Our Lawn Care & Landscaping Routine (+ a Printable Checklist)

Emmett and I spent last weekend landscaping and tending to our yard. I thought it might be helpful to share what our weekly and quarterly landscaping routine looks like! Lawn care and curb appeal definitely requires maintenance to keep your exterior and outdoor living spaces looking their best. I’m breaking down how we care for our yard, and what the process looks like based on the season. We also have some hacks for keeping the patio clean! I’m sharing the tools we use, plus a helpful checklist for making your landscaping look great going into fall & winter. This is a good one, friends! 

*This post is sponsored by Lowe’s. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that allow us to create unique content while featuring products we actually use & enjoy!

First of all- let’s talk tools. These two Husqvarna items are the work horses we use every single week during spring & summertime! This lawnmower has been with us since our previous house, and the string trimmer (aka weed eater) has been around since our very first home. The nice thing about that tool is this: you can use different attachments. I’ll chat about that later on in the post! Our weekly routine is basically this…

WEEKLY ROUTINE

• mow lawn
• tackle perimeter & difficult areas with weed eater / string trimmer
• pull weeds
• water potted plants
• clean patio

We keep things pretty simple on a weekly basis. Emmett mows on Tuesdays (ironically), I pull weeds, I water the potted plants twice a week, and one of us will clean the patio. If you’re wondering about our process for that… we have a hack: this Husqvarna leaf blower. It takes 5 minutes to clean the entire patio.

I love the look of mulch and we typically put it down once a year, in the springtime. Our backyard looks great with mulch, BUT given the boulders and our playful pups… the mulch doesn’t stay put. The dogs are constantly dragging and tracking it around the yard and onto the patio. We discovered our leaf blower was powerful enough to blow it back into place- off of the patio and out of the grass. The blower also removes dust and any other dead blooms, plants, or debris within 5 minutes, then the patio looks great again. It’s the easiest way to “clean” the space. Before guests come over, we always dust it off. It even cleans our outdoor area rug. I’m tellin’ ya- this thing is the real deal. We’ve had smaller electric blowers in the past that didn’t do a quarter of what this thing can do.

The leaf blower is probably the most underrated lawn tool in the shed. We use it all the time and the handy backpack feature makes it super easy to use. It’s basically like vacuuming, but for your lawn. We will never sweep the porch or patio again thanks to this baby!

QUARTERLY ROUTINE

Next, let’s jump into our seasonal routine… that’s what we just tackled last weekend (which felt so good)! We spent around 3-4 hours on Saturday, and another 3-4 on Sunday doing this, but we have a pretty large front yard, backyard, and side yard. This is what the yard looked like before we started:

It was looking pretty unruly. The last time we did an overhaul was at the beginning of spring, so the plants had grown a LOT since then. The shrubs needed trimming, weeds needed to be pulled, the sidewalk needed edging, and a few sprinkler heads needed to be repaired. We also pulled out dead plants and replaced them with new. This is what it looked like after we finished…

It’s a big difference in person. So, how did we get from point A to point B and what tools did we use? This is what we did:

• edged sidewalks
• pulled out dead plants & invasive ivy
• pruned & shaped shrubs
• added some new plants
• raked mulch
• cleaned sidewalks, porch, & patio
• power washed

Since the last time we did this (springtime), I wore holes in my gloves, so I ended up getting a new pair. Landscaping gloves are a must! My favorite is the Blue Hawk brand. I’ll link our most-used lawn tools below…

01: blue hawk landscaping gloves // 02: hand tool set // 03: craftsman rake // 04: craftsman broom // 05: kobalt garden spade // 06: fiskars shears // 07: husqvarna gas string trimmer // 08: husqvarna gas backpack leaf blower // 09: edger attachment // 10: craftsman cordless hedge trimmer // 11: craftsman wheelbarrow // 12: husqvarna self-propelled lawn mower

Edging is another easy landscaping task that always surprises me. It’s amazing how a little effort can go a long way. Remember when I mentioned our weed eater having multiple attachments? The edger attachment fits onto it.

Here is a before and after of our edged driveway…

When it was all said and done, we hauled away two truckloads of overgrown and dead landscaping to the community compost.

I also wanted to give you an update on our front porch planters. Look how much they’ve grown! The flowers are done blooming, but I love the textural greenery they add to the front porch. I’ll be switching them shortly as we move into fall. The front porch is getting a little makeover with a new front door, house numbers, and sconces next month! Stay tuned! I’m very excited because it’s totally going to transform the look of the porch.

As promised, I also wanted to include a printable lawn care checklist…

As always, let me know if you have any questions in the comment section! Landscaping and lawn care is really easy as long as you have the right tool for the job and you stay on top of it. I love having a home with beautiful curb appeal. It makes me super proud when the neighbors compliment us on the care we put into the landscaping.

As fall is rapidly approaching, I’d recommend tending to the lawn sooner rather than later. We like to tidy things up while it’s still warm outside. It’s nice going into the colder months knowing things are well taken care of, and we can enjoy the fall season! I’d love to hear ways you practice curb appeal and lawn care. Any hacks or tricks I should know about?