Do Your Labor Day Weekend Plans Include Gardening and Landscaping?

The plans for this Labor Day weekend are not what would be called fun by most people.
While your friends are at the lake boating this weekend, you are home actually excited about a whole weekend to attack the landscaping in the front yard. And while some might think that a better word for front yard landscaping might be prune or trim, when it comes to the state of your flowers and bushes, attack is definitely more applicable.
After 20 years of being in your home, your well though out landscaping in front of the house is a disaster. In fact, at least as far as the lilac bushes by the front door are concerned, it would likely make more sense to totally tear them out and replant new, smaller bushes. They have been poorly trimmed not for two decades and you are weary of the uncontrollable shoots that tower above the front porch railings. Even when you do take time to trim them, within two weeks they are again shooting out, erasing any work that has been done.
After visiting a landscaper in town, you have talked about starting all over, even discussing the different types of fill dirt that could be used as a pass for some natural grasses that will take much less effort, but will be far more appealing.
Different Types of Fill Dirt and Potting Soils Serve Different Purposes
A landscaping supply store is the perfect place to start when you are getting ready to address the all important area in the front of your home. Because the value of your home is significantly affected by its curb appeal, it simply makes good sense to pay attention to the plants, bushes, and flowers in that area.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the role that trees other landscaping efforts can play in the value of your property:

• 0.01% of the total water on Earth is stored within the soil.
• The pH scale ranges from 1.0 to 14.0, with 7.0 being neutral, and is used as a measure of soil acidity or alkalinity. Different types of fill dirt have different levels and, therefore, can serve very different purposes.
• 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air, and 5% organic matter, are the contents of healthy soil.
• 14% is the average increase in a home’s resale value that can be achieved by landscaping.
• Even spending as little as 5% of the value of a home on landscaping can produce a Return on Investment (ROI) of as much as 150%.

It may not be the most exciting way to spend your Labor Day weekend, but investing time in the landscaping in front of your home is a worthwhile pursuit.
Good references here.