When Do I Need to Blow Out My Irrigation?
What does it mean to blow out your irrigation? Your sprinkler system is a worthwhile investment that needs adequate care and maintenance. As the freezing winter season approaches, it’s critical to put your sprinklers to bed. Doing so prevents water freezing inside the...
What to Do With Your Garden in Windy Weather
What do you do with your garden when you live in windy weather? Rather than forgoing a well-planned yard altogether, gardeners in areas exposed to continuous or high winds should design the landscape with the weather in mind. The ideas below are extremely helpful in...
Landscaping for HOA Common Areas
HOA common areas need landscaping just as much as each individual parcel or loft. However, this type of landscaping should be relatively generic, easy on the eyes, and require less maintenance than someone's typical front or back yard. At FirstFruits Landscaping, we...
Best Curb Appeal Options for Home Sellers
Best Curb Appeal Options for Home Sellers - Buying a house is an exciting season, whether for first-time homebuyers, investors, vacationers, or those simply looking to upgrade or downsize. There are a lot of homes hitting the market right now and curb appeal is the...
How to Have the Best Grass in the Neighborhood
There are so many beautiful green spaces in southern Maryland and who says that you can’t have one of your own? There’s no need to hire professional help to have the best-looking yard on the block. With a little bit of routine maintenance, your lawn could look as...
Best Maintenance Tasks for March
Well, here we are 3 March and we're actually seeing a little bit of warmer days. Sure, it's still rainy, cloudy, and dreary, but that's the Pacific Northwest for you. However, you still might be thinking a little bit about landscaping, getting your yard cleaned up,...
What is the Best Kind of Landscape Paving?
Landscape paving can add elegance, texture, and structure to a garden or yard, but not every type of paver is appropriate for every climate. The wrong paver in a cold climate can spall, which means bits or pieces of the paver fall away because of the freeze-thaw...
What to Look for in a Well-Built Retaining Wall
If your property has any type of elevation change, your landscape may benefit from a retaining wall. It’s important to protect your land from soil erosion, which can result in loss of topsoil, drainage problems and possible structural stability issues. Or maybe you’re...
Simple Ways to Boost Your Commercial Landscape
Commercial landscape is often full of concrete, and thus dull colors which can make your business look less approachable and far less appealing to potential clients. It is especially important to have great curb appeal within your commercial landscape when you live in...
3 Recommendations to Replace Yellow Archangel Ground Cover
Ground cover is a great alternative for many people who prefer a lower maintenance lawn, or even a lawn that has more of an evergreen hue and the occasional colors of flowering. While many variations of ground cover will still require some maintenance, such as edging,...
What Does it Mean to Blowout Your Irrigation?
What Does it Mean to Blowout Your Irrigation? Your sprinkler system is a worthwhile investment that needs adequate care and maintenance. As the freezing winter season approaches, it’s critical to put your sprinklers to bed. Doing so prevents water freezing inside the...
Dangers of Snow and Ice to Your Property
As I sit here writing this, there is still quite a bit of snow and ice on the ground. Typically, in the Pacific Northwest, we might get a day or two of snow somewhere within the winter months but any longer than that and it's quite rare. So, for temperatures to be...
Tips for Managing Weeds in Landscape Beds
While we all love the beauty of lush landscape, there’s a downside to the time entailed in managing weeds. Here are some pro tips to reduce, manage and eliminate this tedious time waster. Mulching Not only does mulch assist in keeping moisture in the ground to help...
What Can Kill Trees in the Pacific Northwest?
What Can Kill Trees in the Pacific Northwest? Home and business owners love sprucing up their landscape by adding new shrubs and trees, but it doesn’t always end in a beautiful sight. Sometimes a tree just doesn’t seem to be doing well and it can be hard to determine...
Is My Tree Dying?
Is My Tree Dying? When you have a tree that isn’t doing well, it is normal to want to wait to remove it until you know whether it’s dead or could possibly pull through. Here are some tips to determine whether a tree could recover or if it’s time to say goodbye to your...
