, we get a lot of questions about fertilizer, so we thought we’d explore this useful product a little bit.

Understanding What Fertilizer Does

Now, if you’ve got some background in yard care, you probably already know this. Fertilizer is basically food for your grass. It’s packed full of nutrients, typically a blend of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which help grasses stay healthy.

When Should I Apply Fertilizer?

You can read our last post to find a more detailed answer to this question, but here’s a quick overview. Since Colorado has four distinct seasons and warm and cool-season grasses can be grown here, you’ll want to apply fertilizer to your yard in Greeley three to four times a year. We recommend once in early spring, again in early summer, once more in mid-summer, and one final round in fall. This keeps your grass looking green and healthy even in less-than-ideal weather.

Do you love the look of a bright green lawn all summer long? Well, if you’re reading this in the dead of winter, you’ve got the right idea. It’s never too early to start thinking about fertilizing your lawn here in Greeley. But fertilizing just for the sake of doing so isn’t necessarily a guarantee of achieving that verdant carpet look you want. You have to be strategic about when you fertilize in order to get the best results. So when should you fertilize your lawn in Greeley? Here’s what the specialists at Pribble Lawn have to say.

Creating a Colorado Fertilizing Schedule

We’d love to give you a few exact dates to go out and fertilize your lawn on, but it’s just not that simple. Based on what type of grass you have, as well as how often you mow, and how often you fertilize, you might have to put down more or less fertilizer throughout the year.

Generally, just as there are four distinct seasons here in Colorado, you’ll need to fertilize your lawn four times a year for the best results. That said, some times of the year are more critical for fertilizing than others. Keep this in mind as you determine when to fertilize your lawn this year.

While the weather outside might be frightful, that doesn’t mean your landscaping can’t look delightful. Caring for your landscaping and green spaces is a year-round affair. While that might seem challenging here in Northern Colorado, with its often long winters, it’s easier than you might realize. With more than 20 years of experience under our belts, Pribble Lawn has mastered the art of year-round lawn care and yard service. Here are some simple tips for you to take care of your yard this winter.

Prepare Now For Benefits in Spring Time

The saying goes, “proper preparation prevents poor performance,” and that couldn’t be more true for your landscaping. Winter can be harsh on your lawn, regardless of whether it’s just grass or an elaborate installation. That’s why it’s important to take some time to prepare your lawn for winter. You’ll enjoy a healthier, more beautiful landscape in spring if you do.

You can start with the basics.

Rake up the fallen leaves from autumn, and remove any debris and yard waste. You can cut your grass shorter too. We’ve found that a height of 2 to 2.5 inches works great. This helps to protect new growth as things start to thaw. Finally, make sure to aerate and fertilize your lawn before the first freeze. This offers your yard the nutrients and minerals it needs to grow healthy and strong in the springtime.

With the start of the new year comes a litany of resolutions and commitments. From classics like losing weight to more profound goals like being a better friend, we’re all treating the start of the new year as a chance to improve ourselves. Of course, business owners are thinking about more than just themselves. They’re also thinking about ways to grow their business.

If your resolution is to see a little more green in your bank account this year, you should look to the greenery outside your commercial spaces! Landscaping is a great asset to any business of any size. Let’s explore how landscaping for your Greeley business can help it grow this year.

Invest in Your Property

Whether we like to admit or not, looks do matter, even when it comes to your landscaping. Your repeat, and potential, customers will be more likely to visit your commercial space, and more importantly, return to it, if the landscaping is well-maintained and inviting. Great landscaping attracts people and draws them in, making more likely to take advantage of your goods or services.

More than just sales, landscaping is also a long-term investment in the value of your property. Research suggests that great landscaping can improve the resale value of a property by 14%! That kind of return can really help a business out when they need to move to a larger space or are selling the business entirely.

Your alarm blares and you begrudgingly roll over to smack the noise away. It’s way too early on a weekend morning to force yourself out of bed, but what choice do you have? This is the only time you can fit yard work in and you certainly want to get out there before the beating summer sun roasts you alive.

Maybe some days your will to sleep in wins over the alarm screaming for you to wake up. You tell yourself you’ll do the yard work another day. Maybe you do and maybe you don’t. Some weeks you simply won’t have the time. Either way, your yard suffers. Grass becomes wily, unkempt and, worst of all, brown. Weeds crop up and before you know it, you’ve dug yourself a hole that could take a whole summer to crawl out of.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! You can have the weekends to yourself and your family AND boast the most beautiful yard in the neighborhood. There are countless benefits to professional landscape maintenance for your yard, but we’ve boiled it down to four key areas.

Consistency

Building a consistent routine for yard work into your busy weekly schedule can be extremely difficult, and for many people, a downright chore. Your yard is a living part of your home and it needs consistent care like anything else.

Most homeowners purchase their house with the idea of moving onto another somewhere down the road, and maximizing the return on investment is a significant component in that plan, not to mention an integral piece of being able to in the first place. In the end, you want your home to increase in value as much as possible when the time to sell eventually comes. But how you ask?

While adjustments and upgrades to the interior of the house get plenty of attention, they are far from the only way you can dramatically boost your return on investment when you decide to list your house on the market. How your home looks from the outside is just as important and landscape design is a great way to increase your home’s value!

With a few investments to the look of your property, you will reap the tremendous benefits when you sell your house quickly and for more than asking price! Here are some great ways in which landscape design increases the value of your home:

Curb Appeal

You simply cannot overstate the importance of curb appeal to your home’s market perception, and therefore, its value. How your home and property look is the first thing prospective buyers see, especially in photos, which is the most common way people decide to look further into a home in today’s online world. So make your house pop!