Your family yard is extension for your home – providing a respite from stress, offering an outside entertainment area, expanding your living space and giving kids and pets and a safe place to play. Research shows children reap numerous health, social and personal benefits from spending time outside playing.
Here are TurfMutt’s top tips to help you get Backyard Ready this spring courtesy of the TurfMutt Foundation.
Plan for Fun: Depending on your lifestyle and climate, consider an outdoor room, turfgrass for a game of croquet and a place for kids to run and play, trees and shrubs for privacy and a game of hide and seek, fire pit, pergola, sandbox (for kids and dogs to dig!), outdoor furniture, or a decorative water feature.
Plant for Kids & Pets: There are many species of turfgrass to choose from to create pet and kids play space. Your local garden center or landscaper can help you identify what will work best for your climate zone and lifestyle. And don’t forget to avoid toxic plants to pets if they are a member of your family.
Remember Wildlife & Pollinators: Grass, trees, shrubs and flowering plants provide food and habitat for birds, small mammals, and pollinators, so plant to support them.
Take Stock of Equipment: Do you need to update, upgrade or replace your outdoor power equipment, like a lawn mower, hedger/trimmer or edger? Want to install a water solution like a smart irrigation system? Invest in outdoor power equipment now so you are ready to roll for spring!