Spring and early summer are prime time for landscaping projects. Still, they're also a warzone of muddy ground, surprise storms, washouts, grading problems, and more. It’s rainy season, so conditions can change overnight.
The last thing you want is to get stuck reacting to those conditions. Instead, plan for them — and save yourself the extra cleanup and rework that come from a YOLO approach in unpredictable soil scenarios.
These five tips will steady the ship on landscaping projects when the ground and weather have other ideas.
Plan your drainage strategy as soon as possible — at the beginning of the project, ideally. If you wait until water is already pooling, you’re in for a muddy mess.
However, before you move that dirt, think about where runoff will naturally flow during a heavy rain. Look for low spots or potentially blocked drainage paths so you can plan smart slopes and take each weather event in stride.
That little extra time you’re spending now on planning runoff direction and drainage is going to save you days of rework down the line. Spring rewards crews that stay ahead of water.
The surface is what you see at the end, but brilliant landscaping is all about what’s underneath. You’ve got to prep compacted ground or any areas covered with roots or debris before grading and planting can kick off. If you skip this step, uneven settling and poor drainage are in your future.
A skid steer tiller breaks up compacted soil for a better base across a large garden plot. You’ll notice the difference in large-scale decorative landscaping projects.
A rough grade has a way of becoming a permanent problem. Water is going to find any low spots and runoff will migrate loose soil downhill.
We’ve seen operators try to solve grading issues with additional bucket passes. And sometimes that works. More often…it just pushes material around and doesn’t result in a level surface. We recommend a dedicated land leveler attachment. Don’t chase high and low spots with a tool that wasn’t meant for grading. Cut and redistribute material evenly in one pass for a clean grade.
Freshly moved material will be affected by heavy spring moisture and wide temperature swings. Repeated rainfall, too, can alter the lay of the land after you thought you’d finished grading. Build that expectation into your process.
Be deliberate with compaction of the leveled grade — using the appropriate skid steer attachments for the job — and give soil time to stabilize before final installation of features.
Spring and early summer can make for messy work. On-site mud will track across hard surfaces and piles of storm debris (or from clearing out overgrowth) will build up as you go along.
Professional work demands a clean finish. The Prime Soil Conditioner helps remove clumps, pull out debris, and create a smoother finished surface in soil with loose rocks and stray roots left over from tilling and grading. And then, once landscaping has wrapped up, turn to the Prime Power Sweeper to make quick work of any sand, dirt, and loose material left behind on flagstone walkways, driveways, or parking areas.
The project may have started messy, but it doesn't have to end that way!
Account for seasonal conditions as you plan your next project. Water management, soil prep, grading, cleanup, and equipment selection are all dependent on environmental conditions.
When conditions get tough, badass equipment carries you through. Arm yourself with heavy-duty attachments. A direct drive attachment will push through conditions that put added stress on traditional gearbox designs.