Jersey Landscaping : Light Up Your New Jersey Landscape Design with a Fire Pit

What better way to usher in autumn's chilly weather than by relaxing outdoors huddled around a flickering fire?  Of course for most of us, just piling up wood somewhere in the yard and starting a fire is not exactly the best option. An open fire is hard to control and is a real mess to clean up. You need a place that helps control the fire, and that’s safe and easy to clean up.  Homeowners who want the pleasures of an outside fire have discovered the value of a patio fire pit.

These days, homeowners are increasing the value of their homes and improving the relaxation potential of their backyards with fire pit landscaping. Patio fire pits offer a cozy natural gathering place where friends and family can roast marshmallows, drink nightcaps or simply gaze at the flames in solitary meditation. Patio fire pits, and those installed on your deck or elsewhere in your backyard, make it possible for you to enjoy an outdoor oasis night after night right in your own backyard. And with a wide variety of styles available to choose from, there's sure to be an outdoor fire pit that will suit your taste and complement your overall residential landscape design. 

So, what exactly is a fire pit? It’s basically any structure that contains and controls an exterior fire. Most fire pits are one to two feet high, and can be built in any shape desired by you and your residential landscape design company.  Although circular tends to be the most common shape, square, rectangular or even irregular structures can be attractive in different settings. Some fire pits burn wood and others burn propane or other gas. When you’re deciding which to go with, you’ll discover both types have pros and cons. Gas pits are instant start - instant stop, which is an excellent safety feature.  They’re easier to clean up because there are no ashes to dispose of, and they don’t leave you smelling like smoke after you’ve spent time near it. But the requirement of substantial pipe fitting and professional hookups for safety end up making gas pits quite expensive. Wood pits offer the look and feel of a true campfire. All you need is some fire wood and a spark, and you’re on your way. Of course, wood pits require a lot more nurturing and attention to keep the flames going.

Ultimately, how simple or elaborate the outdoor fire pit is will be determined mostly by your taste and budget. Whether you have your heart set on a simple outdoor fire pit or want to jazz up your outdoor space with enhanced features like an outdoor stone fireplace, statuary, stone wall or complete outdoor kitchen, New Jersey landscape design company Jersey Landscaping will work with you to create the landscape and hardscape you’ve always dreamed of -- and at a cost you can afford.

Jersey Landscaping : Keeping Deer out of Your NJ Landscape

One of the most common challenges any homeowner faces, regardless of where he or she lives, is keeping deer off the yard. A misplaced deer can do a season’s worth of damage, or more, in just a few minutes. Don’t let your New Jerseylandscaping efforts go to waste—following a few rules will go a long way towards keeping these gorgeous but pesky animals away from your plants and gardens!

—Make sure your most valuable plants and gardens are surrounded by a fence at least 10 feet high. There’s no need to build yourself a fortress by erecting a 10-foot high fence around the entire house, but make sure to protect your valuable plants and gardens. The fences need to be sturdy, obviously, and also entrenched in the ground so that the deer can’t burrow in and sneak through small holes.

—Welcome the deer into your backyard—with food that is located far from your favorite plants and gardens. There’s nothing wrong with meeting the deer halfway, so to speak, especially in the more rural areas of New Jersey where deer are plentiful. Place deer-friendly foods such as apples, corn, mushrooms, nuts, peas and sweet potatoes in your yard but far away from the areas you are trying to protect.

—Use a combination of motion sensors and compact discs as a deer deterrent. Sounds like an odd deer prevention team, but the motion sensors will flash a light at the deer after sunset and a compact disc aimed at them during the day will send them running in the other direction.

You’ve worked hard to make your New Jersey landscaping something to be proud of. Don’t let the deer ruin it—protect your plants and flowers with these simple tips today!

Jersey Landscaping : New Jersey Residential Landscaping

The good thing about New Jersey residential landscaping is there is no limit to what you can do to enhance the appearance and value of your property—on either end of the spectrum. If you have enough money and time to hire a NJ landscaper and oversee the progress of a major overhaul of your outdoor spaces, that’s fantastic. Yet New Jersey landscaping design projects can also be tackled with a minimal amount of expense and effort.

In New Jersey, residential landscaping options are available for part or all of your spaces – from backyard gardens to property borders and curb-appeal-oriented entryways. In the front of your property, there are many projects that an experienced NJ landscaper can help you undertake. From something as simple and as uncomplicated as installing a walkway, to something more complex involving re-paving a driveway or adding fences and/or hedges, the scope and scale of the work is all up to you. These “mini-projects” can often be completed in as little as a weekend, yet they will give your home that brand-new feel and, if you choose fences and/or hedges, you’ll also get a little bit of much-wanted privacy and exclusivity.

It doesn’t take much to turn the back or side yard into an oasis free of the hustle and bustle of the busy street in front of your home. A little New Jersey residential landscaping can go a long way—begin your search for a qualified NJ landscaper to help you with your projects today!

Jersey Landscaping : Lawn Care In New Jersey

Lawn care in New Jersey is a more challenging endeavor than in other areas of the country. For better or worse, we get all four seasons here, which means our lawns take a beating in the winter and the spring and can endure feast or famine conditions during the long, hot and often dry summer. But don’t let Mother Nature intimidate you—New Jersey lawn care can be far more invigorating than frustrating!

Taking care of lawns in New Jersey requires attentiveness and determination. There can be no letting up in the upkeep and maintenance of the lawn once the elements attack it. That means constant raking of leaves and branches in the fall as well as cleaning the lawn once winter is over and picking up branches following windy days in the spring. Come summer, if drought-like conditions exist, homeowners must religiously water their lawns to ensure the grass and plants don’t die or consider one of the many options available for New Jersey residential irrigation systems installation.

Lawns that are free of debris will grow much faster—and remain healthier looking—than those that are strewn with debris. Lawn care in New Jersey certainly isn’t easy, but paying constant attention to your property will allow you to have a lawn you are proud of year-round!

Jersey Landscaping : Home Improvement Projects for the Outdoors

Home improvement projects don’t have to just take place inside! Indeed, you can put the summer months to good use by handling some projects in the front of the house that will make your property “pop” to visitors and make it feel like new to you as well! Here are some suggestions for outdoor home improvement projects to embark upon as the weather heats up:

—Pave the driveway. This is probably something you’ll have to hire somebody to complete, but few things enhance the appearance of a house as quickly as a freshly paved driveway. Add to the ambiance with paving stones along the edge of your new driveway or consider some decorative shrubbery or plantings at each corner.

—Build a new walkway. Looking for something to liven up the front yard? How about a walkway leading to the front door? You can use a variety of paving stones, in a myriad of colors and shapes. Either way, you’ll have a conversation piece for visitors—and, depending on where you place the walkway, a smaller lawn to mow!

—Build a low decorative wall or walls on each side of the driveway or renovate the ones that you already have. This is a project that will take most of the summer if you are building the walls from scratch, but what an eye-catcher it will be when it’s complete! This is something you’ll have as much fun planning as executing as you decide what kind of rock or stone should be featured in the wall.

Jersey Landscaping : Outdoor Home Improvements

It’s summer time and the living is easy—unless, of course, you have been waiting all year for summer to arrive so that you can tackle some home improvement projects. In that case, your work is just beginning! Don’t fret though—there are some outdoor home improvement projects that will enhance the appearance of your home while minimizing the amount of time you spend sweating in the hot sun!

—Pressure wash the house: Homeowners know their houses will get dirty—there’s no avoiding it—but accept it as a fact of life because washing a house isn’t as easy as washing a car. Well, that is true, but pressure washing the house is certainly something you can accomplish on your own with a minimal investment and in a minimal amount of time. Pressure washers retail for as little as $100 and will quite literally make your house look like new.

—Paint the house: Maybe not the whole thing, but touching up the areas of the house seen most often by visitors—the outside stairs, porches and decks—will really make your home stand out from the rest. This is also something you can accomplish in the early morning or post-dinner hours, before and after the hottest temperatures of the day.

—Stain the house: If you don’t want to paint the house, a good staining of the decks, porches and stairs can bring out the natural color of the wood and protect it from the elements in the same amount of time it takes to paint those parts of the property.

—And of course, landscape! Don’t forget to feed, weed and fertilize your flower beds, vegetable garden, or any other water feature or landscape design you want to keep looking its best all year long.

Jersey Landscaping : Creating a BBQ pit

One of the best parts of summer is backyard barbeques. But as good as it is to throw some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, you can make summer’s finest tradition even better—and broaden your menu choices—by building a BBQ pit in your backyard!

Building a BBQ pit sounds like a daunting task, and it’s certainly tougher than buying a grill at the store. But it’s a rewarding endeavor that can be accomplished by anyone with a little bit of patience, a little bit of time and a good plan. The latter is the most important part—a BBQ pit will become a permanent part of your backyard, so you don’t want to make a mistake or change your mind about a design halfway through.

Know how big a pit you want to build—the most popular measurement for a BBQ pit is 24 inches in diameter by 18 inches deep. Most BBQ pits are made of brick, which means the pit will need a sturdy base such as cinderblock. Most importantly, make sure it is built in a wide-open area. You don’t want trees or parts of the house hanging over the BBQ pit and creating a potentially hazardous situation.

One important element people often forget in building a BBQ pit is how difficult it can be to clean one. So try and construct a pit which you can access from the back—that’ll make it much easier to empty out the ashes.

Building a BBQ pit will take much of the summer, but just imagine the fun you’ll have toasting the fruits of your labors on Labor Day weekend! Enjoy your BBQ pit and the chance to have the best barbeque food in the world in your very own backyard!