What Is the Difference Between Lawn Care and Lawn Maintenance?

As a Bergen County, NJ homeowner, your lawn and landscape are an extension of your home. It’s a welcoming place to entertain, relax, and have fun. Regular lawn care and lawn maintenance keeps your lawn and landscape beautiful and inviting. A lot of time and effort is required to maintain your lawn year-round. As a homeowner, what type of lawn care and lawn maintenance do you need for a healthy lawn? And, what, if any landscape services are required?

What Is Considered Lawn Maintenance?

Lawn maintenance entails keeping your lawn and outdoor property clean and manicured year round, whether it’s preparing your lawn for spring by clearing winter debris, mowing lawns throughout the summer, or yard clean up before winter. A regular lawn maintenance service in Bergen County, NJ includes:

• Weekly lawn mowing
• Regular watering and weeding
• Border edging for driveways, walkways, and patio areas
• Cleaning of driveways, walkways, and patio areas
• Spring yard cleanup to remove dead winter growth and debris
• Summer Pruning of Trees and Shrubs
• Fall yard cleanup to remove leaves and debris and prepare for winter

Your lawn will also require additional attention to remain lush and healthy. How does lawn maintenance differ from lawn care and landscaping services?

What Is the Difference Between Lawn Care and Landscaping?

Lawn care generally refers to maintaining the health, color and vitality of existing lawns through the years. Some services that fall under lawn care are pest control, weed control, fertilization, soil testing, aeration, seeding, deep root feeding for trees and shrubs  and irrigation. Landscaping services are much more complex, transforming outdoor spaces through design, construction, and planting. Man-made features, along with plants, create peaceful, outdoor environments. After properties are prepared for landscaping, hardscape elements are installed. These include decks, walkways, lighting, patios, stone walls, fire pits, waterfalls, pool areas, and more. Plants provide the finishing touches to landscape construction projects and garden designs. They may include privacy hedges, foundational plantings, perennial gardens, trees, shrubs, and more. As a homeowner, you will need regular lawn care and lawn maintenance  in addition to landscaping services.

Does Landscaping Include Mowing?

Because landscaping often deals with creating or transforming new outdoor spaces, a Bergen County, NJ homeowner may wonder if lawn mowing is part of landscaping. The short answer is yes. As part of a larger landscaping project, mowing may be included in the overall lawn care and maintenance of a property. This is particularly important with uniquely designed areas or with commercial properties that must be kept in pristine condition.

What Does Lawn Care Include?

Maintaining a healthy lawn in Bergen County, NJ requires ongoing care and a huge commitment. Many landscape companies offer lawn care services in addition to regular professional lawn maintenance and landscaping services. Borst Landscape’s professional lawn care services include:

• Pest Control
• Fertilizer Application 
• Pre-emergent crabgrass control
• Broadleaf & creeping weed control 
• Grub control and chinch bug control 
• Natural aeration & thatch control 
• Root stimulants & developers 
• Soil testing 
• Mulching
• Organic lawn care
• Irrigation systems

What Do You Need for Lawn Care?

Whether you take care of your lawn, or hire a professional, there are several tools that you should have on hand for regular lawn care. Because a professional lawn care company generally works on a set schedule, you never know when you may need to do some emergency lawn care work. Keep the following items handy:

• Lawn mower for cutting the grass.
• Lawn trimmer for cleaning up edges.
• Leaf rake for fall cleanup.
• Soil rake to remove unwanted material and prepare for seeding.
• Spreader to add fertilizer to your lawn.
• Hose with a spray nozzle for watering garden beds and flowers.

Additionally, if you plan to maintain shrubs and trees, you should also consider:

• Hand pruner to shape shrubs and flowers and remove branches.
• Hedge shear to shape and clean up hedges. 

Borst Landscape Provides Lawn Care and Lawn Maintenance Services in Bergen County, Nj

Borst Landscape, in Bergen County, NJ, can provide consistent quality lawn care, lawn maintenance, and landscaping services throughout the year. By hiring a professional, you can expect regular, reliable lawn care and lawn maintenance services without exerting time and effort on your own. A knowledgeable, skilled crew will be assigned to your home on a weekly basis allowing you and your family the freedom to simply enjoy the benefits of your outdoor living space. Contact Borst Landscape today about the benefits of lawn care and maintenance services for your home.

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Heating Options For A Small Home

While every Australian is aware of our hot summers, how we keep our homes warm during the cooler months is often an afterthought until winter hits. While larger homes usually have all the heating and cooling requirements sorted, for smaller houses getting an effective and affordable heating solution may be a little tough.

On the plus side having a small house puts you at an advantage when it comes to heating options. That’s because there are several options available these days. While larger residences must stick to the conventional systems of air conditioning, smaller houses can explore the latest technology at lower prices.

Here are some options that you can consider for heating up your cosy little home during the winters.

Design

The design of your house itself plays a very important role in its heating or cooling capacity. The building materials used, the orientation of the house, the ventilation, everything contributes in some way to the heating and cooling effects.

Materials that absorb and store heat for longer periods, that is, materials with high thermal mass, are better for homes that require heating. Such materials include concrete bricks or tiles, which are of high density and can store passive heat effectively. These materials have lower conductivity and do not allow passive heating to escape soon. Not affected by extreme weather conditions, steel frames are a popular choice but require additional insulation. 

Reverse cycle systems

Reverse cycle air conditioning systems are equally effective in cooling and heating small spaces. A reverse cycle system absorbs heat from the outside air and releases the heat into your home. This heat is absorbed and stored by a refrigerant that passes through an external coil exposed to the outside air. A compressor sends the heated refrigerant inside, and a fan allows the heat to be distributed inside.

These systems are good for moderately cold places, but in extremely cold climates, such systems may not be able to derive enough heat to keep you warm.

Ceiling fans

Ceiling fans are certainly not the first thing that would come to your mind as a heating solution. But these can also be used quite effectively to heat up your little house. Reversing the effect of the ceiling fan can be a great way to heat a space. The idea is to push back down the heated air that has risen up. This can be very effecting in maintaining a constant flow of warm air in the room for the comfort of everyone.

In fact, using ceiling fans with any of the other heating systems can bring down electricity consumption by nearly 10%.

Electric Heaters

Electric heaters are one of the most popular and widely used heating options for small houses across Australia. What makes these heaters so popular is their ease of use and the safety they offer.

Electric heaters also produce no fumes and do not add to the pollution outside. You plug the heater into one of your home’s electrical outlets, and it heats up the room within minutes.

There are a wide variety of electric heaters available in the market, from heaters that radiate heat through a resistance coil to blowers that blow air over a heating element. There are even heaters that look exactly like a fireplace but instead use heating elements.

If you can afford to pay the electricity bills and the charges are not too high in your area, this is the best and cheapest option available. There is very little risk of fire involved as there is no open flame, and it is completely eco-friendly. You have to be careful with using an electric heater though as any contact with water can be extremely dangerous. Also, you must ensure that it is placed away from the reach of children, particularly the ones where the heating elements are exposed.

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