Backyard Reflections

A well-kept garden can boost your property’s curb appeal. And whether you use it for planting shrubs and flowers or herbs and vegetables, you’ll surely find your yard comes with several benefits.

To ensure your garden continues to give you joy through the years, a local landscape design expert shares tips on protecting your landscape before and after a summer hailstorm.

Protecting Your Landscape From Hail

Hailstorms are unpredictable. They strike with little to no warning, so you have to be proactive in protecting your garden from damaging hailstones. Experts recommend hail netting, woven aluminum mesh screen, or shade cloth to keep your plants safe. You can also use tarps with stakes or wooden posts. Containers such as buckets or trash cans can also be used. Just make sure to weigh them down with bricks or stones since hailstorms also come with high winds.

What to Do After a Hailstorm

Apart from preventive measures, you should also learn the basic care needed by your landscape after a storm. The first thing you should do is to assess the situation. Then, follow these tips from the pros: 

• Clip and trim any damaged stems.
• Clear up any dirt that has accumulated around the plants. This will make it easier to detect damage and reduce disease transmission among surviving shrubs.
• Cut torn or damaged branches so that your plants can recuperate more quickly. Typically, branch and stem damage from hail doesn’t leave a clean wound.
• Remove and replace plants that have been severely damaged. A plant is unlikely to recover if it has lost all of its leaves.

Moreover, ensure sufficient soil around the plants before and after the storm to protect them from being washed away. If you end up with some injured plants, give them a day or two to dry off and recover so that you can see the actual extent of the damage.

Turn to Backyard Reflections for all your landscaping needs. Experienced and knowledgeable, our team can design, build, install and maintain your outdoor living space. Call us today at (320) 274-6336 (Annandale) or (218) 454-1065 (Nisswa). Alternatively, you can fill out our online form to schedule a no-obligation consultation.