The Homeowner’s Guide to Landscaping

A lawn that’s thinning in the same spots every year usually isn’t a mowing problem — it’s a sign of compacted soil, poor drainage, or the wrong grass for the amount of shade it’s getting. Cutting it shorter or more often treats the symptom, not the cause, and the bare patches tend to come back bigger the following season.

The same logic applies to beds. A shrub that hasn’t grown in three years isn’t just slow — it’s usually stressed by soil, light, or root competition it will never grow out of on its own. None of these are emergencies, but none of them fix themselves either, and each season they’re ignored is a season the fix gets more involved.

A fair landscaping quote specifies the work being done, the materials or plants being used, and what happens if the job turns out to be bigger than expected once digging starts — rock, roots, and old construction debris are common surprises on established properties. If a quote is vague on any of those three, ask before signing, not after the crew shows up.

Be cautious of a bid that comes in dramatically lower than every other estimate for the same scope. The gap usually shows up later — in smaller plant sizes, a thinner base under a patio, or a change order once the ground is already opened up.

• Ask whether the price is per-project or per-hour, and get it in writing either way
• Ask what size and grade of plants or materials are included
• Ask what would trigger a change order — the answer should be short and specific

Sod is often marketed as the obvious upgrade, but it isn’t automatically the right call for every yard. Sod gives you a usable lawn in weeks and controls erosion on a slope immediately, but it costs several times more than seed and still needs careful watering for the first few weeks while roots establish into the soil beneath it.

Seed costs less and, over time, can establish a root system well suited to your specific soil — but it takes a full season to fill in, needs to be timed to the right window for your grass type, and is far less forgiving of foot traffic or drought while it’s establishing. The right choice comes down to your timeline and budget, not which option sounds more premium.

A real plant guarantee should specify the exact time window (a full growing season is a meaningful test; thirty days is not), what causes void it — deer browse on an unprotected bed, a lawn mowed by someone else’s crew, drought during a watering restriction — and whether labor to replace the plant is included or billed separately.

What it shouldn’t do is depend on you tracking down a receipt or proving you watered correctly. A guarantee worth having is simple to invoke: you call, they look at it, and if it’s covered, it gets replaced. If a company’s guarantee language is vague about the process for using it, that’s usually a sign of how it will actually go.

Before a storm, the most useful thing a homeowner can do is walk the property and note anything that could become a hazard — a dead limb over the driveway, a leaning small tree, furniture or planters that could become projectiles in high wind. None of this takes long, and it’s a lot cheaper than the cleanup that follows a limb through a fence.

After a storm, resist the urge to clear everything yourself immediately. Photograph the damage first for insurance purposes, keep clear of any limb resting on a power line, and get a professional opinion before removing a large limb or leaning tree — sometimes what looks like storm damage is actually a sign the tree was already compromised.

• Walk the property before storm season and flag obvious hazards
• Photograph damage before any cleanup begins
• Treat anything near a power line as a call to the utility, not a DIY job