It’s been another incredible year at McDonough Landscaping, and we feel so blessed to have such an outstanding team and the best clients anyone could ask for! As we’ve been reminiscing over 2024, we came up with the idea to highlight our top landscaping blog posts from the past 12 months. We’d hate for you to miss out on this fantastic content. If any of these don’t sound familiar to you, click on the link to read the entire post!
1. 6 Steps To Planning Your Spring Patio Renovation or Build
A patio can add both beauty and function to your home. It gives you a place to gather outdoors with loved ones or simply enjoy a quiet moment among the beauty of your lawn and gardens.
And today’s patios are a far cry from a simple slab of concrete in the backyard! With beautiful construction and added features, a well-designed patio can turn your yard into an oasis.
Whether you’ve been dreaming of building a brand new patio or renovating an existing one, planning ahead is key. Read on to learn why it’s so important to plan for your project as well as the steps you’ll need to take now to plan your spring patio renovation or build.
Read the whole article here!
2. Maximize Your Outdoor Kitchen Design for Memorable Spring Gatherings
Spring is just around the corner, although in many parts of the country, it seems to have arrived unseasonably early! There’s nothing like melting snow, warmer temps, and birds singing their sweet melodies to put Midwesterners in a spring state of mind.
As you think ahead to all the memories you want to make this year, make 2024 the year you design that outdoor kitchen you’ve been dreaming of!
As you begin to turn this dream into a reality, here are five tips to keep in mind that will help you maximize your outdoor living space…
Read the whole article here!
3. Make a Splash This Summer: Create a Relaxing Retreat With Water Features!
As humans, we’re drawn to water. If you’ve ever heard of blue mind theory, you know that being in and around water increases our dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin levels, which makes us feel happier, decreases stress, spurs creativity, expands our capacity for compassion, and reduces our heart rate. Indeed, we experience many positive effects when these negatively charged ions enter our bloodstreams, whether we’re breathing in the scent of water or immersing ourselves in it. We also benefit from visually processing aquatic hues, which calm and soothe our human brains.
70% of the Earth and ⅔ of our bodies are composed of water. On a foundational level, it’s almost like being in and around water makes us feel connected to something bigger than ourselves.
While we might prioritize an annual beach vacation or enjoy stealing away to the cabin on the weekends, regular life doesn’t allow most of us as much water exposure as we’d like. Fortunately, we can create a relaxing retreat in the midst of our day-to-day life by incorporating water features into our yards.
From simple fountains to streams or ponds, there is a water feature to suit nearly every homeowner’s preferences, property, and budget!
Read the whole article here!
4. Eco-Friendly Lawn Care: Tips for a Greener, Healthier Yard
We put considerable effort into planning our gardens.
What plants should we add this year? What needs pruning or dividing? Do our gardens need to be fertilized? How will we water them? Will we weed them ourselves or hire out the weeding and maintenance?
There’s nothing wrong with devoting our time and resources to growing the most beautiful flower gardens and the most prolific vegetable gardens in the neighborhood. But how much thought do we put into our lawns? After all, grass is a plant too.
With so much surface area, our lawn is a habitat for beneficial insects…and harmful pests. And anything we do to our lawn, from mowing to fertilizing to pest control, impacts our local ecosystem.
Take a proactive approach to lawn care this summer with some eco-friendly lawn care tips for healthier, more sustainable lawns!
Read the whole article here!
5. The Ultimate Winter Prep Checklist to Tackle This Fall!
Shorter days, cooler evenings, and some tinges of yellow and orange in the treetops can only mean one thing—fall is just around the corner. If we’re unprepared, it’s easy to panic. Maybe there are some lingering items on your summer bucket list. And there’s always so much to do in the fall in preparation for the long Minnesota winter ahead. However, looking back over your summer with gratitude and embracing the upcoming season with careful planning can make all the difference.
To help you along, your friends at McDonough Landscaping put together a winter prep checklist that we think you’ll love. Move into winter with peace of mind, knowing that your lawn and garden are buttoned up and ready for a rest before next year’s bounty!
Read the whole article here!
6. The Magic of Winter Outdoor Lighting
If you’ve lived in “the land of the frozen chosen” for any length of time, you’ve probably learned that embracing the season is the best approach to thriving through the long winter months. Maybe you’ve taken up skiing or snowshoeing or look forward to snowmobiling with friends or pond hockey pick-up games. If you can’t wrap your mind around the bone-chilling temps, you might enjoy long evenings curled up by the fire with a hot beverage and a good book.
Love it or not, though, it’s hard to deny the beauty and magic that settles on this region with every fresh blanket of snow. This year, add to the aesthetic and embrace the season with winter outdoor lighting. Here are some thoughts and ideas to inspire you!
Read the whole article here!
We hope you enjoyed a tour of our top landscaping blog posts of 2024! From all of us at McDonough Landscaping, we wish you and your family a very happy holiday season!
