Five community landscape maintenance tips
![community landscape maintenance tips](/getmedia/9382b69e-310a-440e-8b6b-080e4d513874/shutterstock_174493268.jpg?width=420&height=280)
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Your mower or mine?
If your community is small, you may be able to perform the necessary landscaping maintenance tasks in-house. But for most HOAs, professional landscaping companies are the way to go. If you live in a managed community, your property manager will work with your Board or grounds maintenance committee to select and oversee the right landscaping firm, arborist, tree-care company and other trusted service providers to meet your needs. If your community is self-managed, a good property management company can point you toward quality contractors.
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Whack those weeds.
Weeds detract from the beauty of your lawn and landscaping, so show them who’s boss. You can go low-tech by pulling them manually, treat them with chemical weed killers or use natural ingredients, like hot water, soap or vinegar. Weigh your needs and the consequences – for example, chemical methods work quickly and efficiently, but may harm the environment, while natural methods take longer to work and are more labor-intensive. Here’s another suggestion – plant more! All growing things compete for resources like water, sunlight and nutrients, so if you plant more flowers, bushes and shrubbery and maintain a lush, healthy lawn, they’ll naturally keep the weeds at bay.
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Life’s a garden, so dig it.
What should you plant? Start with the grass, tree and plant species known to thrive in your area – everything from local climate and rainfall, to your community’s soil conditions, maintenance budget and resources should be taken into account. Once you have a list, it’s a good idea for your association or an outside contractor to create a landscaping design plan to ensure all your choices have enough sunlight, water and space for their roots to grow. After you plant, be sure to perform all necessary maintenance on an ongoing basis, like enriching poor soil, mowing grass to its optimal height, watering regularly and fertilizing as needed to help your garden grow healthy and strong.
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Save the trees.
Trees not only provide shade, majesty and beauty to your community, but they’re also a tangible asset. Keeping your community’s trees remain well trimmed, pruned, fertilized and mulched will help protect their value by keeping them healthy and disease-free, so be sure they receive regular TLC from association staff or tree-care professionals. Insider tip: maintaining your community’s other landscape elements, like grass or plants, may have unintended consequences for your trees. For example, in arid regions like Arizona, even occasional lawn and turf watering can harm adjacent trees that have adapted to dry soil conditions. A good property management company can clue you in to the details you need to consider to keep all of your landscaping happy and healthy.
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Get smarter.
Information, please. Plant the seeds of learning by educating yourself about grass, shrubs, trees and grounds maintenance – it will go a long way to helping your association fulfill its fiduciary duty to protect your community’s assets. Fertile sources of info about landscaping and grounds maintenance include professional landscaping service providers, community association management companies, nearby universities and colleges, the local Cooperative Extension Services and the Internet.