8 Simple Garden Maintenance Tips: Basics for Beautifying Your Backyard

Get tips on how to keep your garden healthy and beautiful, check out four great finds for green thumbs and enter for a chance to win a  $125 discount card for professional lawn care services from  GreenLawn.

Looking to achieve a lush, outdoor paradise? Here are eight great tips from Gavin Dawson, Toronto region technical manager at GreenLawn, a lawn, tree and shrub care services provider. Plus, check out some of our gardening finds—essentials to help every green thumb make their garden look its best.

These seasonal lawn care tips will help to instantly beautify your backyard:

1. Keep an eye on grass height. Dawson recommends maintaining a height of two-and-a-half to three inches as the healthiest height for your lawn.

2. Mow at dawn or dusk. Mow the lawn during the cooler part of the day, with early morning or early evening being the best times. Be sure to also avoid cutting wet grass.

3. Make use of lawn clippings. Get into the habit of “grass-cycling”, returning grass clippings to the soil as nutrients.

4. Trim the trees. Many types of evergreens (juniper, cedar, and spruce for example) have produced their spring flush of growth and trimming them in the summer months can help their shape.

5. Be diligent with shrub pruning. In order to avoid affecting the following year’s growth, prune flowering shrubs as soon as the flower blooms finish.

6. Look out for signs of garden distress. Pay attention to random patches of wilted brown turf, which may be warnings of drought stress, disease or insects.

7. Spot water where needed. Consider spot watering to the areas of your lawn most prone to drought.

8. Overseeding is a good thing. Overseed your lawn to thicken and revive turf. Remember that seed must contact soil and remain moist until it is fully established to have the best chance of success.

Need more gardening help? Here are four awesome finds for the gardener:

1. Fiskars PowerGear 15-Inch Anvil Super Pruner

Life in the backyard just got a lot easier for gardeners who suffer from arthritis, rheumatism, and carpal tunnel syndrome. These pruners have an amazing handle that rolls to follow your hand's natural clenching motion. This ergonomically-conscious tool helps reduce stress and fatigue while simultaneously multiplying cutting force that tough materials can be sliced through with the greatest of ease. Also ideal for large-scale pruning.

$27.99 USD at fiskars.com

2. CobraHead Weeder and Cultivator

Serious gardeners find this tool indispensable. The blade is a steel fingernail that becomes an extension of your hand, making it easy to weed, cultivate, scalp, dig, plant, harvest—basically just about anything that needs to be done in the garden. Bonus: it’s designed for easy left-hand or right-hand action.

$24.95 (free shipping in Canada and U.S.) at cobraheadllc.com

3. Fiskars PowerGear 2 18-Inch Anvil Lopper

These powerful loppers have a unique gearing mechanism that multiplies the cutting force by nearly three times over single pivot loppers. With razor-sharp, precision ground blades and a one-and-a-half inch cutting capacity, you’ll be getting rid of your garden’s dry, dead growth in no time.

$22.99 USD at fiskars.com

4. Customized programs by GreenLawn

This premier lawn, tree and shrub care services provider creates customized lawn care programs for homeowners with green spaces of all types and sizes. The company has been in business for over 30 years, offering horticulture care by licensed specialists who have been trained in agronomic conditions specific to the region they work in. So whether it’s weed control, lawn care, landscape, or maintenance services you’re seeking GreenLawn may just be the Midas touch your garden needs.

Price varies based on customized program. 11 locations across Canada.
Visit GreenLawnCanada.com for more info, or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-565-5296


CCG Giveaway Alert!*

Hey CCG Fans, is your garden in the weeds and in need of professional horticultural help?  We're giving one lucky reader a $125 GreenLawn discount card. All you have to do is head over to the Canadian Career Gal Facebook page, "Like" our page and tell us what you love most about your garden.

You'll then be automatically entered into a random draw for a chance to win a $125  GreenLawn discount card. To be eligible for the draw, be sure to post your answer on the Canadian Career Gal Facebook page by Wednesday, August 10th at 8 PM (EST).

Winner will be announced on our Facebook page, as well as right here on the official CCG site so check back with us after the contest closing time to see if you won. Good luck!
*CONTEST IS OPEN TO CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY