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is important during times of economic
hardship to separate what is a necessity
from what is a luxury. Something that
is of necessity or necessary is defined
as absolutely essential or needed to achieve
a certain result or effect. A luxury is
defined as something inessential but conducive
to pleasure and comfort. Often times it
is not cut and dry which is which in our
complex society today. Things cannot simply
be taken at face value but need to be
evaluated for their significance and future
ramifications whether path A or path B
is chosen. The purpose of this article
is to attempt to explain the importance
of keeping up with property maintenance
and the possible problems that may occur
if things are let go for a period of time.
Three important factors, but not the only
important factors, that we must consider
in regards to our property maintenance
are fertilizing our lawns, use and proper
installation of a "water saving"
irrigation systems, and shrub maintenance.
It is common belief that scheduled fertilizations
of lawns are important for a vibrant green
lawn that we can all show off to our friends.
The question arises, " Is this all
that fertilizer is important for
only
for a neighborhood ego booster? ".
To evaluate this question, we must first
decide if it is a luxury or a necessity.
Looking back at our definitions, we see
that a luxury is something that is conducive
to pleasure while a necessity is absolutely
essential. We know that a nice lawn is
conducive to pleasure, but is fertilizer
absolutely essential? Fertilizer does
more that keep the grass green, it keeps
the grass healthy as well. Fertilizers
keep the lawn green by feeding it essential
minerals that it may not be getting naturally
depending on the quality of soil, ph of
the soil, etc. Also, some fertilizer contains
certain properties that kill or prevent
unwanted fungus from growing in your lawn.
Why is this important? You may ask yourself
what may happen if you do not take care
of you lawn for a given period of time.
Grass is a living organism. It needs certain
things to survive, just like we do. By
robbing your lawn of nutrients that it
needs, you are essentially starving your
lawn. If the lawn is starved and dies,
you, the homeowner, are faced with a decision.
You must decide if you want a new green
lawn, or a baron desert. The first of
the two is the more desirable for most
homeowners. The point of this scenario
is that if you neglect your lawn, the
results could be devastating to your lawn
and a costly item to repair.
Similar results could occur if your lawn
does not receive the proper amount of
water. Irrigation systems today save both
time and effort. Attractive landscaping
requires a substantial investment as well
as careful maintenance. Your automatic
sprinkler system protects that investment
by assuring a healthier, longer living
lawn and longer living plants and shrubs.
Your custom-designed sprinkler system
will automatically deliver the proper
amount of water to each area of your landscape.
A key aspect to this is that there will
be no more wasteful run-off. Many times
in our busy lives we begin to water our
lawns and forget to move the sprinkler,
or even worse, we water parts of our lawns
and neglect other areas because we have
to run off somewhere. The system is run
by a timer, which makes sure each area
of the lawn will receive the proper amount
of water. Setting the timer early in the
morning minimizes water loss due to wind
and evaporation. Installing a rain sensor,
which shuts the sprinkler system off when
it rains, can save water as well. This
is one of the many features of an irrigation
system that allows us to say that it is
a fully automated system. Once it is installed,
it is virtually worry free. Watering your
lawn and shrubs is a very important part
of the life and beauty of your personal
environment. This is an area of your landscape
that, if neglected, will lead to costly
repairs. With an irrigation properly installed,
not only will you have the proper care
of your lawn, you will save time, money,
as well as water.
The third and final topic is the importance
of maintaining the shrubs on you property.
Shrubs are a very expensive and important
part of our landscapes. If you have ever
visited a garden nursery, which most homeowners
have, you have seen exactly how costly
different shrubs can be. Even the smallest
shrubs can boast a hefty price tag. This
price tag usually does not include any
installation charges and it definitely
does not consider any personal costs such
as the time spent caring and nurturing
the shrubs after they have been installed.
Once the "total price" is displayed
in front of you, shrubs seem a lot more
that just some vegetation in your yard.
One can see the reason we refer to them
as an investment. Any investment needs
a safety net. With financial investments,
people diversify. Diversification is their
safety net. If something crashes or performs
poorly, their investment is safe because
they took the care to purchase different
types of investments. With regards to
your shrubs, there are three things that
can make up your safety net. First is
watering them. As you know, organic things
are made up mostly of water. Just like
humans, they need water to survive. Second,
often times, the soil we plan our shrubs
in is not the ideal environment for that
particular species to grow strong in.
Many times, these shrubs need food, vitamins
and minerals, which the environment is
not providing for them. Consult you landscape
professional for the environments for
different shrubs. Give them the proper
water and food they require and they will
boast sharp, vivid colors. Finally, trimming
your shrubs regularly ensures that your
shrubs are both on a proper growing cycle
and do not become overgrown. Many people
think that nicely trimmed shrubs are purely
aesthetic. This train of thought is incorrect.
While nicely trimmed shrubs are the capstone
to a good-looking property, there is another
reason, which may lead to many other problems.
This reason is that they may become overgrown.
Right now you're saying, "That sounds
aesthetic". At face value it is,
but think about what will happen if they
do become overgrown. First, depending
on how space out the shrubs are, they
may overgrow into each other. When this
happens, light is blocked from hitting
the areas of the shrub that are touching.
When this happens, the sun does not synthesize
the chlorophyll in the plans and that
area of the shrub will die. Once this
happens, that area of most shrubs will
never produce foliage again. Another problem
that may occur if shrubs become overgrown
is that once they are in that condition,
it is difficult to return them to both
the shape and size that you want them.
It could become a costly relationship
between you and you landscape professional.
If they become to overgrown, beyond the
point of repair, the only recourse may
be to remove the overgrown material and
purchase, install, and nurture more shrubs.
This is the scenario that we are trying
to avoid, because it is the most costly
to the homeowner.
In short, during economic hardships,
it is still important to maintain the
property that you have already invested
so much money into. It may seem like the
sensible thing to put off a project or
task to save a buck, but is that what
your really doing? What is really happening?
In reality, you're postponing payment.
People don't realize the price of the
"late fee". That late fee is
the all of the money that it will cost
to repair the damage that occurred during
the time that the property was neglected.
It's a roll of the dice. You may get out
of it with a few minor repairs, but is
the gamble worth the possibility of having
to replace your entire landscape?