How To Protect Your Trees and Shrubs for Winter
Many trees, shrubs and plants are dormant in the winter when temperatures drop, the sun appears less frequently, and windy, extreme conditions settle in. However, even though they’re dormant, this doesn’t mean they won’t need some extra care. How To Protect Your Trees...
When to Cut Down a Fruit Tree and Start Over
Fruit tree pruning can enhance the crop when done properly, but it can be difficult to know when it's time to cut down a fruit tree and start over. Here are some tips to help you identify whether pruning or cutting and replanting is right for you. Effective Pruning...
How to Deter Deer from Damaging Your Lawn and Flowers
A deer prancing gracefully through your yard can be a welcome guest unless this woodland creature decides to nibble on your plants and flowers or trample on your lawn. We have a lot of these around the Pacific Northwest and while some find them peaceful, others find...
How to Prepare Your Garden for Winter
After the rush of spring planting and the peak of summer’s harvest, it’s tempting to shut the garden gate and let nature take its course. After all, you’ve done the heavy spring lifting and reaped summer’s benefits. What do we do to prepare our beautiful gardens for...
Pros and Cons of Sprinkler and Irrigation Systems – And Why to Winterize
As with any investment, there can be pros and cons to having a sprinkler or irrigation system. The pros are the regular watering maintenance that can be provided in a timely, efficient manner, keeping grass, shrubs and your garden growing. Sprinkler systems often...
Does Ground Cover Make a Lawn Easier to Maintain?
While the most common ground cover used in a yard is grass, many businesses and homeowners choose to plant low-maintenance shrubs and flowers as ground cover to minimize weeds and save time. But is this really a fact or a horrible fallacy? Read more: A Wildflower Lawn...
Why It’s Good to Change Your Mowing Pattern
Mowing with different designs will not only mix up the look of your lawn but, did you know it is also good for the grass? Most mowers are heavy and the typical back and forth or side to side mowing can cause ruts and compress your grass and soil, making it hard for...
5 Fall Tasks for Your Landscaping
If your yard has presently been looking untidy or dull, you may be in search of ways to make it look lively, especially if the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is surrounding you. If you love being inspired by your surroundings, lighting up your yard with some Pacific...
End of Summer Lawn Maintenance: What to do in September in the Pacific Northwest
Like many homeowners in the Pacific Northwest, you have watered, weeded, and mowed through the summer to enjoy your outdoor space. As the temperature cools and the rain moves in, you may be ready to let your lawn go but here are some important tips to keep your grass...
How Much Should I Be Watering My Lawn?
Walking to the neighborhood today I see some beautiful lawns with lush, thick, bright green grass and they're pretty much wet all the time. Does this mean they water every day? Is that healthy for a lawn? How often should you be watering? How much is 1 inch of water...
What is a Garden Home?
What is a Garden Home? You may have heard the terms single-family home, duplex, manufactured home, etc. however Garden Homes are becoming highly sought after in today’s market especially with first-time home buyers. Garden Homes are actually quite similar to a...
What is Forest Bathing?
Ever heard of forest bathing? In doing some research for the blog this week I came across this fascinating topic and not to risk getting too out there, this is a great way to get close with nature and truly appreciate all God has created for us to enjoy. Imagine...
Should We Install Lawn Irrigation?
Having proper irrigation throughout your lawn is one of the easiest ways to ensure that your curb appeal is looking its best all year. When it comes to installing lawn irrigation you want to be sure that you do your research and hire a reputable professional to ensure...
Blackberry Bushes, the Invasive PNW Plant
Blackberry Bushes, the Invasive PNW Plant - Curb appeal and landscaping are easily one of the most talked-about features when it comes time to sell your home. Unfortunately, when calling the Pacific Northwest home, you are nearly always guaranteed to have to battle a...
Can You Have Too Much Curb Appeal?
Curb appeal is a commonly used term within the Real Estate world and seems to get a lot of attention from homeowners, buyers, and sellers alike. While you may hear about how you can boost your curb appeal, or find tips and tricks to revamp your yard, many people are...