A landscape is more than just shrubs, trees, grass, dirt and pathways – it is an extension of your living space and your first contact with the Earth outside your house. A lovely tree lined and shrub covered green landscape is very soothing and invites you to kick off your shoes and connect with nature. The greenery is particularly soothing in the harsh Austin temperatures. This perhaps explains why so many houses in Austin opt for landscaping. A landscape however, requires maintenance. It requires water, mulching, trimming, cleaning, mowing, fertilizing and so on. More often than not, this is more than one family can handle. Also, landscape maintenance requires knowledge least you unknowingly block drains or worse, ruin perfectly good soil. In terms of maintenance, there are many things that a landscape in Austin would require including: Landscape Aeration and Composting Aeration and composting is extremely vital for the good health of your landscape. When you add compost and aerate the landscape of your Austin home, you are essentially oxygenating the roots of the plants and through compost, adding vital nutrients to it. Aerating the soil is achieved through digging around the roots of the trees, plants and shrubs. The digging is done in such a way that the soil is tilted without causing any damage to the roots. Aeration can be achieved through mechanization i.e. special machines that punch holes into the soil or through the old fashioned way using a hand tool such as a spade. Aerating the soil also enhances microbial activity in the soil which directly results in increased nitrogen content – a natural fertilizer. Aerating also decreases soil runoff because the water gets absorbed into the soil rather than just flow over it. Manual and Automated Landscape Irrigation and Sprinklers Manually watering the entire landscape daily generally results in a lot of wastage. We end up putting more water (or less) than is required. An Austin based landscaping professional on the other hand, will know exactly how much water is required for each plant type and accordingly instruct and supervise the installation of the most appropriate landscape irrigation and Austin Misting Systems. This ensures that all trees, plants, grass and shrubs in your landscape receive the correct quantity of water. Furthermore, you could opt for manually operated landscape irrigation and sprinklers (you just have to turn them on) or automated irrigation and sprinklers. These are controlled via electro mechanical devices connected to digital timers. They ensure your landscape is hydrated daily and by the correct quantum of water. Human presence is not required. Maintenance for your Austin landscape You can either opt to undertake the landscape maintenance yourself or hire a full service company for all your Residential Landscaping Austin work including mulching, trimming, cleaning, mowing, fertilizing, and aerating. A full service Austin Landscaping Design company will also look after your irrigation and sprinkler system. A landscaping crew arrives at regular intervals, undertakes all periodic tasks and also checks the irrigation and sprinkler installations, tweaks it and replaces parts where required. Check out also for : Austin Landscaping